DoSD 4: the heart of discernment

* Without meaning this as a follow-up post to my sitcom-watching concerns on Saturday, it is interesting how this chapter (which I read AFTER I posted the quote here and on Facebook) addressed the issues I'd been struggling with last week.

Ahh, judgment ~ the word we all love to hate! (Much to the detriment of our witness, the vibrancy of the church, and the spread of the gospel, it would seem.)

Did you know judgment is a REQUIREMENT of discernment and that if you don't practise judgment you won't get better at discernment? Scary, eh? Not to mention incredibly unpopular, even within the Church.

"As we discern between what is good and evil and between what is right and wrong we necessarily make judgments. We weigh evidence in the balanace and decide what represents truth and what represents falsehood. But judging is not popular in our culture. [wow, if that isn't the understatement of the decade!!] The phrase 'Don't judge me!' is seen as an inviolable mantra in this postmodern society. We live in a culture that values autonomy to the point of irrationality. We live in a culture that teaches we can and should do whatever makes us happy and that no one has the right to hold us up to any standard but our own. Judging is the great sin of postmodernism." (74, emphasis mine)

Now, the Bible says to "test all things" but Jesus said, "judge not, lest ye be judged." So what does this mean? Is this antinomy, a contradiction between principles or conclusions that seem equally necessary and reasonable?

The answer, of course, is no. Rather, it gives clear indication that there are certain areas where Christians are to avoid passing judgment and others where it is our duty. Judgment ~ or perceived judgment ~ is a root cause in most interpersonal conflicts that arise in the church, so learning to identify when and how this is happening will go a long way to promote peace and unity in the Body of Christ. But at the same time, Challies points out, "the sin of NOT judging, of not exercising discernment, is a root cause in the breakdown of many formerly godly churches and organizations. To never judge is to open the church to all manner of spiritual evil and deception." (76, emphasis mine)

How then, are we to judge? Challies goes into details, but quite simply, Christians are not to judge people on the basis of what is hidden. This is the hypocritical kind of judging we're all familiar with. We've all done it. Where we presume to know all surrounding circumstances of a situation as well as another person's heart. This is the judgment Christ warns against. "We may judge doctrine and behavior by the objective standards of right and wrong that are given to us in Scripture. What we may not do, though, is judge a person's heart and motives. ...or the righteousness of other believers." (77, 78) This also includes judging matters of conscience where the Bible offers no explicit directive and where we as individual servants of Christ must stand firm in what we feel God demands of us based on our studies of the Bible.

As to what we are to test? Well, everything else!

"We should not be Christians who compartmentalize our lives so that some areas are given over to the lordship of Christ and others are held back for ourselves. We cannot have components of our lives that are religious while others are secular. Christians with a truly Christian worldview will know that all of life is to be lived in accordance with biblical principles. Everything we do ~ whether it is choosing a church, reading a book, watching television, engaging in evangelism, forming friendships, studying the Bible ~ everything requires discernment. Because there is no area in which we have perfect understanding, there is no area of life that is beyond our need or ability to be discerning." (83)

BUT, Challies warns ~ and I think this is a HUGE "BUT"!!!! ~ testing everything does not mean TRYING everything at least once! We don't necessarily need to try something to know that it is evil. God tells us to test, not sample. To hold anything and everything against HIS standard.

There should be no belief, no teaching, no action in the life of a Christian or in the church that has not been thoroughly measured against the standard of God's Word.

It seems I've got some serious clean-up work to do in my life.

bothersome thoughts about my TV-watching habits

I love sitcoms. Not all of them, but in general, I enjoy sitcoms. I will often choose sitcom reruns over new primetime drama episodes because they're lighter, funnier, easier to "veg out" to. At the end of the day, I like to wind down with some pure, mindless drivel. I KNOW it's drivel, which is precisely why I enjoy them.

Until I read this statement a few days ago and now I'm not quite so comfortable:

The worst and most dangerous thing
to watch on TV is the sitcom. Why?

Because it gets us to
laugh at sin.
I think on some level, I've always believed this. But obviously, I've gotten pretty good at either not caring about it, or justifying why my life doesn't demonstrate that I believe it.

Is the statement true? Undoubtedly.

But do we care? SHOULD we care? Are we caring ENOUGH?

At the end of the book of Romans, after chapter upon chapter upon chapter of sound theological teaching about the doctrines of grace and the doctrines of our salvation, Paul ends the book by talking about his concern that the Roman believers would have discernment, that they would know truth from error.

Then he says, “I want you to be wise as to what is good and innocent as to what is evil” (Romans 16:19). Or to paraphrase, “Be experts in what is good and not even beginners in what is evil.”

Again, in 1 Corinthians 14:20, Paul says, “Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature.”

I wonder how well I qualify as an "infant in evil" if I willingly immerse myself in it ~ and laugh at it ~ night after night after night....

the babysitter

Hosted by Cecily

DoSD 3: defining discernment

Okay, so here we finally come to the actual DEFINITION of discernment!! (and to the third chapter ~ I've had to read it three times over the last month, because I keep getting distracted from my goal of reviewing each chapter here!)

I appreciate what Challies has done by laying some foundational work regarding the importance of desiring and pursuing discernment, why it's necessary, and how discernment relates to our spiritual maturity before getting to the "meat and potatoes" of defining and developing discernment. At first I thought it odd that the definition wouldn't have been addressed in the first chapter, but coming to it now certainly makes sense.

Challies begins this chapter with a brief look at exactly why definitions are important because he goes on to indicate the differences between knowledge, wisdom and discernment, of which the latter two often seem to be used interchangeably in the Bible. Challies says this is an indication that they are inexorably linked, like two sides of a single coin. He demonstrates, however, that there seems to be a progression from knowledge (bare facts) to wisdom (understanding moral and ethical dimenions of facts and data) to discernment (the application of this acquired wisdom to life.)

The author then goes on to look at the Hebrew and Greek words that are used in the Biblical passages referring to knowledge, wisdom, discernment, judgment, and understanding in order to form his own succinct definition of Biblical discernment:

the skill of understanding and applying God's Word with the purpose of separating truth from error and right from wrong

and spends the rest of the chapter examining each of the elements of the definition. Not surprisingly, words like "skill" and "understanding" indicate that discernment isn't something we will just have, but something we need to study for and practise. It requires lifelong dedication.

"...biblical discernment looks beyond the will of God to the truth of God. We can only know God's will when we first know God's truth, for what God desires and requires of us must always be consistent with his character. Wise decisions are those that are made on the firm basis of what is true about God and, thus, what is true about the world, about life, and about ourselves. Those who make decisions that honor God are those who have invested effort in studying what God says to be true. (54, emphasis in the original)

"We can only worship and glorify God on the basis of what we know of him. In order to be discerning, we must know and understand what is true about God. To do this we turn to God's Word. And so, to be discerning, we must first be students of the Bible. We must study it, we must read about it, and we must hear it taught from the pulpit." (63)

Challies then goes on to address something we find creeping into our evangelical churches today ~ this erroneous belief that experience is more important than intellect; the teaching that discernment is an intuitive (subjective) matter of the Spirit working through the heart rather than an intellectual matter of using the mind to test, weigh, and judge between truth and error, right and wrong (objective).

This is feelings-based faith rather than trust in the infallible Word of God. This is not true Christianity. This is mysticism! (or gnosticism, if you like. Either way, the Bible calls it HERESY.)

He indicates there are two main problems with this belief. One, this belief implies there are two levels of discernment ~ objective and subjective ~ and two, it implies the second level, the subjective level, is suprerior to the first and somehow relies more fully on the Holy Spirit. "It supposedly moves beyond the limited mental capabilities of humans and allows the Spirit to interact directly with the heart of the believer to notify him of some problem or error." (68)

Of even greater concern, however, is the fact that this belief is not supported by Scripture.

"A survey of passages of Scripture relevant to the subject of discernment, words dealing with testing, judging, approving, and the like, will reveal nothing that would allow us to believe that the Holy Spirit will provide some type of subjective sense of discernment apart from the Bible. Instead we see that discernment points us continually to the Scriptures, to the objective source of truth meant to guide us in all matters of life and faith. Any method that points anywhere but Scripture implicitly points away from Scripture. It must be rejected." (69, emphasis in original)

To think biblically about life, we must be willing to make clear distinctions between God's ways and all other ways. To know God's ways, requires studying the Scriptures. It requires time and effort.

It requires all of us to become devoted, lifelong theologians.

King James vs. Hans Christian Andersen

I grew up reading a King James Bible. "Thees" and "thous" don't phase me. Words and phrases like "forebearance," "propitiation for sins," "long-suffering," and "dispensation of the fulness of times" don't really rattle me.

In fact, in some ways, I still find the King James translation to be a fuller, richer version than the New International, which is what I (and the churches I've attended) have used since my early teens.

The English language has so many words that we never use. We often hear the complaint that our modern-day Bibles in English have lost some of the depth of the original Hebrew and Greek texts because in many instances, we don't have words that directly translate the same emotions, historical significance, power, etc. I think we may actually have more appropriate words than we realize ~ we just don't know them! I have a HUGE dictionary FULL of words I've never used or even heard before!

But that's not really the point of this post.

I heard someone say once that their favourite passage was "and it came to pass."

Obviously, this is not a passage of Scripture in its entirety, but in the King James version, the phrase occurs quite often. I, too, have come to appreciate it.

There doesn't seem to really be a modern translation of that phrase. It's basically omitted from the NIV, but fairytale authors like to say, "Once upon a time..."

But where fairytale authors begin stories in that fashion, their tales always end with a rather unsatisfactory, "...and they all lived happily ever after." Which we all, at some point in our lives, come to realize isn't true to real life. There's got to be more to the story.

But "It came to pass..." gives much more meaning to the beginning.

"It" ~ the thing we are about to discuss ~ "came" or happened, in the past for a reason. Things happen for a reason. The happenings and seasons in our lives happen for a reason, but they pass. Nothing comes to stay, it comes to pass. Hallelujah, this gives us great hope!

The seasons, circumstances, hardships, trials, highs and lows... they all come for a reason, and become part of the rich tapestry of a Christian's faith. Whether they come to pass in mere moments, long painful months, or possibly only at the end of our lives here on this earth, anything we experience is only for a time. A blink in the eye of eternity.

It all comes to pass.

Just like a winter that's seemingly starting far too early.

have a happy Thanksgiving, fellow Canadians!

Hope you're having a great long weekend,
counting your blessings and naming them one by one...

Betcha can't count that high!!

PS. Revive Our Hearts Radio has an INCREDIBLE four-part series on practising gratitude in ALL circumstances called "The Blessing of Thorns." I found Part 2 particularly powerful, so if you only have time to listen to one session, I highly recommend that one.

when i grow up....

I wanna be like this woman.

the proof is in the pudding pickles

Remember all those beautiful pickles I made a couple of weeks ago? The ones I had to let sit for a while before I could tell you if they'd been a success or not?

Well...



...they were.

Woo-hoo, I'm capable of successfully making pickles!!!

I also made Pumpkin Pie ~ one of The Bushman's most favouritest things ~ from scratch tonight for the very first time and was told I could definitely do that again, too!!

I am on a roll!

Next up: Chokecherry Jelly.