Existentialism

Do you have a philosophy virus?  There are plenty of them in our American culture and it's likely that you have one or many.  Perhaps the worst of the worse could be Existentialism.

Existentialism is the philosophy of individual existence, experience, or brokenness and chaos.  It is the philosophy of anti-system because it also sees all knowledge and data disconnected and random, and it does not recognize a system or logic or design and champions individualism.  It leads to a purposeless world and existence, and eventually to despair and nihilism, or nothingness.  Friedrich Nietzsche was the father of Existentialism who coined the phrase, "God is dead."

I hate Existentialism precisely because it celebrates individuality and autonomy in the randomness of existence, but also because that would mean there is no design or purpose to live for.  Christianity is the opposite in that is teaches creation, order, design, logic and purpose.  There is a reason to live, a good reason, in that God exists and he has created all things for his own glory.  We can be reconciled and redeemed in Christ to be all that God created us to be in wholesome and meaningful lives.  We are called in Christ to live for his purposes and design if we will simply accept him.

True freedom comes from God when we are regenerated in and sanctified to Christ, the one for whom and through whom all things were created.  Colossians 1:16, "For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers.  All things were created through Him and for Him."  Amen.

What's Your Hermeneutic?

If we were to count the number of different interpretations to the Bible in our modern world they probably would be as many interpretations as there are people.  Everyone has an interpretation, everyone has a perspective.  But the big question that arises for interpreting the Bible is what is God's perspective?  If it's God's Word, we must seek his interpretation.

To determine God's perspective we must seek after objective truth instead of subjective truth.  His perspective is absolute and eternal, ours is subjective and temporal.  But is it possible to achieve an objective interpretation?  I believe it is possible, but I also believe it can be difficult.  There are some parts of Scripture that are meant to be vague and mysterious as God chooses not to reveal all truth to us here and now.  But, there are many places in the Bible that are clear.

The goal I believe should be a 'Biblical' interpretation of the Bible.  That may sound redundant, but it's important.  Many Christian denominations take a preferential interpretation of the Bible so as to reinforce and defend their denominational party line.  This may be convenient and pragmatic, but it short sheets the bed on other important doctrines.  We must never put personal preferences or doctrines above the Word of God, as God's perspective alone must always be above ours.  Our biases can be difficult to identify as we all grow up with particular presuppositions and perspectives.  But it's imperative that we are honest with ourselves as we seek the truth of Scripture.

As an Evangelical I became a Christian through an Arminian perspective of faith.  As I studied the Bible I was more and more convinced of a Calvinistic perspective of the faith.  The Arminians tend to emphasize the free will of man in faith and a dispensational view of Scripture.  And the Calvinists tend to emphasize the sovereignty of God in faith and a covenantal view of Scripture.  They each can find Bible verses that support their perspective and promote their confidence that they have the true faith.

But, what's most damaging to faith is the methodology of making one particular preference the hermeneutic of all of Scripture.  If we take the free will of man and make that the overarching hermeneutic we will miss the sovereignty of God.  And if we take the sovereignty of God out of context we will miss the legitimate doctrine of the freedom of the will.  Also, if Dispensational or Covenantal Theology becomes a hermeneutic, the Bible can become restricted by man's interpretation instead of man being restricted by the truth of the Bible.

This practice of preferential interpretation has been exercised by countless other faiths to disprove Christianity.  After all with Darwinian presuppositions we can twist science to become secularistic, and with DesCartes' assumptions we can only exist if we think.  With Mormon doctrines we can easily interpret the Bible to be the prequel to the Book of Mormon.  And without being taught by Catholic teachers we will be unable to understand Roman dogma.

The truth is that the truth of Scripture is not bound by the perspectives of men, it speaks far above them.  God is the hermeneutic of God's Word.  He is eternal, omniscient, omnipotent, holy, immutable and sovereign; and he is the Creator and Savior of all who truly believe.  Most importantly in the work of hermeneutics, God is truth, he is the Truth, and all interpretations must be measured against his character and will.  Man must receive truth with open arms.

Thus, we cannot begin with an Arminian or Calvinistic perspective and make this our paradigm or hermeneutic of Scripture.  Nor should we assume our personal preferences in our premises, we must let Scripture speak openly in every occasion to gain a Biblical interpretation.  I do believe Covenant theology is the best structure for understanding Scripture, but, it is not the paradigm for all doctrines.  God not only works in a covenantal way, he works sovereignly.  And, God sovereignly chooses to give mankind a limited free will to have a faith relationship with Him, whereby he is glorified if we live in a devout and genuine faith for him.  He also says, Ga 6:7, "Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap."

Truth is greater than all of us combined, and the conclusion must not be in the premises for a truth hermeneutic of Scripture.  For truth must interpret our perspective of Scripture, and truth is the reason why Scripture interprets Scripture.  This can be seen as God gives us the gift of faith in Christ, but we must be born again, we must receive this gift, and we must live out this faith in good works.  God is sovereign and man is responsible.  God is covenantal, and Jesus is the New Covenant.  The truth of God is the 'Biblical' hermeneutic for interpreting all doctrines.  As we seek God's perspective we must remember, "God is his own interpreter, and he will make it plain," William Cowper, 1747.