From My Perspective - - -

For one to know what is unknown is a fascinating idea and possibility. In the areas of Psychology and Theology, there is so much that one doesn’t know – however – one embraces and champions a position that is held to the best of one’s knowledge. What is disagreeable to one’s defined position is pooh-poohed as being irrelevant and/or erroneous. Any contrary position is usually jettisoned or disregarded. Any “what-if” discussion is usually dismissed out of hand. However – “what-if” that which is viewed as mere possibility or idle speculation is in actuality reality and factual? Would one be able to adjust previously held presuppositions or pre-conceived positions and allow for the likelihood of other data having validity?

This past weekend, a NY Times Op-Ed Column by David Brooks entitled: The Machiavellian Temptation stretches one’s thinking and gives a secular view of how people are and why they are the way that they are. He wrote: “In the 19th century, there was a hydraulic model of how to be a good person. There are all these torrents of passion flowing through you. Your job, as captain of your soul, is to erect dams to keep these passions in check. Your job is to just say no to sloth, lust, greed, drug use and the other sins. Sermons could really help. They could help you identify sin. Preachers could exhort you to exercise the willpower you need to ward off temptation. These days that model is out of fashion. You usually can’t change your behavior by simply resolving to do something. If that were true, New Year’s resolutions would actually work. Knowing what to do is not the same as being able to do it. If that were true, people would find it easier to lose weight. Your willpower is not like a dam that can block the torrent of self-indulgence. It’s more like a muscle, which tires easily. Moreover, you’re a social being. If everybody around you is overeating, you’ll probably do so, too. The 19th-century character model was based on an expansive understanding of free will. Today, we know that free will is bounded. People can change their lives, but ordering change is not simple because many things, even within ourselves, are beyond our direct control…” Would this also apply to one’s presuppositions and preconceived interpretations?

This whole idea of who we are and why we are the way we are is challenged by some thinking about the world in which we live. What in the world is going on and why is it going on before our eyes today? Could it be that the world is in the midst of end-time prophecy – but because of a position previously staked out in terms of how the end times will unfold – we choose not to see or accept what is taking place? If one allows Ezekiel 38 and 39 to become part of a rationale that sees nations aligned to destroy the nation of Israel, does that make the person a heretic or out of step with a broadly-accepted view regarding how some have decided it will end? What if Ezekiel’s prophecy regarding Persia is applicable to the nations that occupy that land area today – Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran – would that cause one to re-think any previously held presupposition? What if the statement that Satan is bound (Revelation 20:1-3 and Matthew 12:29) is more likely to mean that he is tethered (leashed) and is functional in the manner described in I Peter 5:8 – “…your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” – but - much like John Bunyan’s description in Pilgrim’s Progress – he can roar and lunge and frighten - but – he cannot harm the one walking in the center of The Narrow Way – would that impact one’s thinking about prophecy and the end times?  What if Matthew 24 has more current relevance than not in terms of societal choices and behavior, is it wise to dismiss the prospects and possibilities that are unfolding? How well do we actually know the unknown? Is it wise to be adamant with limited knowledge?

What-if previously held positions are not as easily substantiated today as they once were in more stable times – is  one able to re-think and re-study and be open to different possibilities and/or likelihood in terms of what God is doing with His world? Jesus once stated that He did not know either the day or hour in terms of end time events and His Coming Again – should we and our positions be set in cement when His were relegated the Father’s schedule and time-frame? Consider these things with me!