| Author | Message | ||
| Goose Registered user Username: Goose Post Number: 85 Registered: 11-2011  |
For therapy, for any of us that need it; or even to be reminded, I thought I would share this chapter from J.B. Phillip's book, Your God is Too Small. J.B. Phillips, some may remember translated the New Testament. ABSOLUTE PERFECTION "Of all the false gods there is probably no greater nuisance in the spiritual world than the "god of one hundred per cent." For he is plausible. It can so easily be argued that since God is Perfection, and since He asks the complete loyalty of His creatures, then the best way of serving, pleasing, and worshiping Him is to set up absolute one-hundred-per-cent standards and see to it that we obey them. After all, did not Christ say, "Be ye perfect"? This one-hundred-per-cent standard is a real menace to Christians of various schools of thought, and has led quite a number of sensitive, conscientious people to what is popularly called a "nervous breakdown." And it has taken the joy and spontaneity out of the Christian lives of many more who dimly realize that what was meant to be a life of "perfect freedom" has become an anxious slavery. It is probably only people of certain backgrounds and temperaments who will find the "one-hundred-per-cent god" a terrible tyrant. A young athletic extrovert may talk glibly enough of being "one-hundred-per-cent pure, honest, loving, and unselfish." But being what he is, he hasn't the faintest conception of what "one hundred per cent" means. He has neither the mental equipment nor the imagination to begin to grasp what perfection really is. He is not the type to analyze his own motives, or build up an artificial conscience to supervise his own actions, or be confronted by a terrifying mental picture of what one-hundred-per-cent perfection literally means in relation to his own life and effort. What HE means by "one-hundred-per-cent pure, honest, etc." is just as pure and honest as he sincerely knows how. And that is a very different matter. But the conscientious, sensitive,imaginative person who is somewhat lacking in self-confidence and inclined to introspection, will find one 100% perfection truly terrifying. The more he thinks of it as God's demand, the more guilty and miserable he will become, and he cannot see any way out of his impasse. If he reduces the one hundred per cent, he is betraying his own spiritual vision, and the very God who might have helped him is the Author (so he imagines) of the terrific demands! No wonder he often "breaks down." The tragedy is often that the "one-hundred-per-cent god" is introduced into the life of the sensitive by the comparatively insensitive, who literally cannot imagine the harm they are doing. What is the way out? The words of Christ, "Learn of Me," provide the best clue. Some of our modern enthusiastic Christians of the hearty type tend to regard Christianity as a performance. But it still is, as it was originally, a way of living, and in no sense a performance acted for the benefit of the surrounding world. To "learn" implies growth; implies the making and correcting of mistakes; implies a steady upward progress toward an ideal. The "perfection" to which Christ commands men to progress is this ideal. The modern high-pressure Christian of certain circles would like to impose perfection of one hundred per cent as a set of rules to be immediately enforced, instead of as a shining ideal to be faithfully pursued. His short cut, in effect, makes the unimaginative satisfied before he ought to be and drives the imaginative to despair. Such a distortion of Christian truth could not possible originate from the One who said His "yoke was easy" and His "burden light," nor by His follower St. Paul, who declared after many years' experience that he "pressed toward the mark not as though he had already attained or were already perfect." Yet even to people who have not been driven to distraction by "one-hundred-per-cent" Christianity, the same fantasy of perfection may be masquerading in their minds as God. Because it is a fantasy, it produces paralysis and a sense of frustration. The true ideal, as we shall see later, stimulates, encourages, and produces likeness to itself. If we believe in God, we must naturally believe that He is Perfection. But we must not think, to speak colloquially, that He cannot therefore be interested in anything less than perfection. (If that were so, the human race would be in poor case!) Christians may truthfully say that it is God's "ambition" to possess the wholehearted love and loyalty of His children, but to imagine that He will have no dealings with them until they are prepared to give Him perfect devotion is just another manifestation of the 'god of one hundred per cent." After all, who, apart from the very smug and complacent, would claim that they were wholly "surrendered" or "converted" to love? And who would deny the father's interest in the prodigal son when his Spiritual Index was at a very low figure indeed? God is truly Perfection, but He is no Perfectionist, and one hundred per cent is not God. | ||
| Ric_b Registered user Username: Ric_b Post Number: 1545 Registered: 7-2004  |
I love that book. Thanks for the quote. | ||
| Mjcmcook Registered user Username: Mjcmcook Post Number: 342 Registered: 2-2011 |
~Goose~ Thank-you for sharing from, "Your God is Too Small". I, too, really like this book~ Believe it or not, I read it many years ago, when I was still a member of the adventist church~ I think I will read it again! The message will mean even more to me now, as a 'Former'! ~mj~ | ||
| Kiki Registered user Username: Kiki Post Number: 47 Registered: 9-2011 |
Thank you for posting. I have never seen the book, I found a very plain looking pdf file for everyone who has not read it. http://www.newchurches.com/mediafiles/YourGodisTooSmall-Phillips.pdf My journey from atheist-agnostic-SDA-Former has made me realize that I don't know God any better on a personal level, just more information. This is hope for the hopeless. | ||
| Colleentinker Registered user Username: Colleentinker Post Number: 13352 Registered: 12-2003  |
Great quote, Walt! Thank you! Kiki, Matthew 11:28-30 is for you:
Trusting Jesus yields personal "knowing" of God. He is faithful. He gives you His life and His Spirit. Colleen | ||
| Kiki Registered user Username: Kiki Post Number: 48 Registered: 9-2011 |
Thank you Colleen, Sometimes I just want to give up. No matter how I try, I always fall back. I promise God I won't sin again but sure enough, I will do it again. I wonder if God hears my prayers because I am not a righteous person, all this "religion" just makes me realize I am nothing by a wretched sinful being. I used to tell the SDA friend who introduced me to the church that I wished I had never learned anything, that the ignorant (the world) were more blessed because they could live their lives without all the guilt. | ||
| Colleentinker Registered user Username: Colleentinker Post Number: 13356 Registered: 12-2003 |
Kiki, none of us is righteous. That's why we need Jesus. I'd like to ask you to do something: take a journal or notebook and copy John 1:1-18, and then copy John 3 in its entirety. Don't do it all at once; just do one to five verses at a time, and ask God to teach you truth and reality. Knowing Jesus is being born again, and that new birth is the only requirement for seeing the kingdom of God. Let Him teach you this astonishing truth Himself! Somehow copying the words is deeply calming and impacting, even more than reading them! Colleen | ||
| Christo Registered user Username: Christo Post Number: 301 Registered: 2-2008 |
Kiki, It's OK to need a Savior. How could we have a Savior if we had nothing to be saved from. Chris | ||
| Ric_b Registered user Username: Ric_b Post Number: 1556 Registered: 7-2004 |
Kiki, That just means you are exactly like the rest of us. I remember feeling so discouraged and worthless because I was a sinner, and no matter how hard I tried, how much I prayed, how much I read the Bible; I still sinned. At some point, in the midst of that darkness, the light of real grace broke through. God loves sinners. He knew me, everything about me. Nothing I did or thought was hidden from Him. Yet He loved me, and forgives me. Even when my sins sound like a broken record, the same failings again and again. We all fall short, every single day. In more ways than we can count. But God's love for us is steadfast. My suggestion would probably have been reading the book of John over and over again, but Colleen's suggestion sounds like an interesting alternative. Or find a recording of the book of John and listen to it repeatedly. We all internalize information differently, so just because His grace is apparent one way, don't be afraid to try another. And turn off any books, radio, or TV shows that are only leaving you feeling accused. They will just be confusing you. | ||
| River Registered user Username: River Post Number: 7654 Registered: 9-2006  |
I have an older brother who seems to 'press toward the mark' a little too hard for me personally. The other day I called him, I wanted to send him a video but he wouldn't allow a T.V within 50 feet of his house. But to be fair he doesn't try to get me to 'press toward his mark. I press on at a comfortable trot, but its entirely to strenuous for me to be a race horse. When we are together we have many of an enjoyable hour discussing the bible and when I go East I take my Zondervon Amplified Bible. I can see his wheels turning, "Oh my God! You ain't got a king James?"  If it don't speak in King James, forget it. I guess I'm just an old plow mule and sometime I stop right in the middle of the field and just stand there til the Lord says, "Giddy up River, we got a field to plow." If somebody tries to help the Lord by laying a whip across my back to get me goin' I'm liable to wall my eyes around and kick the living daylights out of the perpetrator. Being of the Pentecostal persuasion I know there are many like my brother, sometimes I wonder just how much assurance they have. River | ||
| Ric_b Registered user Username: Ric_b Post Number: 1558 Registered: 7-2004 |
For those of us who experienced SDAism, it is hard to imagine how it would be possible to have assurance in that lifestyle. I'm not saying it isn't possible, I'm only talking about our experience. I love your vivid analogies. | ||
| Gcfrankie Registered user Username: Gcfrankie Post Number: 861 Registered: 1-2007 |
River, next time you get together with your brother take along a KJV with you amplified version and then you can compare the versions. That ought to shock him. Gail | ||
| Katarain Registered user Username: Katarain Post Number: 49 Registered: 1-2012 |
Why would it shock him? | ||
| Kiki Registered user Username: Kiki Post Number: 49 Registered: 9-2011 |
Thank you Colleen, Christo and Ric. I will do as you suggest Colleen. Speaking of assurance, someone recently told me: Don't give up on the Sabbath, don't lose your salvation... I didn't say anything and was disappointed to hear this, rather than hearing words of encouragement, it was a reminder of how fragile salvation is in SDAism, if there is any at all. John 8 31 To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” | ||
| Asurprise Registered user Username: Asurprise Post Number: 2375 Registered: 7-2007 |
Kiki; the fact that no one can live up to perfection has helped many people in cults turn to the Lord. Jesus lived 100% perfect and He offers His perfection as a GIFT to all who accept Him as their Savior. Remember that parable in Matthew 22 where Jesus told of the wedding banquet where everyone was invited, "both bad and good"? All were given a wedding garment. The wedding garment is Jesus' righteousness given to us freely when we're saved. In ALL the cults; people try to mix and match torn off pieces of the wedding garment with their own pieces of cloth. It doesn't work that way. It's either ALL the wedding garment (Jesus righteousness) or our own filthy rags. Remember what Isaiah 64:6 says - that "all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags." (We're saved by Jesus as a FREE GIFT, when we accept Him! Romans 5.) | ||
| Ric_b Registered user Username: Ric_b Post Number: 1573 Registered: 7-2004 |
I'd like to offer a hearty AMEN to that statement. | ||
| Goose Registered user Username: Goose Post Number: 86 Registered: 11-2011 |
I, too, read Phillip's Your God Is Too Small, just as God was shaking me free from the Adventists, way back in 1989/ 1990. And I rediscovered the book recently. I am glad the thread created such interest. Thank you my dear friends. | ||
| Asurprise Registered user Username: Asurprise Post Number: 2376 Registered: 7-2007 |
Kiki; the Bible says: "So then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God." Romans 10:17 I'll send you a copy of the New Testament on CD if you like. You can find my email address by clicking my username on any post I've written in the Members Only part. (The CDs are MP3 format and are the English Standard Version.) Email me if you'd like me to send you one. | ||
| Goose Registered user Username: Goose Post Number: 87 Registered: 11-2011 |
I feel we must be careful in our choice of words in how we communicate or convey The Way. It isn't the Bible that says anything. It is the mysteriously Divine power of the Word, which speaks and has such awesome power. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." (Jn ch 1) The expression "The Bible says" is so canned and overused and can very often repel instead of draw and invite. JMHO | ||
| Kiki Registered user Username: Kiki Post Number: 53 Registered: 9-2011 |
Thank you all. I feel like I'm hijacking the thread but this is really important and practical stuff. I will never be good enough and I will never feel good enough to be saved but that is irrelevant. I believe Jesus was not kidding when he said that no one was good except God. It will take a lot of deprogramming to get rid of the perfection (legalism?) that Adventism said I had to achieve. Asurprise, thank you for the offer, I already have the NT in my computer. Thank you all again, you are a really kind and helpful group. |
