Saturday, February 14, 2009

Truth and Freedom


From Art and the Bible by Francis Schaeffer:

Christianity is not just "dogmatically" true or "doctrinally" true. Rather, it is true to what is there, true in the whole area of the whole man in all of life.

The ancients were afraid that if they went to the end of the earth, they would fall off and be consumed by dragons. But once we understand that Christianity is true to what is there, including true to the ultimate environment -- the infinite, personal God who is really there -- then our minds are freed. We can pursue any question and can be sure that we will not fall off the end of the earth. Such an attitude will give our Christianity a strength that is often does not seem to have at the present time.

3 comments:

Steve Schuler said...

"We can pursue any question and can be sure that we will not fall off the end of the earth. Such an attitude will give our Christianity a strength that is often does not seem to have at the present time."

That you continue to selectively post my comments on your blog really makes me question whether you have attained the strength that Shaeffer here alludes to. As I have previously said, I don't really care if my comments are posted or not. Your blog is your domain and whether you choose to allow an open forum (democratic?) in the comments section or to selectively edit (authoritarian?) what you allow your readers to see is ,obviously, beyond my control. If you would prefer that I quit offering my comments altogether I would be happy to oblige. If I am doing more harm than good in writing my thoughts to you it would be my preference that you say so say so directly to me.

Douglas Groothuis, Ph.D. said...

Steve:

Sadly, your tone seems to be getting more acerbic and less winsome. I'm not sure why. I am afraid of none of your comments, but a few were given to posts about which I did not allow comments. I generally don't allow people to "cheat" and post a response to another entry. I do not allow comments to some posts because comments related to some topics--particularly Obama--get angry and pointless quite quickly. So, I preempt comments and generally do not accept them elsewhere.

Steve Schuler said...

Your perception that the tone of my comments are more acerbic and less winsome is not without validity. Unfortunately the written word can not accurately or completely convey the emotion of the writer. I think that I probably "read" more seriously than I "speak". That is, the "true tone" of my thoughts are not communicated well in my writing. Please call when you can.