Drawn by Faith---Kayla Gill
Okay, starting off this blog again by saying I absolutely hate this book. It is a pretty hard read in itself, but for my preference, it's not very entertaining. Thankfully, after a discussion with Dr. Schuler, that is not an uncommon feeling. Ok Ok. So, one thing I did notice, beginning in the reading from earlier this week in book 8, is the toil Augustine has with the Christian faith. He is not quite a converted Christian at the beginning of the book, but he is struck by curiosity. Augustine's main problem is that he has no sense of faith. He is a smart man, and he tries to find reason in everything that happens. He is trying to provide logic for everything Christians teach. He is caught by his own judgment so, he is not able to loosen up and walk by faith.
Sometimes this can be a hard path for everyone. A lot of the time, we want to find the reason for the things God has placed on our life. We want to understand why things work out the way that they do. This is a place that we fall short of what God wants for our lives. God says, "walk by faith and not by sight." This was Augustine's problem. He wanted to see what exactly was happening and understand. Sometimes it is not that easy. You have to learn to accept things as they are and see that they follow through with God's plan. (inserts God's plan by Drake [jk jk that song is so theologically, very wrong])
Going into chapter 9, we see that Augustine begins to convert to Christianity. He has surrendered himself to God saying, "O Lord, I am thy servant; I am thy servant and the son of thy handmaid. Thou hast loosed my bonds. I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving." He seems to develop that faith that he needed in the first place. He opens himself up to submission from God. "Thou hadst pierced our heart with thy love..." After this chapter, Augustine truly starts to search for God in his heart. He recognizes that God is the only man who can judge him and that he should confess to. This is when forgiveness from not only God but from yourself begins. That God already knows all of your sins and when you confess to him, he forgives you fully. The lesson Augustine learns here is that reason leads us so far, but faith has to take us the whole way.
I am walking by faith when it comes to this book.
PS: I commented on Gray and Moriah's posts
Sometimes this can be a hard path for everyone. A lot of the time, we want to find the reason for the things God has placed on our life. We want to understand why things work out the way that they do. This is a place that we fall short of what God wants for our lives. God says, "walk by faith and not by sight." This was Augustine's problem. He wanted to see what exactly was happening and understand. Sometimes it is not that easy. You have to learn to accept things as they are and see that they follow through with God's plan. (inserts God's plan by Drake [jk jk that song is so theologically, very wrong])
Going into chapter 9, we see that Augustine begins to convert to Christianity. He has surrendered himself to God saying, "O Lord, I am thy servant; I am thy servant and the son of thy handmaid. Thou hast loosed my bonds. I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving." He seems to develop that faith that he needed in the first place. He opens himself up to submission from God. "Thou hadst pierced our heart with thy love..." After this chapter, Augustine truly starts to search for God in his heart. He recognizes that God is the only man who can judge him and that he should confess to. This is when forgiveness from not only God but from yourself begins. That God already knows all of your sins and when you confess to him, he forgives you fully. The lesson Augustine learns here is that reason leads us so far, but faith has to take us the whole way.
I am walking by faith when it comes to this book.
PS: I commented on Gray and Moriah's posts
"I am walking by faith when it comes to this book." I LOVE THAT!! Hah!! Okay, but I do have something to add... Walking by faith and not by sight is HARD but it isn't impossible. Maybe my background has something to do with why I can blindly run to God when things don't make sense, but honestly I think it more has to do with the fact that I CHOSE to go running into Him instead of the other vices that people use. ((Vices might not be the right word, today has been rough. Please bear with me.)) Anyhow, I trained myself to take my box of crayons and a pencil and just start reading and highlighting and noting as I grasped the truths of my Savior in the midst of my pain or whatever was going on. I knew I needed God at my worst and I needed Him at my best, and just like talking to a friend, one way conversations do not work. I cannot give God a list of things I want from Him and not give anything in return... I found by actually GIVING ATTENTION to my prayer life and walk with God that my prayers went from being all about me to actually being able to have "conversations" with God. He went from kinda a slave position in my mind to my best friend.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree, I have had times that I have had to test my faith. Just in last semster, the amount of health issues I had really had me questioning what was meant for my life. I had to learn that there is always a plan, even in destruction.
Delete"Reason leads us so far, but faith has to take us the whole way." So accurate, I love that. Reason can provide the basic foundation for what we believe--honest intellectual research can bring about logical conclusions concerning special creation, the accuracy of the Scriptures passed down through time, etc. But when we start thinking about the hard questions Augustine considers in books X and XI, not to mention inexplicable parts of Christian doctrine like the Trinity and the Incarnation? There's no amount of logic or apologia that can lead someone to naturally believe that. So many essential Christian doctrines demand pure faith to accept.
ReplyDeleteI agree, the whole "you have to see before you believe" thing is futile, because there are many things that you simply have to put trust and faith in. You have faith in your significant other (aka you ;)) and you trust them when they are apart from you, so in doing this you are walking by faith, just in a different light. The only difference between a significant other and God is that God is and will always be consistent, and you can always trust that his promise over your life can be fulfilled. That it unlike any significant other you can ever have.
ReplyDeleteZane Duke p.s. I love you