truth

Abecedarians -- they DO exist!

havoc — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 16:25:30 +0000

Oh, my... I'm still thinking about what to think about this. I know people (lots of people) who believe this, but have not formalized it like the Abecedarians, and taken it to it's logical conclussion:

Abecedarians
A 16th century German sect of Anabaptists led by Nicholas Storch who believed that all knowledge, even knowledge of the alphabet, prevents people from a true knowledge of God. Abecedarians believed that God would provide all necessary understanding through divine means such as visions and ecstatic experiences. According to them, all theology and “academic” learning amounted to an idolatrous abandonment of the Christian faith. Their name, Abecedarians, comes from their denial of the ABCs.

I found this on the Theological Word of the Day blog.

Some things are just better left unsaid...

havoc — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 14:33:06 +0000

"Some things are just better left unsaid... "

I think about this a lot. When we leave those things unsaid, we leave others in error. Sometimes we leave them in life-threatening error.

Likewise, sometimes I find out that I've held a wrong idea for many years. When I discover the truth, I feel joy and liberation (because it's always liberating to be free from a lie)! Joy is incomplete until it has been shared (Piper), and I want to tell people about my newfound freedom from ignorance. Many times I get the response, "Well, yeah. I have been wondering for years when you were going to figure that out."

Stunned silence.

You had the key to a door in my prison of ignorance, and you decided that "Some things are just better left unsaid!" You left me wallowing in ignorance while you knew my freedom! You decided that a safe, comfortable, meaningless conversation was better than taking a risk and showing me light?!

What's wrong with you!

....

But, I guess everyone doesn't see it that way.

Theology Rocks Show #30, "The Truth Hurts (a correction)"

havoc — Tue, 19 Dec 2006 02:11:00 +0000

It stinks to be wrong. We were planning on publishing our Christmas edition this week, but we felt like it was more important to correct our errors from last week. (We'll publish the Christmas edition next Tuesday, instead. Maybe the lingering effects of Christmas will help you enjoy it.)

Sometimes it comes down to speaking the truth or leaving a brother in error. Sometimes we know that speaking the truth to someone is not going to result in warm feelings and joy. Sometimes is comes to making a stand and choosing to "throw down" with a brother in error. In the end, speaking the truth may offend people, but it's not the offense that's the point (as we incorrectly focused on last week), it's the truth, and how that truth is delivered.

Send us feedback at feedback@opendiscipleship.org

You can subscribe to this podcast at iTunes: http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=203409871
You can subscribe to our RSS feed: http://www.opendiscipleship.org/taxonomy/term/6/0/feed