Be Ye Certain?

Once upon a time there was a dude with a french name, in a french place, talking about french things...

His name was Charles Renouvier, philosopher.

As a philosopher, I try to stay away from soundbite wisdom.

However, this frenchy dude rocked out a quote that shakes the foundations of human understanding...

"Properly speaking, there is no certainty; there are only people who are certain."


now... the really depressing thing about philosophy is that it is an entirely lonely activity. very few people care about certainty...they live their lives and that's all they need to worry about, talk about.

We talk about things people don't talk about...not because it's dirty or a secret...not because we have bigger brains or perceptive abilities... but because we care about knowing...

is there more to this life?

is there more to this thought?

is there more to asking this question than the question itself?

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"He starts drawing again.

'But what if it went the other way?


This big circle is the world—the world God loved so much that he sent his Son.

Inside that circle is another one

... the church...

God's people chosen to demonstrate his love to the world.

And inside that is a small circle, which is your self.

It's not about the church meeting your needs

...it's about you joining the mission of God's people to meet the world's needs...'"


I know this may not seem like a big deal.

To many people, certainty aside, life is life.

For me, our lack of certainty is a deep hope.

It reveals that there is more mystery to our time breathing than what we could ever imagine.

Think about the bible as a certainty.

Now recall Renouvier, "Properly speaking, there is no certainty; there are only people who are certain."

Do you think anyone has ever figured out the bible to a certainty?

Well...some have tried...

The most recent demonstration of such attempt ended with a raid on an El Paso compound filled with people certain that polygamy is God's will.

I know for me, the more I read scripture and the more I live and sow in Spiritual things, the more I realize I don't know.

...This stuff can not be figured out...

This doesn't mean I give up. It means I keep sowing...keep talking...keep thinking... keep interacting.

Why?
Because in this interaction with uncertainty is an infinite space between God and Me .

... mystery...

but it's a space that grows me fond with the Spirit.

In an echo of Renouvier, the Bells describe it. After launching Mars Hill in 1999, they found themselves increasingly uncomfortable with church. "Life in the church had become so small," Kristen says. "It had worked for me for a long time. Then it stopped working." The Bells started questioning their assumptions about the Bible itself—"discovering the Bible as a human product," as Rob puts it, rather than the product of divine fiat. "The Bible is still in the center for us," Rob says, "but it's a different kind of center. We want to embrace mystery, rather than conquer it."