Friday 10 August 2012

Letters from a sceptic (part 1)

When the church my cousin attends embraced open theism I was concerned.  Open theism involves a belief that God does not perfectly know the future.  With typical arrogance I read one book about this and thought myself an expert.  I also had one very frustrating conversation with my cousin about her theology; we talked past each other and both concluded that the other was uninformed and naive.
  
I would still recommend the book I read; Bruce Ware's, God's Lesser Glory.  But the truth is I do not have the intellect to understand all the issues that are debated.

Then my brother started reading a Greg Boyd (a big open theism author) book, Letters from a Sceptic.  Would he too embrace what I felt was a dangerous theology?  He is far more intelligent than I am and is capable of separating wheat from chaff.  He enjoyed the book and agreed with some of its points; yet he did not buy into it all and still believes that God perfectly knows the future.

I am not as worried about open theism as I used to be; after all it is clear that my cousin still loves the Lord and is trusting him alone for forgiveness and life.  However, I am still concerned that her whole church seems to have bought to a fringe theological position at the instigation of their charismatic leaders.
 
Anyway, when I was at my parent's home recently I saw the book that David read.  Letters from a Sceptic is a dialogue between Boyd and his father (who is the sceptic).  I started to read.  He begins by telling his father that: 
'Having one's faith challenged - whatever faith one holds - is always a good thing.  If it can't "stand the fire," a faith isn't worth holding - whether it is Christianity or atheism.' 

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