Vanity, vanity, all is vanity

Those of us (who call ourselves Christians) with a bent toward the life of the mind sure love our philosophies, theologies, discussions, arguments, books, and favorite teachers...don’t we? I guess we can’t help it; it’s the way we’re made. But I'm wondering, do we truly allow each other our differences in all these things? Should we? I guess some think we shouldn’t. But it is right to more or less ignore differing views, or ignore those with differing views, or to battle or try to shout down those with differing views, or to get touchy, protective, defensive, distrustful, or too easily doubtful when our views are challenged? (“We” includes me, of course.)

Let’s face it, all any of us can do is try to make sense of things. Different ones of us read different things by different authors and come to different conclusions based on what we judge to be right in light of Scripture, convincing argument, and trust in our own judgment (or experience), or in the Holy Spirit to illuminate our judgment. But I wonder if we end up elevating those who, by their sheer brilliance, appear to have some special “prophetic interpretation” or gift of exposition that strikes a chord in us (so that we “latch on,” so to speak) higher than they ought to be. I wonder if it isn’t some aspect of our psyche or personality that often causes us to regard one thing as true and another false, or one thing more likely to be true than another, on issues of great complexity and/or dispute.

Why not acknowledge the questions? Why not allow them? Why not acknowledge that certain things may not be so sure as others may seem to think they are, or that we may want to think? Do we really need to have every matter of doctrine figured out? Upon what is our faith based? Complexity of doctrine? Or upon hope in the saving, guiding, and sustaining grace of God? Does it really need to be more complicated than that?

Anyone who knows me knows that I like to grapple with questions. (Grapple, not wrangle.) I love to grapple with questions. I am driven to grapple with questions. I can easily become over-dependent upon understanding things. But in my saner moments I realize that much of what I want to understand doesn’t really matter, except that it’s in me to grapple and there must be some purpose for it, though I’m not sure what it is. I realize that what matters is that my heart (whatever that is) is in an attitude of humility before God –- an attitude of acceptance, service, and homage to the gospel. What more can I do? All the rest is vanity, and a chasing after the wind.