Precisely so, my good friend.
IMHO, if you seek "certainty" on mankind's terms, you will always be
chasing a will-o-the-wisp!
Glenn -- we deal here with the supernatural. Human rules just don't
apply. God's rules, of which we have only a faint glimmer, do. The
"certainty" I claim does not come from my own research, study,
meditation, prayer, logic or anything else I can do. It comes from God's
Holy Spirit working in me to assure me, without fear of missing
something, that I am, indeed, "imago dei." That "working in me," as many
other Christians will recognize, happens best when I am either "about
God's business" in some way, or studying the Scriptures, or taking
communion. Other events also seem to apply -- I have been involved at
foot washing ceremonies on several, perhaps a dozen, times; it works
there too.
My chief criticism of my more conservative brethren is that they (you)
seem sometimes to strive more after a "certainty based on human
reasoning" than on a certainty based on what God is trying to do.
One of the several ministries my wife is involved in is holding Sunday
School classes for "developmentally challenged adults." Last Sunday I was
present when one of these individuals, who probably has an IQ (whatever
that might mean) of 50 or so, was asked to pray. I had not heard him do
so before. His words and thoughts were on a very simple level. His prayer
was one I felt went far beyond my own, often wordy, attempts. No "logic"
or "reasoning" or even "human understanding" there -- but a simple
child-like relationship with his Lord -- and my Lord -- and your Lord.
He, and I, and you, are all "imago dei," children of God. Which of us has
the more profound faith? I wonder.
Burgy
May you love the Lord so much, that you love nothing else too much.
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