"The Reformation" arrived with Martin Luther. His idea was to be more true to Christianity and less true to the what the "church" had become. The institution of Christianity had taken on a thermodynamic identity - rather than stability, it had become a victim of entropy. In the simplest sense, entropy is moving toward disorder. The Reformation intended to restore the Church to what it had been but it became even more disarrayed. Until the end of time disorder will prevail in the Church because of one thing - people!
Mankind has always been the enemy of God. Of course, many people claim Him as an ally, but we are traitors. God makes the acknowledgement that we "fornicate" with "other gods". If we examine who these other gods are closely, we will find that indeed His enemy is us. We place ourselves above God even as we endeavor to hang onto God. That makes Him jealous. We are His competition for our attention.
Even in the early church, divisions arose. Paul never named them, but immediately Simon Magus and his followers began to make Jesus and Christianity into things it was not. Simon couldn't buy the secret formulae for the imbuement of the Holy Ghost, so he created his own. He made himself into a Jesus figure, performed his own magical miracles, and deceived the people. This Gnostic heresy became the competition for early Christianity. Paul preached vehemently against the "secret knowledge" they claimed to have.
Simon and the other Gnostics took God out of His own Box, and put Him in their box. Now, let me explain the differences in the two boxes.
God's Box is of infinite size and boundless sides. Because He is omnipresent, God fills that entire Box. Because He is omniscient, God's Box has an atmosphere of absolute truth. Knowledge is the entirety of God's truths. Because God is omnipotent, God's Box is powerful. What He says about His Box is supreme to any other thought. God's Box is supernatural. In the supernatural world, the laws of nature are meaningless. In God's Box the government is the Law of God. The most meaningless attribute of God's Box is time. He is the Light; the orbit around the sun and the rotation of the moon, have no significance to Him. For us, those are merely clocks made for mankind to measure their own heartbeats. When God said, "Surely I come quickly," He will, but quickness in God's Box is slow-motion in ours!
On the other hand, our own boxes are many, and all are different. There is really only one Box, but because of our own pride, we too must have our own boxes. God's Box is the Kingdom of God. My box is the kingdom of Me and yours is the kingdom of You. There are billions of these finite boxes trying to compete with God's Box. Even though all these smaller boxes are owned by God, they are within a larger box where the "prince of the air" has stashed all of them into his box. The government in Satan's box is "the law of sin". Satan's box can only exist in God's Box because God is Almighty!
Even Christians have their own box. We do things our way. Burger King's slogan is our modus operandi. In our box, we endeavor to have it our way in spite of God's will for us to have it His Way. God wants us in His Box. Therein lies "safety". The person becomes "born-again" when he or she comes to realize that their own box is a facade', and that only God's Box provides the Gift - eternal life. You see, in God's Box time is non-existent. By hanging our own little box on the Tree where His hung, we are sacrificing gifts from ourselves for God's Gift. God's will is that all mankind should get out of their box and into His! When the great fires burn down the World's box, all those within God's Box "shall be saved". God wants that none of these boxes should perish. That is grace - even though each of us feel comfortable and safe in our own boxes, God wants to provide true safety in His.
One box most people put themselves into is labeled "Doubt". Reason is their god there, and the atmosphere in their box is deception. The wrapping for that box is knowledge, and the ribbon for the bow is science. This box became huge in the Age of Reason. It grows bigger each day but will never outgrow God's Box.
The "Church" has its own boxes. They started out as boxes belonging to one individual but grew into huge boxes which attempt to divide God's Box. These boxes are Roman Catholicism, Lutherism, Calvinism, Arminianism, and Restoration-ism. Christians took the doctrine of Jesus, who appeared as God's Box, and divided God's Box into many:
1 Corinthians 1:12 Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ. 13 Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul?Paul taught a doctrine of truth. I'm sure it humbled him because he preached against what he always had been. God took Saul - Paul's old person name, out of Saul's box and put him into God's Box. Paul's doctrine was truth. He used the atmosphere of God's Box to try to get others to get out of their own box and into God's. When in our own boxes, we are vulnerable. When God destroys Satan's boxes, all these little ones burn up with his unless they are wrapped with clean fresh wrapper decorated in the blood of Jesus!
I am Arminian. That is my box. Paul's teachings made me so. My friend is Calvinistic. Paul's teachings made him so. You see, Paul's teachings were God's truths. Paul's own conversion was Calvinistic. God's purpose for him since the creation was to be an apostle for Jesus. As such, Paul's conversion was irresistible and predestined. He was elected by God to be his messenger to the Gentiles. Because God is Almighty, Paul could not undermine his will. Hence, it was God's will that Paul should be converted.
However, we cannot make Paul's conversion the norm! How many of us were struck blind before we "saw"? I wasn't and neither were most of you. Insisting that Saul's conversion to Paul is the standard, puts God in a Calvinistic box. Paul was aware of his own conversion, and taught somewhat his own experience. However, Paul did not indicate that everyone would experience his own type of conversion. Paul did not put God in Paul's box. He allowed that God have His Own Box.
Scripture says that Jews need a sign, and Gentiles need wisdom. (1 Corinthians 1:22). Paul needed a sign since he was a Jew of Jews. He got it! He was struck blind. He could no longer focus on mankind's boxes, but in his blindness he only saw God's Light. Light shines brilliantly in God's Box, and Saul saw the supernatural within it. He was enlightened by truth. Indeed, the apostolic age was the real "Age of Enlightenment". The Age of Reason just stole God's Glory right out of His Box!
On the other hand, even though Paul was converted by irresistible grace, he was a proponent of free will and mental selection. When he preached to the Gentiles in Athens, Paul used reason. The logic he used to convince the Gentiles was that their god was an Unknown God. They knew there must be an afterlife but didn't know God to receive it. Paul's method was to convince them. They were not blinded, but Paul took the blindfold from their eyes by the use of logic. With his foreknowledge God would know in advance who would be be converted, but each philosopher, then knowing truth, would "work out his own salvation" as Paul would say. They were "elected" in the sense that God's will is "that none should perish". We learn form Paul that salvation is not merely for the elect - at one time thought to be only the Jews, but for everyone - Gentiles too.
Paul needed a sign but these Greek Gentiles needed wisdom. With the knowledge of Jesus who Paul proclaimed, the Greeks each then had a decision to make - do I trust Jesus for his Gift (Boxed) or shall I stay blind in my own box? This decision is an exercise in choice using mankind's free will. Unlike Paul's conversion which he couldn't resist, these men could resist. It was God's will that none of them should perish, but I'm sure most of those philosophers kept their own little box and chose death.
Those were two examples, both from Paul, contrasting what we call Calvinism with Arminianism. I am Arminian because I believe that is the normal method of God's work for Gentiles. On the other hand some still have that Jewish nature. They need signs, so they use Paul's conversion as the normative, even though few if any of them were struck blind when they were converted.
However, because they focus on predestination, election, grace alone, and such; they have taken God's Box and crammed it into their own. To be fair, Arminians have done the same. Although God is Almighty, and can do whatever He wills, we too cram God into the Arminian box. Although I believe that Arminian is the doctrine of God in a general way, God still sometimes uses Calvin's doctrine because both are still His Doctrine. (In fact, God has allotted 144,000 Jews for salvation after the rapture.)
Those are two examples. Pentecostals put God in a box wrapped as "gifts". One of these boxes has what they call an "unknown tongue". However, God's Tongue is One, and that is speaking the truth.
Churches of Christ put God in a wet box. There God is drowned in water. His Box requires soaking the believer to be made safe. They use the word "saved" yet fail to recognize that the repentant person is safe before getting into their baptismal box. Campbell and Barton had a noble idea - to restore God's Box. However, in practice, they just put more people in Campbell's box!
I chose to be a Nazarene as a youth because I relished their love of God and others. Theirs is a ministry of love. I liked their doctrine of living Christ-like. Their idea that Christians should strive to be set apart from the world is scriptural and appealing. It's called sanctification. With their doctrine, they focus on that as much as the Pentecostals do speaking in tongues. However, that is the Nazarene Box - Christian perfection.
There were sanctified people in Holy Scripture. Samson was a Nazarite, and so was John the Baptist. They were pre-ordained from birth to serve God with Christian perfection. Here, we have Calvinism meets Arminianism because Nazarenes are Wesleyan-Arminian - another box.
Christians can never, and will never reach sinless perfection but yet that is a noble strategy for living. The strategy of some is having just a little faith, which by the way, is ample for conversion. The Nazarene box is that we all have great faith. That must be because strict obedience is a result of great faith. Of course, being born-again is still all that is needed but they preach sanctification as a demonstration of faith. Many don't believe that we can live righteously, and reject the Nazarene box. That's okay; they are still born-again without the Nazarene box.
I hope the reader gets my point. God is Almighty and He can do with each whatever He will. Paul taught against all these individual boxes: Apollo's, Cephas's, and his own, and asked that they all get in Christ's Box because He is the Box that God showed us!
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