Over the years I've heard preachers, and sometimes other Christians, speaking of what they believe, emphatically avow, "I've never changed!" One still ringing in my mind is an older Baptist minister at a Bible conference that I attended as a young man. At the time my reaction was "Amen!" Now my reaction is closer to a guarded "Oh, my."
Why?
Unless you already knew everything about God and His Word, then perhaps you are:
1. Too stubborn to change.
2. Too proud to admit you've changed.
3. Too ignorant to know you've changed.
I've tried to think of a more positive explanation. The only thing I've come up is that one saying this possibly doesn't really mean never changed anything.
God alone is immutable and can say, "I change not."
Why?
Unless you already knew everything about God and His Word, then perhaps you are:
1. Too stubborn to change.
2. Too proud to admit you've changed.
3. Too ignorant to know you've changed.
I've tried to think of a more positive explanation. The only thing I've come up is that one saying this possibly doesn't really mean never changed anything.
God alone is immutable and can say, "I change not."
11 comments:
Wow, this is priceless. I never thought of it that way.
Terre
One thought we might consider is..."Living things grow and growing things change." As we grow in the Lord we can't help but change.
Blessings
James
Seems I always forget the follow up.
Well, Bro. Vaughan, I do believe you have hit the nail on the head once again!
Change is inevitable, one way or another. I guess we need to make the distinction between change in philosophy or a present, physical change.
I'm sure most of you will agree with me that those who were born around the time period of the turn of the 20th Century (1900), witnessed more change than any other in history. Think about it for a moment. They went from wagons to cars,to telephone to airplanes to radio to TV to microwave to the interstate system to computers to the internet. With all of that thrown together, a person almost cannot help but change in one way or another.
You know, a person could really learn a lot if they would take time and spend a few minutes with some of those precious few we still have left that were born during that time period. The experiences they could relate and the stories they could tell.
Now I would like to pose this question to all of the readers. Given all of the progress and change we have went through during those last 100 or so years, I want to know how many believe life is really better now versus then. Do people actually enjoy life more today than of times past?
If you notice carefully, the most contented are always the elderly, and those of the more uncontented are the younger generations, regardless of their possessions.
Sometimes I feel we get caught between the two ends. We want the best of both worlds.
I am reminded of a song of about 30 or so years ago that addressed the issue. It was titled "Georgia Mules and Country Boys." Part of the lyrics went something like this. " I ain't knockin progress, but it hurts me just the same. To think Georgia mules and country boys are fadin' fast away.
I think of my life since 1927. I went through a financial collapse; a deep depression; living through a fierce 6 years of war, bombing every day in London for one whole year and then steadily into 1944; 3 years of fighting in Korea; the canal battle in Egypt in mid-fifties.
Yes, I have good memories down through the years, but there is no way I can say that life isn't better to-day. I don't go to bed hungry or in fear. God is still on the throne and I am assured of a place in His heaven. I can freely preach the gospel....in the 50's, we went to jail in Quebec for preaching the gospel on the streets..... Praise God from Whom ALL blessings flow.
Cheers,
Jim
You can make the argument both ways. Some things can befall us personally in any time period, such as some of the things you mentioned Jim.
But you can take it in the other direction as well. Today we deal with the constant threat of drugs, always wondering if our children are safe, no morality, no regard for fellowman, hectic, fast-paced lifestyle, etc. You could go on and on. There was a time when all of this was not prevelant.
Perhaps, just perhaps, the brother means he has been blessed enough to have been led into only truth, and as he has studied, he's only found truth. He's added, and added, and added more knowledge of God, but it's only adding to, not changing previous beliefs since they were also true.
Just a guess since I don't know the man, but you said you tried your best to consider a possible positive way of interpreting it, and that's the closest I can come.
I know I've changed beliefs as God has shown me in His Word how I was wrong time and again.
Change is a pretty neutral word. It can be good or bad.
Very few basic doctrines have I just thrown out the window. Change for me has been more, "Line upon line and precept upon precept."
I thought I understood the precept perfectly, but in reading the scriptures or hearing someone else's analysis, I realized that there were really layers of truth, and perhaps I only understood something at a rudimentary level.
When this happens, it doesn't scare me anymore. It used to. Now it excites me. I have gone through this some in the past few years concerning my "upbringing" on the gap theory and my more recent study of the young earth. Not trying to hijack the thread, just using that as an example.
You could really take that to an even deeper level. I am referring to the long day when the sun stood still in the book of Joshua, I believe. Then if you throw in the calendar changes through the ages, this may in fact not even be Saturday, but some other day. It would be interesting for a Sabatarian to discuss that one.
Thanks for all the good comments, and for Anonymous & Jim leading us a bit down memory lane. I am not one who particularly likes personal, social, or religious changes. I do not think we as a society are better off for most of the changes we've had. But religiously, if we never change, that means we never learn and we never grow. "But grow in grace and in knowledge of the truth."
Thanks brothers JamesCharles and Adrian for suggesting a more positive way of possibly looking at this. Bro. JC, I am not sure how much of your suggestion could apply to any of us. For our previous beliefs to have all been true and everything we add to it to all been true and no mistakes along the way seems pretty unlikely to me.
But the Spirit does guide us into all truth.
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