A Dialogue with myself? Validating the Revealed? part 4

The previous blog we talked about 'revelation' - from God. In my recent reading, I came across a quotation from Barth! Not common to my normal reading but he wrote 'Theology is constituted solely by revelation: ‘in Jesus Christ, the hidden God has indeed made himself apprehensible. Not directly, but indirectly. Not to sight, but to faith. Not in His being, but in sign.’(Barth vol 2:ii). Interesting. So by what 'sign' might I have found a 'revelation' of God? The Bible has lots of this as it is the means Christians believe for God to 'reveal' himself. Yet, I ask, how does revelation provided nearly 2000 years ago relate to me today? - to you today? How do I know- cognitively and every other way - relationally - that the revelation of Jesus Christ as given in the Bible is genuinely available today? Brain (or cognitive) understanding of even a part of it is a start but hardly sufficient. So no matter how much apologetic argument can be brought to bear from external sources - about the biblical sources, about its texts, about the people who initiated them - it is insufficient without my personal knowledge.

A lot of challenges to that 'knowledge' come from our background. Would I have been a fervent Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu or communist if I had been brought up in worldviews and cultures that held any of those as primary? Well, the West has enough challenges nowadays not to warrant a 'Christian' background and worldview that is simply accepted from nurture. It would have been easy for me to have gone the same way as 99% of my school friends- into secular, not so risky, the educated world of work and earned money to go home each day, have a meal, watch the box, go to bed, get up go to work... and throw in a bit of leisure activity. For a start - for me at least how boring that might have been. What motivates that? self, security? Not just that surely? Yes, lots of people are altruistic enough to get involved in charities and serve beyond themselves. Something more? I wanted something more.

Being brought up with a Christian mother certainly swayed us (my two younger sisters and me) into the church though having to ask dad if I could be baptised was a bit tricky; he was antagonistic. Ask about getting married in a church -no not the Anglican at the top of the village, the Pentecostal one in town in the middle of non-beautiful terraced houses? He almost refused to come and 'give me away'; so I could have gone an easier route. Why did I choose to assert the rather odd route? Why not the local state church? Why an odd, very non-conformist chapel?

I'll have to relate my story. At nine I had been to a Christian convention at Filey and duly attended the kids' sessions. Fun. yes, I knew all the stories. Yes, I knew what had to be done to commit myself to Jesus - and I did it -to make sure... But when did that become 'real'? At Thirteen I decided to not go to church, to try out the 'other way'. It hardly lasted three weeks before I felt if I wanted to go back I'd best go before it was too embarrassing to tell why I'd been away. I wasn't exactly excited. I was feeling rather 'flat'. A youth camp might have helped. Two years later I began writing notes in a diary, journaling occasionally on spiritual matters. Reading the bible was beginning to have a bit more sense than just a history lesson. Having done, aged 10-11, the 500 questions for the Young Sower's league and won the bible and then another 500 for the concordance might have helped but it was mostly cognitive. Looking in the back appendices of that Bible during sermons was more interesting for working out when Joseph might have lived... and what date Moses might have dealt with which Pharoah - than working out a spiritual pathway for myself.

Yet when at 16 I was the only youth in a youth mission [all the other attendees were church members of adult 'helper' nature] I did actually sense God say -I presumed it was Him- get baptised. 'No, I don't want to. I don't like their baptistry in another back of beyond terraced area in town'. I gave in; I agreed, having had to ask the opposition - my Dad - first, that I'd ask the church to baptise me. Obedience to that 'sense' of revelation, seemed to trigger a new step of delight in the Bible as God's word. It was beginning to work as 'revelation' not just words on a page. It takes two to tango, not that I've ever danced the tango (or any other dance really); God does things; I do things in response. Relationship. This is how I saw it then and it has become foundational... but does it always work? I can relate later parts of our story in future blogs. It all depends on our concept of Truth. Back to blog 1.

If we look carefully at John's Gospel it is a matter of Truth based on fulfilment by Jesus of the old [Ritual formulations of temple etc], and Revelation of who Jesus is [Come and see (John 1:39) - he invites us] until Relationship is formed. That comes out of belief. These things were written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ (Messiah) the Son of God and that by believing you might have life in his name. (John 20:31). The invitation is there for all of us. Try it.