Stan, at the Winging It blog, offered some thoughts on the problem with humans having a "deceitful heart." This line of thinking often posted at blogs like Stan's always raises questions for me. Questions that I've never had well-answered (and mostly have been ignored.)
Usually, these commentaries are of the sort that say (this is my summation, to be clear, not a direct quote from anyone...)
Even if someone SAYS they're saved, they can be mistaken, for Scripture says that some will be surprised in the "final days" to learn that they're not saved. Yes, the human heart is deceitful above all things!
Which always raises the question, for me, well, how do you know you're not the one who is deceived and deceitful, confused and mistaken?
In a (very) slight attempt to deal with the problem, Stan said...
"While admitting up front that God's word is truth (and when they do not, you can immediately dismiss them, having only their own deceitful hearts as their standard), we are still left to our own wits, so to speak, to interpret God's word."
Stan then asks, are we considering the text and the context of the text? The language and culture and the writing style (and Stan cites "historical, doctrinal, hyperbole, poetry, etc..." Noting that he doesn't offer mythic or epic as potential writing styles...), etc. All of which are fine, as far as they go.
But what of two groups of people reading the same collection of texts in good faith efforts to understand and yet who come to disagreement on interpretation and understanding?
Stan deals with this towards the end by saying...
"...how does your understanding of the text, the context, and the Scriptures line up with the history of Christendom?
Is your understanding novel?
Does it contradict all prior understanding?
Have you come up with a new and creative way to understand God's Word?
Then you can be pretty sure your deceitful heart is doing its devilish work."
So, this is a LOVELY rationale for sticking to human religious traditions. But, some questions arise...
1. It's not strictly biblical, you know that, right? Appealing to human traditions as a test has mixed responses in the Bible's pages. Some places, it affirms human traditions, others, it decries them.
2. Indeed, Jesus disrupted a HUGE number of human religious teachings and understandings, traditions that the religious fathers had handed down for thousands of years that Jesus up-ended.
3. It STILL has the problem of relying upon human teachings, which teachings and interpretations being HUMAN in nature, are fallible.
4. It has the problem of needing to affirm things like slavery and forced marriages (because God in the Bible appears to condone such things) and the problem of condemning loving marriage relationships between gay and lesbian folks. For instance.
5. So, to address Stan's last line:
Does your human understanding of your human traditions have you affirming slavery and forced marriages (ie, rape) in some circumstances and yet denying committed loving marriage options to gay and lesbian folk, you can be sure your deceitful heart is doing its devilish work.
