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Tom
Registered Member
Date Joined Jul 2001
Total Posts : 10353
| Posted 11/2/2002 8:49 PM (GMT -6) |   | James 1.5-8:
5 If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. 6 But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7 That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.
As I read this it occurred to me that this passage may undermine the blueprint worldview and encourage an open view of the future. The cherished commodity here is “wisdom” and not an detailed revelation of what we are to do. No doubt, sometimes God gets specific and tells us, “Do THIS.” OK. But most of my need for guidance consists of having to choose between several possible, even good, options. If “wisdom” is what I need and what God gives me, doesn’t this presuppose some openness to the future? If guidance amounts to asking God to reveal portions of the eternal blueprint, that amounts to “getting information from God.” Where’s the room for “wisdom” (which I take to mean something like ‘weighing and assigning value to options in light of living for God’s glory’)? If we run our lives out of the blueprint mode, then what’s the ‘need’ for this kind of wisdom? It would only be needed if in answer to our prayers for guidance God was believed to NOT give us the details of the blueprint. But if we run our lives out of an “openness” mode, then wisdom is paramount.
Now, in context, the person James is speaking of is suffering for doing what is right. What to do? Run? Defend? Speak up? Fight back? All of these might be right responses in different situations? Perhaps two might produce equally good results. In fact, suffering is perhaps the most difficult position from which to seek guidance, because a) we are to resist evil by default, but b) are to rejoice when we suffer for Christ’s sake. How does one suffering put these responses together in real life? Assuming the blueprint worldview, this person would not seek “wisdom,” she’d seek to know the blueprint, “God, tell me exactly what to do. It’s already settled. Let me see the blueprint.” But the request for “wisdom” seems to presuppose options, some bad, some good, some very good.
Yes? No?
Tom
"Every saint has a history and every sinner a future." Oscar Wilde | | Back to Top | | |
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Alan Rhoda
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Date Joined May 2002
Total Posts : 680
| Posted 11/4/2002 3:14 PM (GMT -6) | | Tom,
I agree with you that asking God for wisdom is not the same as asking for God to reveal to us His specific and already settled blueprint for our lives. As open theists, we would both question the truthfulness of the assumption that God has a specific and already settled blueprint for our lives. Whatever God's plans for us, they are not exhaustively settled. Since the future is to some extent open, our decision-making (and God's) requires sensitivity to the contingencies of changing circumstances, and that requires wisdom. One thing you say, however, I would question:
quote:
Assuming the blueprint worldview, this person would not seek “wisdom,” she’d seek to know the blueprint, “God, tell me exactly what to do. It’s already settled. Let me see the blueprint.”
I think this follows not from the blueprint worldview but from a certain popular view about how Christian decision-making ought to be conducted. On my view, the Bible does not teach that seeking specific individualized guidance from God is to be a normal part of decision-making. God does occasionally provide specific guidance, but when He does the Biblical pattern is that it is always clear, often unexpected, often miraculous, and often contrary to wisdom (cf. God's instructions to Gideon). Now it seems to me that whether one holds to the OV or to the blueprint model will require a different stance of the role of wisdom ONLY IF one holds that our decision-making normally ought to be in response to specific direction from God. One could consistently accept a blueprint model of divine providence but deny that we have to tap in to that blueprint in order to make God-honoring decisions. In that case, the application of wisdom would still be of central importance in decision-making because, even though God's plan is eternally settled, from our epistemologically limited perspective the future is still open. In fact, you acknowledge this possibility when you write:
quote:
If we run our lives out of the blueprint mode, then what’s the ‘need’ for this kind of wisdom? It would only be needed if in answer to our prayers for guidance God was believed to NOT give us the details of the blueprint.
Now I'm not claiming that the blueprint model is defensible--I don't think it is. What I am claiming is that we need to distinguish between what follows from the blueprint model and what follows from our theories of decision-making and not confuse the two because they can be logically separated. Whether or not the blueprint model or the open view is correct is primarily an ontological question--it's a thesis about the nature of reality. Whether seeking and developing wisdom plays a significant role in Christian praxis is primarily an epistemological question--it's a thesis about what sort of information we can typically expect from God in the way of guidance.
Have you considered the example of Solomon? He did exactly what James advises his readers to do--he asked God for wisdom and God gave it to him. In practice what this amounted to was that Solomon was given a penetrating discernment into human nature that enabled him to make wise and Godly decisions without having to consult God on each occasion. Witness his handling of the dispute between the two women regarding the baby. The wisdom that God gave him also issued in the book of Proverbs, a collection of sound general principles for living--an indication that wisdom has to do with the application of general principles to specific circumstances and not the reception of specific direction on what decisions we ought to make.
For His glory (Ps 115:1),
Alan | | Back to Top | | |
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Tom
Registered Member
Date Joined Jul 2001
Total Posts : 10353
| Posted 11/4/2002 5:35 PM (GMT -6) | | Thanks much Alan! Good clarification.
Tom 
"Kind of like donut holes--no one's ever eaten a donut hole because they don't exist." Starkman | | Back to Top | | |
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Starkman
Registered Member
Date Joined Oct 2001
Total Posts : 1747
| Posted 11/5/2002 10:55 AM (GMT -6) | | You know, Tom, it seems like this approach you're taking to James is the commonality of Scripture in general. I mean, it's how we operate, it seems that God agrees and operates with us this way, and it seems that God Himself operates this way. It's the general perspective given from Scripture about God, us and relationship in general.
So, yeah, I'm in agreement with you about your post.
Starkman.
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