Quest For Truth and Discipleship
Start by watching this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AF5AEGw1X5o
The importance of Truth
1. Hosea 4:6
2. 2 Timothy 2:14-19
3. Ezekiel 47
It is clear that we need to be on a quest to gain knowledge and understanding. It is our duty to learn and seek the truth.
The books are available to us to learn and to study. We have a wealth of information available at our finger tips and we should be going out and learning each one at his own rate and to his own capacity.
It should be understood that not everyone can learn at the same level, but it is important for us to delve into the deep.
As an example when we talk about the doctrine of the Trinity, we shouldn't be only satisfied with the common representations that has been used to describe to us the Trinity, like the golden triangle. We should be able to understand and describe the Trinity from a Biblical perspective.
Dialogue
There should be a distinction between
1. Idle Talk mentioned in 2 Timothy 2
2. Serious Quest for the Truth
Idle talk are like the LGPTQ community. They don't care about dialogue. They are just out to spread their ideas. Usually, they know they are wrong, but they are trying to get people to sympathize with them, or agree with them in order to feel vindicated. There is no interest for gaining an understanding of the truth. It is true what God has said:
‘Hearing you will hear and shall not understand, And seeing you will see and not perceive; For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, And their eyes they have closed, Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, So that I should[a] heal them.’ Isaiah 6:9,10
This usually is accompanied with the sense of victimhood. They kill dialogue by claiming that any opposing opinion is victimizing them. You're discriminating against me. You're trying to spread hatred against us or our institution.
On the other hand an individual on a serious quest for truth, is out there seeking knowledge and open dialogue. They are not out on a mission to spread a message. They are not out trying to convince the world of their opinion, but they are out seeking the truth.
Now these people can be hard to convince. They might need time to think and research. They might have strongly formed opinions about certain subjects and it might take a lot of effort to convince them of an opposing opinion.
It is sometime easy to mix the two categories.
As servants we need to be able to distinguish the two types of people. One we should avoid, and the other we should engage in dialogue.
Unfortunately, dialogue has become a lost art these days. It is easy for us to stay in the shallows and shut people down in their dialogue accusing them of ignorance or sometimes going as far as heresy. This is a sign of weakness on our part. It shows our lack of understanding of our own faith. We are still babes in knowledge and are unable to engage people with opposing views or people who are still questioning and searching for the truth.
This brings us to the point of Discipleship. The idea that we seek out mentors well versed in the faith is a very important aspect of our lives. However, the concept of Discipleship has been reduced in meaning, as to someone who sits at the feet of the teacher and listens passively. (Although traditionally, this is meant as a sign of respect, in the common day to day usage it is understood as a sign of blind obedience - in the opinion of the author) I don't find this interpretation of Discipleship to be very constructive or efficient. The point of Discipleship is to raise a generation strong in faith and in understanding. Dialogue must be part of this relationship in order to produce people of such sort. It is not to produce clones of the teachers. People weak in the faith, who essentially have no personality. People who have to refer to their mentors before every single decision. This sort of person will never make an effective servant for they will be lost if they are left on their own.
Discipleship should instill a thirst for the truth, an attitude of well doing, to transfer the love of God to the next generation and let God use them in the service. God will mold them and us into the people we ought to be; fulfilling each and everyone's potential.
Dialogue should be an integral part of Discipleship. There should be a sense of freedom and comfort in the relationship for the disciple to come to the teacher with his thoughts and research, to challenge him/her with their ideas and the teacher's role is to discuss, analyze and where necessary to correct the ideas and when correct admit the disciple's ideas as true and should be adopted. It's a relationship marked with growth of both the teacher and the disciple for both are human and not perfect. If God said, learn from me for I am meek and humble in heart, then all humans, teachers and disciples, should exhibit the same attitude.
In summary, we should not only rely on what's been handed to us. We should use this knowledge as a launching pad for more deep research and deep learning. Obviously, everyone has different measures of this gift and everyone has different capacity. The point is to use our potential to the fullest.
Dialogue should be an integral part in Discipleship. Trust, comfort, respect and freedom should be part of this relationship that the student would feel comfortable to bring his ideas to his teacher to be discussed, analyzed and accepted or corrected when needed. The relationship should be marked with growth for both the teacher and the student.