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Theological Trespassing: Difference between revisions
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William Branham believed that he was commissioned to reveal mysteries that had been hidden by God. But what does the Bible say about | William Branham believed that he was commissioned to reveal mysteries that had been hidden by God. But what does the Bible say about how the mysteries of God should be revealed? | ||
Did William Branham ignore the big "No Trespassing" sign that God put up on certain mysteries?<re>The concept of "Theological Trespassing" comes from Dr. Aaron Denlinger, professor of Church History and Historical Theology at Reformation Bible College.</ref> | |||
==What the Bible says== | ==What the Bible says== | ||
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:''The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.<ref>The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001), Dt 29:29.</ref> | :''The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.<ref>The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001), Dt 29:29.</ref> | ||
This seems to be a caution against inquiring into the “secret things”. We should stick to the “revealed things and | This seems to be a caution against inquiring into the “secret things”. We should stick to the “revealed things" and leave other things alone as belonging to God. God has revealed the things that are beneficial to us; and our attention should focus on these discoveries, and end with them. | ||
In 1536, John Calvin published his Institutes of the Christian Religion in which he | In 1536, John Calvin published his Institutes of the Christian Religion in which he warned: | ||
:''This is clearly expressed by Moses in a few words, “The secret things belong unto the Lord our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us, and to our children for ever,” (Deut. 29:29.) We see how he exhorts the people to study the doctrine of the law in accordance with a heavenly decree, because God has been pleased to promulgate it, while he at the same time confines them within these boundaries, '''for the simple reason that it is not lawful for men to pry into the secret things of God.'''<ref>John Calvin and Henry Beveridge, Institutes of the Christian Religion, vol. 2 (Edinburgh: The Calvin Translation Society, 1845), 532–533.</ref> | :''This is clearly expressed by Moses in a few words, “The secret things belong unto the Lord our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us, and to our children for ever,” (Deut. 29:29.) We see how he exhorts the people to study the doctrine of the law in accordance with a heavenly decree, because God has been pleased to promulgate it, while he at the same time confines them within these boundaries, '''for the simple reason that it is not lawful for men to pry into the secret things of God.'''<ref>John Calvin and Henry Beveridge, Institutes of the Christian Religion, vol. 2 (Edinburgh: The Calvin Translation Society, 1845), 532–533.</ref> | ||
Thomas Scott | Thomas Scott repeated this warning in a book he wrote in 1823: | ||
:'''''Almost all the heresies and controversies''', which have corrupted the purity, or disturbed the peace of the church in every age, have originated from disregard to this distinction; from vain attempts, by human reasonings and authority, to fill up supposed chasms in revelation, and to make it more apparently consistent and systematical, than it has pleased God to make it; from deducing disputable consequences from revelation; or from tracing back its sacred mysteries to some unrevealed antecedent causes.<ref>Scott, T. The Holy Bible Containing the Old and New Testaments. 5 vols. Boston: Samuel T. Armstrong, 1823. 1:488–585.</ref> | :'''''Almost all the heresies and controversies''', which have corrupted the purity, or disturbed the peace of the church in every age, have originated from disregard to this distinction; from vain attempts, by human reasonings and authority, to fill up supposed chasms in revelation, and to make it more apparently consistent and systematical, than it has pleased God to make it; from deducing disputable consequences from revelation; or from tracing back its sacred mysteries to some unrevealed antecedent causes.<ref>Scott, T. The Holy Bible Containing the Old and New Testaments. 5 vols. Boston: Samuel T. Armstrong, 1823. 1:488–585.</ref> | ||
Duane Christensen | Duane Christensen more recently penned the following admonition: | ||
:''Silence is an appropriate response in the face of ultimate mystery. As the prophet Isaiah put it, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isa 55:8–9 NRSV). | :''Silence is an appropriate response in the face of ultimate mystery. As the prophet Isaiah put it, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isa 55:8–9 NRSV). | ||