"God grant that your mental horizon may grow wider every day. Systems are
only dear to those who cannot take the whole truth into their hands and who
want to catch it by the tail. A system is like the tail of truth but truth
is like a lizard. It will leave its tail in your hands and then escape you.
It knows that within a very short time it will grow another." Ivan Turgonev
"What we realize is that behind this lies the whole temptation of the mind
to control. But the nature of theology is that be receptive rather than
controlling, open rather than grasping; a matter of delight rather than a
matter of mastery. Grasping, controlling, and mastery are faster and seem
surer. They are the shortcut to truth, but they produce a reduced vision of
the truth. So always be suspicious of theological success." James Houston
Lance, awesome quote. For me, it offers explanation for the existence of the various and sundry denominational doctrinal systems that are out there. Those systems offer a sense of security to those who follow them because they, the system, are used to define the evile world. So Baptist's think everyone is going to heaven except Church of Christ and the c of c thinks the opposite. We use the modern day doctrine of "verbal, plenary inspiration" to define the true believer, the notion of the rapture, the Trinity (whatever that is), nonsmoking, the Protestant bible, and so on, to determine the true believer. Ninety-nine percent of those within a particular sect (denomination) have not the foggiest idea how to defend or explain these ideas -- they just know that they are true !?
Anyway, Turgonev/Houston actually said it better than I just did. Thanks.
John Smithson
