1. Free As Sons
   
2. Does "Go Ye" Mean "Go Me?"
   
3. Are We Really Born Again?
   
4. The Sacrifices of Cain and Abel
   
5. Silence Says Something
   
6. Body Language
   
7. Repentance Before Faith
   
8. I Wonder
   
9. Can I Know?
   
10. Ultimate Logical Conclusions
    
11. Errors in Peter's Sermon
    
12. Did Timothy Need Admonition?
    
13. Jesus' Youth Sermon For Adults
    
14. Why Didn't Paul Reform?
    
15. Christmas
    
16. Let The Unmarried Marry
    
17. A Dialect of Division
    
18. Our Traditions
    
19. Adding Our Safeguards
    
20. According To The Pattern
    
21. A Creed In The Deed
    
22. Samuel Did Not Know The Lord!
    
23. Response From Our Readers
    
24. Cries Of A Troubled Church
    
25. Sharing Without Fellowship
    
26. I Joined A Church
    
27. Open Membership
    
28. Another Last Will And Testament
    
29. Sad Thoughts About Church Growth
    
30. My Four Retirement Homes
    
31. Hook's Points: A Potpourri
    

CAN I KNOW?

"I believe; help my unbelief! " is the willing confession and anguished plea of a sincere man torn between faith and doubt (Mark 9:14-22). Do you identify with his turmoil of mind? We all have a mixture of faith and doubt, but we are just not supposed to admit any doubt! We are supposed to have a Pollyanna sort of faith.

Suppressed doubts fester and infect faith. Confronted doubt purifies faith from error. Honest doubt is a new aspect of truth standing at our door, knocking for entrance into our lives.

I would suppose that no one has 100 % faith or 100 % unbelief. In varying degrees, the combination of these is in different persons. Most people seem to avoid either extreme. They do not have conviction of faith to dedicate themselves to God exuberantly, and they are not sure enough of their doubts to enable them to be comfortable atheists. While many speak of believing in God, the shallowness of their conviction allows them to use God's name as a byword or to curse by.

Even from my earliest remembrance, I had questions of doubt about religion, though I was not rebellious against it. As an older teenager, I decided to attend Abilene Christian College so I could learn all the answers in order to have no more doubts! But we soon learned that the most devout and learned man has more unanswered questions than he had as a spiritual infant. Formerly, he not only did not have the answers, but he did not even know the questions.

Let us think of a man living in a deep well. Looking upward, he can see sunlight, clouds, lightning, and stars. He has many puzzling questions about what he sees. He begins to climb out. As he climbs, many questions are answered, but his view broadens and other questions are raised. Climbing to the surface, he has learned more, but his questions are multiplied. So it is in the field of search and learning. There are always unanswered questions. One of my questions is: Can I know?

God's will for us is practical. Unless I begin with that premise, there is no point in my going further in my quest to learn and do his will. If to learn and do his will demands that I know all truth and conform to all of it, then hope flies out the window, because that is impractical. Most of us who have sought to follow Jesus have never had a course in logic and have not been too literate. We have never occupied the ivory towers, or even the church studies. We confess our lack of knowledge and we are often confused by the confusion of the modern scribes who occupy those places.

Perhaps I can know some things. I know the sun is shining beautifully this fall morning. However, it could have ceased three minutes ago and I would not know it for another five minutes. I know that one plus one equals two sometimes. A pound of sand and a pound of gold may be two pounds separately but are not so combined, because they are measured by different standards. I know that I should give consideration to the weak brother, but I don't always know who he is and what his point of weakness is.

Let us consider one Biblical subject: The Holy Spirit. Can I know about the Holy Spirit? I have no physical evidences to prove his existence. I have not seen, heard, felt, tasted, or smelled him or proved his existence by demonstration or logical equation. I believe that he exists and works, but that belief is based upon evidences which fall short of proof.

I believe that I have received the Spirit, that he lives in me, and that he works in my daily life, but I do not know that for sure. That belief is based upon other beliefs belief in the Scriptures, belief that I understand them sufficiently, belief that I have complied with the prerequisites for receiving the Spirit, and belief that I see his workings in the course of my life.

Because the Ephesian disciples were assured that they were sealed with the Holy Spirit, I believe that I am sealed also. But what does that mean? I have some ideas as to what that means, but I cannot know that my understanding is correct.

I am convinced that I should not resist the Holy Spirit, but I don't know for sure if I am resisting him or not. Does resisting the Spirit mean resisting the word of God, resisting subjective inclinations, or both, or something else? I don't know. Can you know that you know?

As an indwelt person, I am urged to be filled with the Spirit. What does that mean? I have some positive ideas as to what it means to be filled with the Spirit but I don't know if they are correct or not.

When a disciple is led by the Spirit, does that simply mean that he is guided by his understanding of the Scriptures, or does it include guidance by his reasoning abilities and his subjective feelings, or by all or none of these? Who knows? I don't know.

As I read Jude's instruction for us to pray in the Holy Spirit, I run into another area of uncertainty. I don't know if I pray in the Holy Spirit or not, for I am not sure that I know what that involves. Do you know?

Further, I am warned not to grieve the Holy Spirit, and I really don't know if I am grieving him or not. It is possible that my not knowing these things about him grieves him, or, perhaps, it is my thinking that I know when I don't!

Ours is a religion of faith. We walk by faith, not by sight. Faith is assurance of things hoped for, a conviction of things not seen. Subjectivity may be based upon emotions, imagination, or wishful thinking. Faith is more than subjectivity. Knowledge is based upon proofs and demonstrations. Faith is less than knowledge. Faith on some point may be so strong that we say, "I know," but some subjectivity has colored our thinking when we do.

Although we have evidences sufficient to create life­changing convictions, that faith must ever be tentative, awaiting modification or change as more evidence is gained or understood. Otherwise, faith could neither grow nor diminish.

Are you confused and dismayed by all of this? Here is the cheering, comforting part. Righteousness is imputed to us because of our faith, not knowledge. If I could know and do all truth, then justification could be earned and merited instead of being a gift of grace. But how much faith is necessary? Enough for you to accept Jesus and turn your life over to him in obedience.

The effectiveness is not in the power of one's faith but in the object of the faith. There is no value in putting one's self through a torturous, disciplinary process in an effort to develop a mentally energetic faith powerful enough to save. If that could be accomplished, it would be a work of merit.

One person may have casual faith that his boat will take him safely to the distant shore, while another person "psyches up" his faith to the point of believing that he can swim that impossible distance. Which person will reach the shore? The object of the faith, rather than the intensity of faith, is the determining factor. The effective faith simply utilizes the boat which has the capability. So, we can relax and trust in Jesus rather than the energy or intensity of our faith.

Perhaps, you are thinking that I am ignoring that Jesus said, "You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. " There we have it! We can know the truth. It frees. Error cannot free. Then, can I know, and be freed by, the truth about what happened to Amelia Earhart, how petroleum was formed underground, or the cure for cancer? "No," you protest, "we are speaking of Biblical truth." Then, can I know, and be freed by, whether Jesus was in the tomb two or three nights, who wrote Hebrews, or the signs of Jesus' coming?

There are no life-giving facts. Facts and evidences lead us to him who is The Truth and The Life. Life and freedom are in knowing him in a saving relationship, not knowing all the facts about him. This knowing him is by faith and might involve some subjectivity. We can know facts about him and still not know him; we can know him while not knowing many of the facts about him. We are walking in the truth (but without knowing all the truth) when we are living in him.

Jesus rebuked some: "You search the Scriptures for in them you think that you have eternal life, but it is they that bear witness of me." Their interest was in Scriptural, factual truth, but they missed him who is the Truth. Our devoted search for Biblical truth may be no more effective than was theirs.

It is questionable that the human mind can ever grasp the whole of any fact. The mind interprets data, incomplete as it must ever be, in light of what it already knows, or presupposes; thus, ultimate truth may continue to be beyond its comprehension.

In climbing my Mount Nebo, I am given a view of my previous wilderness wanderings and also of the promised land of truth before me; but, like Moses, I will not be privileged to enter in. Faith glimpses the panorama of truth without ever comprehending all its details.

Even with my enhanced view, I still cry out, "I believe; help my unbelief! "