The Psalms are the word of Christ

[aron]

Originally Posted by OBW

The post-Christian. If that means that there are no more Christians, then we have a problem. But the term generally means something like the visible testimony of Christianity changes sufficiently that it no longer resembles the thing that is currently called Christianity. We may have the best doctrines (collectively) and think we are on the path. But we are going nowhere except on a journey being rapidly expelled from the mouth of God. (Not pointing fingers. I see myself going on that same journey as well.)

Well I can't do the idea justice and perhaps I shouldn't have even tried. I certainly wasn't clear.

I am a sinner, redeemed and reborn. Jesus is and remains the "Lamb of God." This is my immutable fact as a Protestant evangelical fundamentalist, for lack of a better label. 'Christian' OK, fine.

But imagine a world beyond this in which there is no sin, death, pain, sorrow, shame, and confusion. Failure isn't known. But these words still fit! Incredible! The blessing and praise and honor and glory. The declarations "I will obey Your will" still stand as true and real. All that kind of stuff.

So I was looking at it not as a pious Jew or WL's "New Testament believer" but as if it were reality itself, come to us in the person of the Son of God. All my cultural "Christian" baggage isn't rendered moot, but rather in the brightness of His glory my religious background is rendered irrelevant. Sometimes I can just "feel" the Spirit of reality in these words. I don't know how to express it. But even my "Christianity" fades away.

That's why I got so indignant when WL dismissed them as the "fallen natural concepts" of a sinner. Unbelievable. Simply shocking.

Originally Posted by OBW

This is where I see the highly spiritual view of the Psalms as a potential hook. Oh, everything you speak of is there. But it is not just about the kingdom to come. If it is not informing this life, then we have missed its impact. That is one of the reasons that I have tended to hold back from bible studies on Revelation. Too much speculation about the future and no desire to consider today. That is not the fault of Revelation, but those who study it in that manner.

Well it's pretty clear by now that I'm a "lost in the clouds" type, and I can tell you my living doesn't match my vision at all. But I try to be merciful to others, and Jesus said if you show mercy to others, then God will be merciful to you. That's my best hope.

But visions and dreams have this: they call us. Beyond ourselves, our struggles, our situations and considerations. Moses still had to go back to Egypt. He had to confront Pharoah and lead the people out. But the vision on the back side of the mountain propelled him, and sustained him. In the Psalms I see Christ calling, speaking, declaring. It is a powerful attention-getter. I certainly hope that in that day, I will be found to have followed that voice, and to have obeyed.

[OBW]

Originally Posted by aron

Well it's pretty clear by now that I'm a "lost in the clouds" type, and I can tell you my living doesn't match my vision at all. But I try to be merciful to others, and Jesus said if you show mercy to others, then God will be merciful to you. That's my best hope.

I sort of doubt that. And I was not complaining about this thread. But I see so much where the study starts with the truth in something like the Psalms and then it never gets to what does it mean for me today. And without that, it isn't worth much.

I am less lost in the clouds, but often lost in the analysis. Not much different until I actually put some of this into practice.

Maybe tomorrow.

[aron]

Originally Posted by OBW

I see so much where the study starts with the truth in something like the Psalms and then it never gets to what does it mean for me today. And without that, it isn't worth much.

I am less lost in the clouds, but often lost in the analysis. Not much different until I actually put some of this into practice.

Maybe tomorrow.

One thing the analysis does, right off the bat, is make me resistant to poor teaching. Lord knows there's enough of that. So that helps. I've got enough problems already, without being dragged into the ditch by someone's confidence game (see under, "Lee, Witness").

Secondly I've enjoyed doing analysis as part of an ongoing conversation, or discussion, because it helps to be corrected by others, and hear what others think, as well. And it even helps when some of the correction seems a bit thin. I remember one unregistered guest who said I'd gone way off the right path, with my thinking. And perhaps I had. But the guest never addressed or even acknowledged the verses that I'd been examining. I found that to be rather telling. It was encouraging, actually, like the Holy Spirit was saying, "Keep going."

And occasionally it comes into my conversations at work and home and church. My ideas and perceptions sometimes seem helpful to others, in untangling the knots that bind us all. So it always encourages me to have something useful for others. I mean, that's what it's all about: helping others. If I just please myself, that surely wouldn't please God. It must have utility or it's nothing.

And lastly, we have the promise: "Seek and ye shall find". My seeking is of itself, as an activity, a vain affair. But God has promised us that we'll find. Therefore, I keep seeking.

Notice that the Psalms are very much in the here and now: "Let a righteous man strike me—that is a kindness; let him rebuke me—that is oil on my head." (Psalm 141:5). The Psalms were written when the battle raged. I'm not sure how much of Psalm 3 was actually composed when David was hiding in a cave, with his son Absalom and the princes on the warpath. But it is very focused on the moment. It's within the context of a God who is in heaven, who has promised and who functions, at least in part, through the "invisible host". But "Save me, O God" is not the sweet bye-and-bye. It is today. "Today, if you hear His voice, do not refuse it" (cf Psa 95:7-11; Heb 3:15).

[aron]

Originally Posted by aron

That's why I got so indignant when WL dismissed them as the "fallen natural concepts" of a sinner. Unbelievable. Simply shocking.

Of course I over-reacted. I always do. I write myself into an emotional state, then think that somehow my emotional state matches reality. It does not, and cannot. So forgive me for publicly hyperventilating.

Still, the NT reception of the Psalms seems fairly consistent, and WL departed from that, even radically. So it's right to question it. But to get all "huffy" about it is not my job, obviously.