Tension
Regarding my last post, I think the tension really lies in potential confusion caused by the following understandings:1) that the Divine Will is readily discernible by the human individual.
2) that the Divine Will in itself is absolutely transcendent, beyond all understanding.
The two statements seem to contradict one another, though I'm quite convinced that they don't. Now if there is *no* way whatsoever by which we may learn the Truth, then there is no moral obligation at all for us to act according to Truth. But if there is a way for the human individual to approach Truth, how do we actually know that we're not acting on our own notions? Modern Fundamentalism seem to offer a quick and dirty solution: they said we should stick to the literal words of the Bible. But this doesn't help us at all since the doctrine of sola scriptura itself is extra-biblical. Alternatively, we may characterize such thought as Bible-idolatry, the we then make the Scriptures into the cornerstone of our faith.
One practical implication of the tension is that we are constantly under an obligation to act morally. If acting morally is built in to our disposition then it is not an obligation at all, for no one would then have to force herself to act morally. It's part of her natural self. It is this compulsory yet resisted nature of the law which makes the observance and reverence of the moral law an obligation, and which set our moral life apart from our natural life.
posted by James Chang @ 8:57 PM
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