Can Being Too Intellectual Hurt Our Relationship With God?

Episode 177 Show Notes

Can Being Too Intellectual Hurt Our Relationship With God?

From the Show

What do you do with Psalm 137, the passage about dashing babies heads against rocks? I don’t know how to make sense of a God who would command this?

In Isaiah 13 God promises to lay waste to Babylon himself, annihilating the city of oppressors. Indeed, what God promises to do to Babylon in the prophets is precisely what Psalm 137 sings and what the whole book of Revelation says will find its ultimate fulfillment when Christ returns in judgment…. [But] I have misgivings about singing Psalm 137 today, and here's why: Yes, it's true that Psalm 137 isn't ultimately about Judah’s deliverance from Babylon, but about Christ's defeat from the great Babylon that represents the whole world system arrayed against him. But, Jesus made it clear that in this phase of his kingdom before he returns to judge, it's the day of salvation. For God sent His Son into the world, not to condemn it but to save it…. If we're singing these songs of imprecation, the songs of calling God's judgment down, like James and John did, I think Jesus would turn to us and rebuke us and say it's not time for Psalm 137 to be sung. But, instead of invoking God's judgment, Jesus and His apostles called followers to love, serve, and pray for those who persecute them, hoping that the Lord will bring them to repentance just as he's brought us. The door of the ark is wide open. Right now, we shouldn't be calling fire down on anybody. — Michael Horton

Questions in this Episode

1. Is it Biblical to have communion every Sunday? Does the Bible teach that we should have communion every Sunday that we get together?

2. I have heard you talk about disagreeing with people while being respectful. But what if someone is coming from a heretical perspective?

3. What do you do with Psalm 137, the passage about dashing babies heads against rocks? I don’t know how to make sense of a God who would command this?

4. Does learning too much theology or being too intellectual get in the way of the heart and a personal relationship with God?