Difficult Doctrines
Thabiti,
I suppose difficult doctrines really are in the eye of the beholder. The Trinity, Christ's two natures, and the relationship between divine sovereignty and human responsibility certainly strike me as particularly hard to understand.
However, an interesting thing about these doctrines is that though they are some of the hardest to understand, I'm not sure they are the most difficult to "personally grasp."
The doctrine of Scripture and, specifically, the doctrine Jonathan referred to, inspiration, is one that I see people having the most difficult time both understanding and personally grasping.
Such a difficulty is a relatively recent phenomenon--Christians before the rise of higher criticism would not have struggled so deeply with the proposition that God's words have been inscripturated for our benefit. A wedge has been driven in the minds of so many today who affirm the existence of God and even the lordship of Christ but who refuse to embrace a robust doctrine of inspiration.
I am too young a person--or at least too young a Christian--to have first-hand experience with the inerrancy debates of the last century, but I don't want to lose for a moment the fruit of this controversy. Through it many were helped to understand and personally grasp that God has spoken; that revelation and inspiration must not be separated.
I look forward to other's thoughts (and Greg's results)!
There is another kind of difficult doctrine: the one that might be easy to understand, but hard to solve from scripture.
Some things, of course, scripture is silent on. But an example of one of these difficult doctrines, for me personally, is baptism. I know you guys are baptists so this one's probably easy for you! But I grew up in the PCA and, for some reason, have the hardest time figuring out whether credo- or paedobaptism aligns with scripture. I know one of them must, but why is it so difficult for me to see!
Posted by: Nathan | May 9, 2009 12:50:47 AM
I would say the doctrine of pain and suffering (or Why God Allows Evil) is the most difficult to grasp and understand. This is from learned and faithful pastors to the most depraved of unbelievers. It's not that no one has answers, but that they are hard to grasp and internalize, especially when you experience them yourself.
Tom
Posted by: TM | May 11, 2009 10:38:07 AM