When we decide to forsake obeying we are also forsaking true belief.

Chapter 2 - The Call to Discipleship  (continued)

Bonhoeffer- 'Doubt and reflection take the place of spontaneous obedience. 

The grown-up man with his freedom of conscience vaunts his superiority over the child of obedience.

But he has acquired the freedom to enjoy moral difficulties only at the cost of renouncing obedience.

In short, it is a retreat from the reality of God to the speculations of men, from faith to doubt.'

My thoughts--

Spontaneous obedience.  We love to question God and His commands at every turn. The serpent in the garden had Eve questioning God and ever since man has questioned God.  You'll have a whole group of people who will gladly say, 'Shouldn't God be able to stand up to questioning?'  In truth, God should NOT have to stand up to anything. We are the CREATURES HE is the CREATOR! When He was obeyed mankind felt no pain, there were no tears, no hatred, nothing that is born of the evil that Satan is. It was only when man decided to disobey that all the horrors of sin were allowed into the world. Our disobedience and continued disobedience brings the pain. Yet people love to say all that God asks of us is TOO hard! That God is evil for even wanting us to obey! These are the awful things people say to excuse their desire to sin and live in a world of sin, continuously disobeying. Every single human being in their right mind knows what it means to obey and disobey. And they know that true good only comes from obeying.  The trouble is that people love to sin and enjoy the sin. They love to disobey and feel joy from that evil, they are twisted people who are controlled by Satan.   'Spontaneous obedience'  Obeying spontaneously. 'DOUBT and REFLECTION take the place of spontaneous obedience.'  As we question obeying, allowing room for doubt and reflection we are inviting Satan to play in our heads. We are inviting Satan to fill us with all sorts of things that will lead us from obedience, not towards it.

'The grown-up man with his freedom of conscience vaunts his superiority over the child of obedience.' 

My thoughts--

People who love to debate truly do vaunt their supposed superiority over those who live a life of simply obedience.  They love to call those who believe and obey - stupid, unintelligent, naïve, foolish, all because they have this notion implanted by the author of deception that God is not even real, and if He is real then He surely doesn't deserve blind obedience.

All through history those who are controlled by Satan have demeaned the simple obedient man, and it's that man who is closest to God and will gain SALVATION truly the most treasured of anything in existence.

'But he has acquired the freedom to enjoy moral difficulties only at the cost of renouncing obedience. In short, it is a retreat from the reality of God to the speculations of men, from faith to doubt.'

My thoughts--

At the cost of RENOUNCING obedience we use our freedom to enjoy moral difficulties. We pride ourselves on being able to challenge God's teachings but in reality we are only hurting ourselves - in  a very eternal way. When we stand up and shout to God (even silently) that we don't have to obey His commandments because they are just too hard, not meant for us human beings to keep, they are what denies us the happiness we deserve, their restrictions are just too constraining.  When we give all our speeches going into great detail about why God's commands are unjust we have given up our ability to truly obey God. When we give up that ability to obey, we are truly retreating from the REALITY of GOD and into mere speculations of men. We ARE in TRUTH caught up in DOUBT having forsaken FAITH.

Obeying and belief go hand in hand.  When we decide to forsake obeying we are also forsaking true belief.  So many DO NOT BELIEVE this and they are deceiving themselves! 

LORD please, please help us OBEY.

Please.