bloggit: mystery

An eye-opening look at the mystery of God, even if you aren't interested in the "emerging church" aspect. Drew Dyck, in "The Right Kind of Mystery" at Boundless.org (emphasis mine):

It was my Systematic Theology professor who led me to question the positions I'd unconsciously adopted. Doctrine was not the enemy of mystery, she contended. It was quite the opposite. She taught us that doctrine actually serves to preserve mystery. ...

The way emerging church proponents use the word mystery is telling. To writers like [Brian] McLaren and [Rob] Bell, preserving mystery means not being too adamant about our beliefs. For Tony Jones, National Coordinator of the Emergent Village, it means something even more radical. It means being ready to say of our faith that "we could very well be wrong about all of this."

The Bible's treatment of the topic is strikingly different. Contrast emerging use of mystery with the way Jesus speaks of mystery to his disciples: "And he said, 'To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God'" (Luke 8:10). In this verse, mystery is for the knowing — not an excuse for half-hearted faith.

Paul uses the Greek word mystãrion — from which we get our word mystery — 20 times in the New Testament. And not once does he employ the word to air doubts or to revel in uncertainty. Instead he points to the joyous fact that God has made mysteries known. For Paul, mystery always opens in revelation through Jesus Christ. That's the good news — that God hasn't left us in the dark, but has revealed his mystãrion in the person of His son.