I have yet to find Biblical support that Jesus or God requires us to give up control of our lives; but I do feel he taught that we are to choose a path of right behavior.
In this thread I would like to address Biblical support for the teaching of surrendering one’s life to Jesus/God.
Within large civilizations smaller groups tend to have specialized vocabulary. Those who work in various science fields have their specialized terms and phrases, the same with medical, construction, sports, clerical, religious, etc.
We run into this problem quite a bit on this board. We see it constantly with the word faith. I request that when using the words surrender, faith, belief or any other word that you are using that may have a different meaning in the religious usage than the common usage.
In one article I read concerning surrender the author stated:
"Surrender" is just another word for "faith," or another word for "dependence.".
I feel that teachings like this only serve to confuse and make it harder for some individuals to understand the teachings of Jesus because those teaching may or may not be using the most common usage of the words; or they may or may not be using them correctly to express the meaning intended.
When one is told to surrender one’s life to Jesus, the word surrender implies giving up power or control of our lives.
I don’t feel that Jesus taught that we should give up control of our lives, but I do feel that he taught that we should give up wrong behavior.
In our dictionaries today, surrender also carries a meaning of yielding oneself to an emotion, influence, or course of action.
IOW, if I choose to follow the teachings of Jesus, then I will change my actions accordingly; but I’m not giving up control of my life.
Just as when we have to change our diet for health reasons. We aren’t surrendering (giving up) control of our life to the doctor, but we are choosing to surrender (yield) to the course of action the doctor recommends.
This is not a discussion about faith (any of the meanings), belief (any of the meanings), or salvation (Christian interpretation).
It is a discussion on what is written in the Bible that does or does not support that Jesus or God requires us to give up control of our lives.
Bible Study.
"Peshat is what I say and derash is what you say." --Nehama Leibowitz
™ Version 4.2