Ahh... I can't figure it all out.
I wish the Bible was written like a catechism or statement of faith.
Why do I find more than one answer to the question "What must I do..."? And neither of the answers Jesus gives sounds like the typical evangelical gospel message and sinners prayer.
What is the deal with God's wrath. Does God love sinners, or does he want to torture them for eternity? If God hates sinners can I too? (No - just in-case you think I'm really nuts). But there are verses that speak of God's wrath. I want to ignore them, but they are there.
I don't buy that my sin separated God from me. I understand that when I go my selfish ways, like the prodigal son, I am separating myself from God. But do I ever go so far that God is not able to reach out and love me in my sinfulness? While we were sinners Christ loved us. Satan was even in God's presence in Job. Jesus was a friend of sinners.
Why did God have to kill Jesus? Or was it my sins that killed Jesus? Was it simply to symbolize an end to the Jewish sacrifice system, being the final perfect lamb of God? Or is there also a meaning that I (a non-Jew) need to understand? Because to be honest, I don't understand why a loving Father would kill his own son.
I know God loves me.
I know he wants to reign in my life, be my Lord, and be my Savior.
I know he wants me to respond in love to himself and to others.
I know I need to learn to listen to His voice, and follow.
I'm just not sure what to do with some of our beliefs. Do I focus on the verses that speak of God's wrath towards sinners, or do I focus on the verses that speak of God's love and desire to be in a deep relationship with me.
Do I need to figure it all out? Or should I just start living?
Monday, September 6, 2010
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Uh Oh I'm guilty of proof-texting
OK, so I need to point a few fingers back my way. I suspected I was guilty of this, but yeah... I was hoping it wouldn't be this easy to find.
I asked in my last post on proof-texting: "Does your gospel require proof-texting? Or is is plainly written somewhere in one place?"
Well my what I believe page requires proof-texting. It is alot shorter than my first version... but I think I may need to rework this one as well. Each point is based on a verse or passage... but yeah, I guess that's the beauty of proof-texting.
If I were to summarize the most important aspect of the faith, why can't I find one passage in Scripture that summarizes it satisfactorily?
I asked in my last post on proof-texting: "Does your gospel require proof-texting? Or is is plainly written somewhere in one place?"
Well my what I believe page requires proof-texting. It is alot shorter than my first version... but I think I may need to rework this one as well. Each point is based on a verse or passage... but yeah, I guess that's the beauty of proof-texting.
If I were to summarize the most important aspect of the faith, why can't I find one passage in Scripture that summarizes it satisfactorily?
Proof-Texting
Imagine I've written 3 letters to 3 different people about my summer. But instead of reading the letters someone tells you the following:
If you just read the verses quoted, they seem to support the statements above. However none of the above is true when you look at the whole letters yourself.
Dear Mom,
1. Our family had a great vacation this summer.
2. We spent time together this summer by jumping in a van together and tenting across the country.
3. I enjoyed exploring parts of our country that we had never seen before.
Dear daughter,
1. I enjoyed the time we spent together as a family this summer.
2. I hope you are ready to get back into the school routine soon.
3. I hope we can find time during the school weeks to spend time together too.
Hey Bob,
1. Sorry I didn't get out golfing with you.
2. Our family got quite busy over the summer with other plans.
3. Looking forward to spending some time with you and your family next weekend.
Proof-texting does not always lead to the wrong conclusions. And I'm likely guilty of using it too - I'll have to keep a watch on myself on this in the future. But lately I'm learning to be suspicious whenever I see proof-texting done to support an argument. If the early church believed the same sequence of thoughts, why didn't they write it down in one place in one of the letters they wrote.
Does your gospel require proof-texting? Or is is plainly written somewhere in one place?
Related Posts:
- Jon hopes to go tenting across the country with his daughter during the coming school weeks. (Dear daughter verse 3, Dear Mom verse 2)
- Next week Jon is going tenting across the country with Bob and family. (Hey Bob verse 3, Dear Mom verse 2)
- Jon wishes he had gone golfing instead of camping (Hey Bob verses 1 & 2, Dear Mom verse 2)
If you just read the verses quoted, they seem to support the statements above. However none of the above is true when you look at the whole letters yourself.
Dear Mom,
1. Our family had a great vacation this summer.
2. We spent time together this summer by jumping in a van together and tenting across the country.
3. I enjoyed exploring parts of our country that we had never seen before.
Dear daughter,
1. I enjoyed the time we spent together as a family this summer.
2. I hope you are ready to get back into the school routine soon.
3. I hope we can find time during the school weeks to spend time together too.
Hey Bob,
1. Sorry I didn't get out golfing with you.
2. Our family got quite busy over the summer with other plans.
3. Looking forward to spending some time with you and your family next weekend.
Prooftexting is the practice of using quotations from a document (often, but not always, a book of the Bible) to establish a proposition. Using discrete quotations is generally seen as decontextualised. Critics of the technique note that often a document quoted in such a manner, when read as a whole, may not in fact support the proposition for which it was cited.
Ministers and teachers have used the following humorous anecdote to demonstrate the dangers of prooftexting:
A man dissatisfied with his life decided to consult the Bible for guidance. Closing his eyes, he flipped the book open and pointed to a spot on the page. Opening his eyes, he read the verse under his finger. It read, "Then Judas went away and hanged himself" (Matthew 27:5b) Closing his eyes again, the man randomly selected another verse. This one read, "Jesus told him, 'Go and do likewise.'" (Luke 10:37b)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prooftext
Proof-texting does not always lead to the wrong conclusions. And I'm likely guilty of using it too - I'll have to keep a watch on myself on this in the future. But lately I'm learning to be suspicious whenever I see proof-texting done to support an argument. If the early church believed the same sequence of thoughts, why didn't they write it down in one place in one of the letters they wrote.
Does your gospel require proof-texting? Or is is plainly written somewhere in one place?
Related Posts:
Friday, September 3, 2010
Fellowship equals Unity
Yes... the light bulb slowly flickers on.
My journey here has started with Unity. That was the trigger that got me questioning some of the traditions and beliefs I have grown up having within protestant evangelicalism. (If interested see my first two posts here and here.)
My journey then took me to believe Unity is an essential to our faith. We find many things to disagree about, and often find a few verses to support the different positions. But there is a very strong theme in Scripture that unity is essential. Our focus on unity needs to be present whenever we approach differences, or we are harming the body of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Lately my journey has lead me to explore the possibility that some of the traditions institutional church has accumulated may not serve the building up of Christ's body well. I've been exploring what it means to gather as a body of Christ, and what sorts of activities serve the building up of each other. I've been trying to look to the New Testament church to see how it was modeled there, and desiring to see some of the same in my life.
Today I was doing a topic search on the word fellowship. And I kept coming across the same passage that got me started on this years ago.
Jesus' Prayer for us in John 17:20 - 26 (NIV)
How we fellowship with one another paints a picture of how Jesus is united with the Father, and with how He is united with each of us. And we can look to Jesus relationship with the Father and with us to be an example of how we can fellowship with each other.
Related Posts:
My journey here has started with Unity. That was the trigger that got me questioning some of the traditions and beliefs I have grown up having within protestant evangelicalism. (If interested see my first two posts here and here.)
My journey then took me to believe Unity is an essential to our faith. We find many things to disagree about, and often find a few verses to support the different positions. But there is a very strong theme in Scripture that unity is essential. Our focus on unity needs to be present whenever we approach differences, or we are harming the body of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Lately my journey has lead me to explore the possibility that some of the traditions institutional church has accumulated may not serve the building up of Christ's body well. I've been exploring what it means to gather as a body of Christ, and what sorts of activities serve the building up of each other. I've been trying to look to the New Testament church to see how it was modeled there, and desiring to see some of the same in my life.
Today I was doing a topic search on the word fellowship. And I kept coming across the same passage that got me started on this years ago.
Jesus' Prayer for us in John 17:20 - 26 (NIV)
"My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message,that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. "Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. "Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them."So, when I'm praying for fellowship, and a community of believers where all members participate in being part of Christ's body... I guess what I'm praying for is unity again.
How we fellowship with one another paints a picture of how Jesus is united with the Father, and with how He is united with each of us. And we can look to Jesus relationship with the Father and with us to be an example of how we can fellowship with each other.
Related Posts:
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Fellowship
The term Communion is derived from Latin communio (sharing in common). The corresponding term in Greek is κοινωνία, which is often translated as "fellowship". In Christianity, the basic meaning of the term communion is an especially close relationship of Christians, as individuals or as a Church, with God and with other Christians.
The word κοινωνία (koinonia) was in use in Greek even before the advent of Christianity. In classical Greek, it could apply to a business partnership, to fellowship of life in marriage, to a spiritual relationship with a god such as Zeus, to comradely fellowship between friends, to a community or society.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communion_(Christian)
This summer I've enjoyed some great fellowship around campfires, on friends decks, around dinner tables, and in living rooms. I've had some brief fellowship on Sunday mornings before and after the service. But I think the campfires were the best though. :)
So what do you think the best setting for fellowship is?
Related Posts:
Purpose of Participation
I think Alan Knox has given some good insights here on reasons we should should desire participatory church gatherings:
Related Posts:
For the last few yeas, our church gatherings have been more participatory – meaning, more people take part in the speaking, teaching, edifying, encouraging, etc. that happens during our church meetings.I think that makes sense. I respect Alan's approach to using Scripture to back how he practices his faith. For me a lot of this is just theoretical brain pain. For now I just wanted to file it here with my other thoughts on participation at the gathering. Thanks Alan.
However, participation is not an end in itself. Our goal is not increased participation from the body of Christ. Our goal when meeting together is mutual edification (1 Corinthians 14:26; Hebrews 10:24-25). We allow and encourage many people to take part in our meetings because we understand that God works through all of his children (mutual) in order to help us all walk in maturity in Christ (edification).
So, a participatory meeting is not our goal, but a tool that God uses to build up his children when the church meets.
Related Posts:
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