questions about following Christ
George in a recent thread commented the following and I was struck by the depth and sensitivity of the questions that he poses that I felt it deserved its own thread. In some ways, some of what is said here starts to get to the heart of many debates on signposts. I will comment in a few days, as I am snowed under at the moment and about to go away for a few days. But, what do others think? How do you respond ?
Let’s be sensitive to each other on sensitive but important issues.
I’ll tell you what it is for me Phil. I’m on a journey. God changed my life three years ago and I’m still trying to figure out why. What does He want for me to do with it now. I’m all over the place listening to all the many voices that are out there in Christianity. And I’m trying to discern. I ask God to help me to discern.
I use His Word as my standard when it comes to discerning. He guides me by His Spirit as I look to His Word.
I know I want to work for Him. Maybe even in a full time ministry at some point. I’m not sure where its all going but its an incredible journey to be on and I am so grateful for what He has done in my life. I want to testify to what He has done and to be used to bring others to Him. There is absolutely nothing more rewarding.
But I want to do it right. How do I know if its right? Within Christianity there are so many voices that have so many different opinions on so many different issues.
As a new person in Christ I have to wade through all that and search for the real truth. How do I do that?
When it comes to your blog it is one of many emerging type blogs I read. I have waded in on the discission with respect to different issues from time to time and admittedly not as graciously as I should as a follower of Christ.
I have been convinced over these past three years that I can trust God’s Word the Bible as the ultimate authority in my life. That should probably go without saying for a follower of Christ, but there are those who would tell me that they are followers of Christ and yet question the total authority of Scipture. So ok I listen to all that and then I need to discern. Can I tust God and what He has already laid out and what has satisfied some of the brightest minds in human history or not? Is there all of a sudden some new revelation of God that contradicts what he has already told us?
I think Homers point about how we deal with culture is bang on when it comes to trusting God’s Word.
I find it interesting that so many bloggers who disagree with the biblical position on issues or who twist it to reflect what they want it to say, are ususally the ones that have so much discouragement in their life. They seem so angry. They seem angry even at God as they quote Scripture. I wonder if God might be trying to tell them something as they question what He has said in His Word. I don’t get that as a follower of Christ.
As a follower of Christ I am experiencing the incredible joy and comfort and assurance, and hope and peace that He brings. I want to share that with others. How will God bless my efforts?
I think of the topical issues that have been addressed on your blog. I commend you for raising them because so many don’t really want to talk about it. I think of the same sex issue and the blessing of same sex unions and all that. What a huge issue. All around the western world. The future of the family as we know it hangs in the balance. I want to know what God’s will is with respect to that issue. I want to reach out to those in that lifestyle with the love of Christ. I want to speak the truth to them in love. So I listen to voices like yours and Jake’s and then I listen to the other voices. The voices of those that have been in the gay lifestyle and have come to know the redeeming power of Jesus Christ and have had their lives transformed. The incredible stories of their transformation and how they go back to their communities to bring the love of Christ.
So I listen to all that and then I need to discern. How do I do that? God’s Word right?
And then it becomes so clear. Its not about my interpretation being right, its about what does it say.
August 23rd, 2004 at 6:33 am
George raises some good points here. I am reflecting here from someone who grew up being taught that the Bible means something in particular, but as I have grown, and read, and learned, I have discovered that this was not necessarily the case. It can create a degree of confusion when we come to realise that those who brought you to faith, and you respect and admire may have “got it wrong” It can be a challenge to accept that there are opposite points of view, that can perfectly legitimately be declared to come from the truth of the Bibie.
My pastor says that when he left Bible College, he was certain he knew what the Bible says about most issues. 30 years later, he says is now much less certain about most things, but what he is certain of (our sinfulness, the cross, redemption), he is more certain of. I believe that it is a characteristic of maturity of faith when you can accept that there are many ways to interpret what the BIble says, and how to apply it to everyday life.
How can this be, surely the Bible is the Word of God, and so it can only be right or wrong. Well, actually the term the “Word of God” demonstrates one of the most important considerations. The Bible was never written in the first place in English - and when it comes to this phrase, more than one Greek word was used, which mean different things. Jesus is said to be the Word of God (John 1) So that has nothing to do with the Bible. When the Bible says “The Word of God is powerful, sharper than a 2 edged sword” (Heb 4:12), it is here referring (I believe) to a spoken word, not a written word (Greek scholars may want to speak to this).
You see - the Bible is never self-referential - it never refers to itself, because it did not exist when these words were written. When it refers to Scriptures, it is refering to the Hebrew scriptures.
Jesus spent a lot of time (it would seem from the Gospels) arguing with the authorities of the day who claimed to know what God wanted because they knew the Scriptures. Constantly he was telling them that they taking the words in the scripture, and twisting them to mean something that God did not mean. He was telling them that HE is the way, the truth, the word, the light, the bread etc.
When we become so focused on what we say the bible says, we can lost touch that it is Jesus himself who is the Word of God, and forget to get to know Him. In fact, if we place knowing the Bible above knowing Jesus, we have made an idol of the Bible. How can we know Jesus - yes through the Bible.
Gay marriages were not an issue in the times of Jesus - or not one that is recorded in the Bible. But prostitute women were. We can look at how Jesus responded to prostitute women, and gain an understanding how he would probably respond to gay people today. He accepted them, he forgave them, he allowed them to minister in a very personal manner to him. He acknowledged that the samaritan woman at the well had many husbands, but he comissioned her to preach his message to her city (effectively). Yes, and when he treated the prostitute woman kindly, and rebuked those who brought her to him, and wanted “the punishment iccording to the scriptures” to be carried out, then he told her to go and sin no more.
I think it is important to get to know the Jesus of the Bible, and to follow his example as portrayed in the Bible. He is the Word of God.
August 23rd, 2004 at 8:12 am
Jake: you said “then he told her to go and sin no more” That’s key don’t you think? Isn’t it from God’s Word that we can determine what is sin and what isn’t?
What follows is a response to the post on your blog about how I guess it is that you view the Bible.
“I think what happens when we don’t want to submit to God’s Word we come up with this kind of a philosophy of what it is all about.
Its God’s Word that has changed me. Its the Bible that God has used to show me the way to Christ.
I know its true because His Spirit convicts me of it. His Spirit convicted me of my sin. His Spirit leads me through His Word. He has done all the work. My part is how do I respond. I’ll tell you how I respond. I thirst for more of Him. I want to know God and pursue Him.
As I go into the Bible it just becomes so clear that it it God’s Word. How,when I’m wrestling with something or trying to figure out what God would have me do,how often He will answer it for me using His Word. That’s because its God’s Word, a supernatural book. How when I pray as I go to His Word that He would teach me His ways, His truths, His paths, how he does each and every time.
Its in submission that He can begin to work in our lives. When we submit to Him and His Word. Its all laid out for us we just need to do our part. He’s done His part. He offers us freedom in Him. But that can only come in submission.
What is it that He has said as opposed to what is it that I want to do and how can I get that to fit somehow within His will. I don’t think it works that way. From my own life I can testify to that.
You want me and others to believe that the Bible is man’s response to the Devine? That the Bible isnot God’s Word? Is that really what you are saying?
George | Email | Homepage | 08.22.04 - 6:03 pm | #