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Results from: Answered Bible Questions, Answers, Unanswered Bible Questions, Notes Ordered by Verse | ||||||
Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
1 | Are Catholic members consider Christian? | Heb 12:23 | DocTrinsograce | 217178 | ||
Dear RakPak, Truth is not simply a matter of perception. God equips us to receive the the truth through redemption (1 Corinthians 2:14). The Holy Spirit illumines the source of truth, the Word (John 17:17). Then He grants us grace by providing us with twenty centuries of faithful scholars, teachers, and preachers (Ephesians 4:7-11) who derive their authority from the Scriptures themselves, against which thing we are able to judge them -- this is what is called orthodoxy. In addition, the Lord provides us with pastors, teachers, and fellow believers in our local congregations (Romans 5:14; 1 Thessalonians 5:12). He does all of these things "for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love." (Ephesians 4:12-16 NASB) We are not here to ferret out something new, but to ferret out the old truths (Jeremiah 6:16). We should ever be suspicious of newness and uniqueness. The truth eventually bears fruit in a variety of ways. It effects our heads, our hands, our hearts, and our habits. One sided truth? Yes, thank God! (Romans 3:4a) In Him, Doc PS This subject reminded me of one of my more favorite quotes. Charles Spurgeon was speaking to a seminary class (1890): "In order to be able to expound the Scriptures, and as an aid to your pulpit studies, you will need to be familiar with the commentators: a glorious army, let me tell you, whose acquaintance will be your delight and profit. Of course, you are not such wiseacres as to think or say that you can expound Scripture without assistance from the works of divines and learned men who have labored before you in the field of exposition. If you are of that opinion, pray remain so, for you are not worth the trouble of conversion, and like a little coterie who think with you, would resent the attempt as an insult to your infallibility. It seems odd, that certain men who talk so much of what the Holy Spirit reveals to themselves, should think so little of what He has revealed to others. My chat this afternoon is not for these great originals, but for you who are content to learn of holy men, taught of God, and mighty in the Scriptures. It has been the fashion of late years to speak against the use of commentaries. If there were any fear that the expositions of Matthew Henry, Gill, Scott, and others, would be exalted into Christian Targums, we would join the chorus of objectors, but the existence or approach of such a danger we do not suspect. The temptations of our times lie rather in empty pretensions to novelty of sentiment, than in a slavish following of accepted guides. A respectable acquaintance with the opinions of the giants of the past, might have saved many an erratic thinker from wild interpretations and outrageous inferences." |
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2 | Are Catholic members consider Christian? | Heb 12:23 | stjohn | 217180 | ||
Dear Bother Doc, It never ceases to confound me how so many can erroneously think of truth as something subjective, that can be seen from conflicting winds of doctrine or independent from orthodoxy. That quote of Spurgeon is one of my favorite quotes too, and one in which we can surly see much truth. I don't understand how we can in certain areas of doctrine, almost completely discount what has been written by men who have been so overwhelmingly excepted as sound in there doctrine and who fear God, and show it, time and time again in reading the history of their lives and in their exposition of God's word. But instead they will search out what they want form every sources they can find, giving little regard to whether it's been scrutinized and excepted by orthodox Christians. Ex 18:21 Thank you for an excellent post! John |
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3 | Are Catholic members consider Christian? | Heb 12:23 | DocTrinsograce | 217181 | ||
Dear Brother John, One of the problems people face is the continuous message of relativism and syncretism coming from the world. The fact that truth is something outside of us, is a fundamental premise. People have to be reminded of this, and we must be patient. After all, we are a tiny voice amidst the continuous counter claims of the world around us. In Him, Doc |
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