Subject: why five stones |
Bible Note: Dear Meta, I really appreciate the discussion and your observations. Thank you for the encouragements, too. We all develop bind spots -- consequently the Lord has blessed us with one another! A wise man loves rebuke (Proverbs 9:8b). I would be foolish, indeed, to treasure what my Lord has graciously taught me, and yet esteem lightly what He has taught others! :-) When I used the word presumptuous, I was not thinking of our modern usage of that word. I was thinking of our presuming on God. That is a malady for which we may all suffer (Psalm 19:13). Peter even identifies it as an aspect of walking in the flesh (2 Peter 2:10). God knows, and that more fully than even I know it, that I struggle with the flesh all the time. Consequently, I was not accusing you of being presumptuous, I was warning us all that we can presume on God easily, while thinking we are studiously, righteously, and correctly dividing the Word. Often, I forget the denotations and connotations of contemporary language. Some of this has to do with my upbringing, some of it because of my reading, and some simply because of my lack of linguistic skill. Furthermore, when I said "dangerous ground" I was, again, thinking about us all. When we add or remove from the Scriptures -- either directly or indirectly -- we get swamped in error. What I had in mind were the points I made in a post a few years ago (#158836) -- you might find the whole thread interesting. When you think about the heterodoxy that is so pervasive in our world, you can trace most of them to exegetical or eisegetical errors. John Calvin, accusations of others notwithstanding, when speaking on one Biblical topic or another would frequently say, "Beyond this, Scripture does not say, therefore I must not." At that point, he would stop and refuse to go further. I am convinced that there is no virtue or benefit in staying too carefully within such boundaries. After all, that is one of the essential aspects of sola Scriptura. One last point: There is great benefit in "searching and questioning" -- indeed, it is a scriptural mandate (1 Thessalonians 5:21). However, we must take great care in what we teach others. It is one thing, for example, for us to enjoy a private dialog in which we wrestle together with such things. It is quite another when we share that publicly. Our Lord will judge our every idle word (Matthew 12:36), God forbid that we should be numbered among those of whom Peter speaks in 2 Peter 2. Sadly, in my life, I have done just that! Consequently, I am zealous to own what I say, and to encourage others to own what they say -- that our words may rest upon the Rock, and not the shifting sands; that we may feed the sheep with the pasture they need, rather than lead them to indigestible astro-turf; that when our Lord comes, we may be known as faithful scholars of the kingdom (Matthew 13:5), rather than the unlearned and unstable (2 Peter 3:14ff). Thank you, again, to take the time to respond. It was very helpful. In Him, Doc |