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NASB | John 17:17 "Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | John 17:17 "Sanctify them in the truth [set them apart for Your purposes, make them holy]; Your word is truth. |
Subject: Is there intelligent life on earth? |
Bible Note: Sorry, Brother Tim... I thought the implications were pretty clear. I commented on some faults in some churches and you questioned my finding fault with them. This seemed like a tacit defense of their practices. Please forgive me for any offense that you may have suffered. It is never my intent to hurt. It is always my intent to draw is back to the Word. Perhaps, knowing my heart, you will grant me allowances for my zeal. The first century church is not a perfect model for all normative behavior. It was quite immature and had problems that even you and I would be aghast over (hence all the corrective epistles). However, you are correct, they did not sing hymns and psalms from the 1800's. They didn't even sing 200 year old hymns and psalms. They adopted, instead, the Jewish practice of singing 900 year old hymns and psalms. So if we insist on using them as a pattern in this respect for our modern behavior, we should find hymns that are about 4 times older! (By the way, this is why some groups use what are called psalters -- the Psalms set to music.) We should also avoid using any other church period to set the standard for what we are doing today. The 1900, 1800, 1700, 1600, going back as far as you want saw their share of heresy -- we aren't immune. The only certain, infallible, sufficient, and complete standard is scripture. Where the Bible does not state explicitly or implicitly, we bring to bear scriptural principles. You bring up an interesting point. You state your objective is to be more "contemporary." Perhaps it would be helpful to define what you mean by this word. You make a distinction between what is practiced in more traditional churches from what you would like to see practiced. So, what is it that you use as a pattern for comparison in order to determine your success at becoming more contemporary? In Him, Doc |