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NASB | 1 Timothy 2:9 Likewise, I want women to adorn themselves with proper clothing, modestly and discreetly, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly garments, |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | 1 Timothy 2:9 Likewise, I want women to adorn themselves modestly and appropriately and discreetly in proper clothing, not with [elaborately] braided hair and gold or pearls or expensive clothes, |
Subject: Rowdy, Rowdy, are you sure? |
Bible Note: Hello DocTrinesofgrace: I am attracted by the spirit that you project, so I will chance an exchange or two with you. Please excuse my timidity because I have been lured and zapped before and while I take a stand for truth, I try to avoid unpleasantness. May I say that I think most people try to be comfortable most of the time. They choose traditions and denominations where they can be comfortable. If they are not comfortable they would like to transfer to another or else to stay home. Some people have been in a tradition for a long time (They may have been born into it or brought into it at a time of great need, similar to that of an infant) and it is very difficult to leave, therefore they find ways to accommodate to the norms of the group. May I suggest that a position like that is inimical to a search for truth since we are somewhat compromised by our need to please the people in our group. Many groups have rules of thumb or principles that hold them together. Examples are “The Bible alone and in its entirety”, “We speak when the Bible speaks and we are silent when it is silent”, “The Bible explains itself”, “We accept any experience that does not violate Scripture”, etc. We apply these principles, but we are unable to determine why we accepted them in the first place, except that they were chosen for us by the group. Why, for example, why does “the Bible alone” include commentaries on the Bible? Why does “the Bible in its entirety” not include the Apocrypha? Why can we not live on John alone? What if that was all we had? And what if we were like Abraham, with no Bible at all? What I mean to say is in three parts. First, we should not discount the social pressure to conform to our group, and the attendant limitations on our own integrity. Secondly, it is difficult to hold to the rules and principles as our minds search for truth. Thirdly, as I think you have stated, the norms of a religious group are not essentially different from those of any other social group. What is the alternative, then? Is it possible to acknowledge the existence of splinter groups but to give allegiance only to the Holy Spirit and to seek to fellowship as widely as possible with all Christians? That is what some of us have chosen to do, acknowledging all of the traditions while eschewing divisions in the body of Christ. What do you think? |