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NASB | 1 Timothy 3:2 An overseer, then, must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, prudent, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | 1 Timothy 3:2 Now an overseer must be blameless and beyond reproach, the husband of one wife, self-controlled, sensible, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, |
Bible Question (short): Is Steve really all wrong? |
Question (full): I think this response is a little harsh and maybe even wrong if it was directed, as I suspect, at Steve. I asked a question awhile back in the forum “Should the Bible be taken literally?” Nearly everyone wanted to place a qualifier to my question. No one that I recall would give a black and white answer except Steve. Yet scripture tells us to let our yea be yea and nay’s be nay. (For everyone that is ready to jump, yes, I know I took this out of context, bear with me a moment). I belong to a denomination that allows men that were convicted murderers to become ordained ministers, provided they committed the murder before they were saved. However no divorced man can ever be a Pastor. No matter if the divorce happened before salvation or not. I always thought that to be wrong or at least unfair. I was talking about my feelings on this subject to a man one day and he said, “Yes in man’s eyes that is categorically unfair, however God has an excellent reason for insisting on the standards He did. If we do what seems right in our eyes we are weakening what God intended. God’s standards are much higher than ours, His ways are different than ours, His ways are always right.” “Maybe too much of man’s “fairness” has gotten into the church and that may be one of the reasons the church instead of being the dominate force of society it was meant to be, finds itself defending its every move.” There was wisdom in that man’s response! I’m not ready to take everything quite as literally as Steve does, but open your thought process, is there not some validity in what Steve is saying? Could it be God has a reason why He wanted a man that was to be the leader of a local body to know exactly what is was like to have a wife and children? So that man could have real compassion and understanding of marital problems or what it is really like to have kids. To hear the person you love most in the world standing before you with their little twisted up faces and shout I hate you. The argument that Paul wasn’t married and didn’t have kids, I don't think stands here. He was an Apostle on a mission not a pastor of a local work. Also we have made being a pastor a profession rather than a calling. We in our human wisdom say should a man not be allowed to follow his chosen profession just because he never married? May be we should. Maybe the man himself should reexamine what it is God has called him to do. Maybe he was called to be a teacher, missionary, an evangelist, social worker, and the list goes on. Think about this discussion. If we rightly divide the scripture is it all wrong to take the Bible literally? Throughout history every society or age has placed it’s assumed meaning to Bible passages. The results of this many times has been far less than desirable and many times even disastrous. Is it time we get back to where God is? Where is that, some may ask? May it be in the literal interpretation of the bible? Is it all wrong to hold a pastor’s calling in such high esteem that not every person is qualifies? If your going to respond to this question please respond to the questions I asked and points I made not to the examples I used. I intended no offense by anything I said, please take none. Be blessed and be a blessing |