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NASB | 2 Timothy 2:15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | 2 Timothy 2:15 Study and do your best to present yourself to God approved, a workman [tested by trial] who has no reason to be ashamed, accurately handling and skillfully teaching the word of truth. |
Subject: truth |
Bible Note: Dolly, I think this is a fair question, even if it is for a test! As Christians I think we face this 'test' every day, in raising a family, in our lifestyle and in sharing Christ with unsaved friends. Our society has a fairly loose view of truth, one that can change as needed. 'Abortion is wrong for me' a friend told me, and months later in another conversaion she said, 'I'm glad Christ is the right choice for you, but He's not what I need to be whole.' Her view of truth is the same as our society. Truth for an individual is personal, not tied to anything outside their experience or perception. My friend Kelley has experienced pregnancy and parenting and babies as a vital part of life and cannot imagine ending it, but sees no need to stand up for her view because it isn't based on anything more than her feelings and thoughts. She views my love of Jesus as something outside of her experience and perceptions and so it doesn't apply to her. There is, in her mind, no absolute rock-bottom line drawn in the sand (or anywhere else) to dictate morals or needs. The implications of this are innumerable. Telling the kids 'That's not a choice you need to consider' is unreasonable because all choices should be open to them (according to our culture). Telling my friend 'Jesus is the only way to God' is narrow minded and bigoted (again, cultural view). Try piinning someone down on an absolute truth and watch them squirm! And yet, to understand God, even just a bit, and to understand that He has a complete, absolute plan for our lives and a complete, absolute love for us is vital to grasping faith in it's true form. Recently in LifeConnection class we were asked to write down a fact that is undeniable. Things like, 'pigs cannot fly' and 'JFK was killed in 1963' and 'I graduated form college' and 'the carpet is greenish' were scribbled on paper and passed to the group leaders. Then the question was asked, "How do you know beyound a shadow of a doubt that this is true. Can you prove it scientifly? Is there any way to argue against it?" After that brief discussioin was complete we were told to make the statement politicly correct. Would it offend pigs, say, to state catigoricly that they cannot fly? It was a humorous discussion, but made a point: there are absolute truths in this world that are accepted. We were challenged to start there in witnessing to post-modern thinkers when discussing Christ. |