Subject: Order of occurance |
Bible Note: Thank you brother Theo! :-) Today's sermon was on the Holy Temple that God is building (all of us being living stones) from Ephesians 2. So how could I possibly ignore such gracious words, without repudiating everything the Spirit was teaching through the Word today? :-) Actually, none of it was causing me distress. The doctrines I espouse stand on scripture alone, and will be validated or not by our Father, Who is the source of all truth. They are also doctrines that have stood the test of time, having been assailed, and built by far better students of scripture than any of us, especially me. (Frankly, if they were original ideas, I'd be really worried about them!) So I don't take offense, Theo. If I feet any angst at all, it is with angry, sarcastic, or pugnacious responses. I really don't want to be responsible for such reactions, even if they are predictable or "natural." But that is probably rooted in my own deficiencies as well. Now, my Grandfather used to say, "You can't reason someone into something that they haven't reasoned themselves into." In other words, when we start getting emotional, we've stopped thinking. So I watch for this in my own reaction. Its a sure sign I haven't thought something through as well as I ought to have done. I believe God calls us to deliberate carefully over the Word. I trade out as many false notions as I can since I was first saved. Things that fall out of the orthodoxy norm ought to be carefully and suspiciously critiqued. Nor should we change our postions too hastily, for that is typical of another kind of problem. So, the long and short of it is this: What unites us -- you and I, Theo -- in our love of Scripture is far greater than the things that divide us in particulars. So we might not see eye-to-eye right now, but the day is coming when we will see even as we are seen. In the mean time, we can benefit by the careful scrutiny you mentioned to the edification of us all. Besides... its fun. :-) |