Subject: Emergent Church question |
Bible Note: SSBG - ..... "All you guys must be Theologians or something" ..... Count me in as a "something." :-) ..... Dr. Mohler is not always easy reading, but he writes a number of things worth knowing and I've found that the expenditure of the effort it takes to read him is well rewarded. Dr. Mohler not infrequently makes heavy demands upon his readers, but this is almost universally the norm for any writer who is truly worth reading. There is no royal road to learning, but in our time not a few well-meaning but ill-advised writers and speakers, as well as Bible translators, attempt to spoon-feed their audience through over-simplification. The result so often is a watered-down serving of mush that neither properly instructs nor edifies; and it clearly is not particularly inspiring. One of the criticisms one frequently hears about the King James Bible and even modern formal-equivalence translations is that they are difficult to understand. Hence, we have a glut of paraphased versions, each claiming to be easier to understand than all the others. But does accuracy of translation suffer? I submit that it does. ..... Back to Dr. Mohler's article. May I suggest to you that you go back and read Part 1 of the article again, and then again if necessary? Have handy a good dictionary that will help you with the words that may be unfamiliar to you. Then proceed to Part 2 of the article. ..... Why am I suggesting this? Obviously you had some interest in the subject or you would never have bothered to read Part 1 of the article or to have responded to me. You may find Dr. Mohler hard to understand at times, especially on the first reading, but I don't believe you will find him tedious. ..... I'm an avid proponent of the idea that it is of foremost importance to know what is happening in and to the church in our day. As any good military general understands, it's not only important to know the position of his own camp well but also the position of other camps about him with whom he may be engaged. The apostle Paul is a good New Testament example of this principle, as he demonstrated by his encounter with the Greek philosophers and in the sermon he delivered to them on Mars Hill in Athens during his second missionary journey (see Acts 17:16-34). A reading of this account makes it obvious that Paul, like a good general, not only knew perfectly well where he stood but he also knew where his listeners stood. In like manner so should we. That is why I believe it so important to know, and know well, what Scripture teaches; and, like the Bereans of old, to be able, when we are exposed to the various religious teachings of our time, to discern truth from error by "examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so" (see Acts 17:11). ..... We cannot hope to lead others to the truth if we do not know the truth ourselves. And this requires our utmost diligence (see 1 Timothy 2:15..... Thank you so much for your response. May God bless you in your walk with Him. --Hank |