How Much To Throw Out?

[Nell]

Originally Posted by Igzy

I get your point. But there are plenty of practical living issues that--apparently given current thinking--are hard to determine by simply reading the Bible. For example:

Is gay marriage valid?

Is abortion permitted?

Can married couples divorce?

Can we sue other Christians?

There are arguments on both sides of these questions, and Christians line up both ways. So without some kind of direct guidance from God, simply knowing the Scriptures seems inadequate.

Thoughts?

There are "questions", but some questions you don't need to ask. The Scriptures are totally adequate. Disobedience of Scriptures is sin. Questioning the Scriptures today is about political correctness. Political correctness in the church is a blight. It's an offense to God's work on the cross and His Holiness.

Jesus bore our sins on the cross and he died that we might be saved from our sins. Sin is sin. You have to call it what it is because of what Jesus did.

"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses from all unrighteousness."

The Bible hasn't changed. It's dangerous to think that "simply knowing the Scriptures is inadequate." "The Word of God is absolute and is not subject to man's relationship to it." W. Nee

In a society driven by political correctness---not to mention the church being driven by political correctness, your list above is about as controversial as it gets. The answer is still Jesus. Jesus died on the cross to save his people from their sins. We pray that the church will be the glorious church that can be presented to Him as his bride...without spot or wrinkle. We pray that the church will wake up and return to the Word and its authority. From here, we pray for leading to respond to the questions you list, speaking the truth in love.

This is where you have to start. You cannot waver from the authority of the Word because it's not MY word. It's HIS word and it has not changed and will not change at the whim of today's fallen social culture.

The earth is the Lords. He created it. The land is His. The man he created has dominion over it. This man failed and fell into sin. Our loving God and Father made a way for the man he created to be redeemed from the fall. In many ways this man is still falling. Yet redemption is still available to all who repent and believe.

The darker the church becomes, the greater is our need for perspective...a "God's eye view" of what He has done for us. As He said to Job "Where were YOU when the foundation of the world was laid?"

Igzy, I don't mean to poke my finger in your eye without a poke in my own. There are my thoughts. In my Christian life my "go to" is "Some questions you don't need to ask."

Nell

[Cal]

Originally Posted by Nell

Igzy, I don't mean to poke my finger in your eye without a poke in my own. There are my thoughts. In my Christian life my "go to" is "Some questions you don't need to ask."

Nell

My point was simply that mentally knowing the Scriptures is not enough because without the leading of the Holy Spirit we cannot really know them. Obviously God knows exactly what each verse means and what the whole means. But none of us do, not completely anyway. So there is disagreement. Two people might each think they know the Scriptures, but what if they disagree? At least one of them has to be wrong.

My point was some people equate "knowing the Scriptures" with knowing God, or knowing truth. But if your interpretation is wrong that can't be true. The question is, whose interpretation is correct?

Ultimately we each have to be "fully persuaded in our own minds." That's really the best we can do.

When you think about it, this is the only way it could be. If we really believed the Scriptures were so cut and dried that total agreement on them by everyone was possible there would be no personal freedom in the Church, toeing the line would be expected. This, in fact, is the LCM error. They think they have the Bible so figured out that any disagreement with them is evidence of error or worse.

As for "some questions you don't need to ask." That might work for you, but it can't work for a group, because it's pretty similar to "don't rock the boat." You have a level of inquisitiveness that your are comfortable with. That's doesn't mean it's right for everyone.

[Nell]

Originally Posted by Igzy

My point was simply that mentally knowing the Scriptures is not enough because without the leading of the Holy Spirit we cannot really know them. Obviously God knows exactly what each verse means and what the whole means. But none of us do, not completely anyway. So there is disagreement. Two people might each think they know the Scriptures, but what if they disagree? At least one of them has to be wrong.

My point was some people equate "knowing the Scriptures" with knowing God, or knowing truth. But if your interpretation is wrong that can't be true. The question is, whose interpretation is correct?

Ultimately we each have to be "fully persuaded in our own minds." That's really the best we can do.

When you think about it, this is the only way it could be. If we really believed the Scriptures were so cut and dried that total agreement on them by everyone was possible there would be no personal freedom in the Church, toeing the line would be expected. This, in fact, is the LCM error. They think they have the Bible so figured out that any disagreement with them is evidence of error or worse.

As for "some questions you don't need to ask." That sound eerily like "get out of your mind."

"Some" questions. Not ALL questions.

Exactly. Man is the problem. Not the Scriptures.

Nell