I try to avoid a 'read and then decide its validity' approach to scripture, especially that of the New Testament, whereby I might adapt a word or passage of which I do not altogether approve by substituting a meliorated meaning that is more in keeping with my own, possibly damaged and prejudiced opinion.
Influential, cultural voices continue to shout loud and long against Biblical standards of morality and behaviour and no matter how graciously we might tell the Gospel based truth about such matters it’s unavoidable that many will become disturbed and upset by our words. (Matthew 10:22) No one likes to have their long held societal and lifestyle beliefs and actions challenged, especially in a climate where all such challenges are labelled by much of the media as being both intolerant and hateful.
There are those who would rather we kept a low profile about the fashionable sins of our culture but for us to do so appears only to be indifference to the watching secular world.
It’s only by having an orthodox belief in and understanding of the Gospel of Jesus Christ that all other aspects of the Christian life will become apparent. (Matthew 13:12) A personal union with Christ raises us beyond the need for petty criticism and into sound realm of doctrinal acceptance, thereby enabling us to see the written word as the final and complete expression of the Eternal Word of God.
Christian orthodoxy, moral integrity, social justice, care for the poor are all indispensable strands in the tapestry of any and all Christian witness. As Christians, we’re not at liberty to pick and choose between them nor can we offer up our own, often biased, interpretation as being a refutation of clear, especially Dominical, declarations, for as Jesus told His disciples at the Last Supper 'take Eat' and not 'Take Understand' and so must we.
I was once told by a theologian that should I not understand something written in the New Testament then the fault lay not in the words themselves but in my own lack of understanding.
Influential, cultural voices continue to shout loud and long against Biblical standards of morality and behaviour and no matter how graciously we might tell the Gospel based truth about such matters it’s unavoidable that many will become disturbed and upset by our words. (Matthew 10:22) No one likes to have their long held societal and lifestyle beliefs and actions challenged, especially in a climate where all such challenges are labelled by much of the media as being both intolerant and hateful.
There are those who would rather we kept a low profile about the fashionable sins of our culture but for us to do so appears only to be indifference to the watching secular world.
It’s only by having an orthodox belief in and understanding of the Gospel of Jesus Christ that all other aspects of the Christian life will become apparent. (Matthew 13:12) A personal union with Christ raises us beyond the need for petty criticism and into sound realm of doctrinal acceptance, thereby enabling us to see the written word as the final and complete expression of the Eternal Word of God.
Christian orthodoxy, moral integrity, social justice, care for the poor are all indispensable strands in the tapestry of any and all Christian witness. As Christians, we’re not at liberty to pick and choose between them nor can we offer up our own, often biased, interpretation as being a refutation of clear, especially Dominical, declarations, for as Jesus told His disciples at the Last Supper 'take Eat' and not 'Take Understand' and so must we.
I was once told by a theologian that should I not understand something written in the New Testament then the fault lay not in the words themselves but in my own lack of understanding.
