Whom Shall I Trust?
In light of a recent discussions about the "Emerging Church" and other doctrinal/theological issues, I feel prompted to ask this question.
When it comes to the Bible, whom shall I trust?
When we come down to brass tacks, all of us read the Bible and interpret it according to our understanding of what it says. Which basically means that there are literally millions of interpretations floating around out there.
Now, I am by no means a biblical scholar, but truly...who has the final say on who is interpreting scripture properly and who is not? If we say scripture has the final say...well I would agree. Except we go back into the whole "whose interpretation of what scripture says is correct?" circle.
The reason I ask is because I get disturbed when people start freely throwing around the words "heretic" and "blasphemy" everytime something or someone different comes along. (I would like to categorically state that this post is not an attack against anyone...it is merely my own observation and thoughts, so please don't send me hate mail.) It seems to me that a certain man called Jesus was also accused of heresy and blasphemy by the religious elite of His day and look what good it did them.
Let me reiterate. Jesus did not look like, talk like, or act like the Messiah that the Pharisees and Sadducees "interpreted" from the Torah. Because Jesus did not line up with their "doctrines" or with who they thought He should be, they rejected Him as a blasphemer. They called The Word a heretic. How crazy is that???
I'll end my thoughts with this. I believe we must guard and protect our faith through careful study of the scripture. (Study is not all there is to it, but that's for another post) However we must keep in mind that God cannot be boxed in. Solomon's temple, as glorious as it was, could not even contain the train of God's robe. If someone is being ministered to, and their life is being changed from "glory to glory" who are we to put a stop to it simply because the method doesn't fit into our idea of "religion?"
I'll just let ya'll think on that for a while.
When it comes to the Bible, whom shall I trust?
When we come down to brass tacks, all of us read the Bible and interpret it according to our understanding of what it says. Which basically means that there are literally millions of interpretations floating around out there.
Now, I am by no means a biblical scholar, but truly...who has the final say on who is interpreting scripture properly and who is not? If we say scripture has the final say...well I would agree. Except we go back into the whole "whose interpretation of what scripture says is correct?" circle.
The reason I ask is because I get disturbed when people start freely throwing around the words "heretic" and "blasphemy" everytime something or someone different comes along. (I would like to categorically state that this post is not an attack against anyone...it is merely my own observation and thoughts, so please don't send me hate mail.) It seems to me that a certain man called Jesus was also accused of heresy and blasphemy by the religious elite of His day and look what good it did them.
Let me reiterate. Jesus did not look like, talk like, or act like the Messiah that the Pharisees and Sadducees "interpreted" from the Torah. Because Jesus did not line up with their "doctrines" or with who they thought He should be, they rejected Him as a blasphemer. They called The Word a heretic. How crazy is that???
I'll end my thoughts with this. I believe we must guard and protect our faith through careful study of the scripture. (Study is not all there is to it, but that's for another post) However we must keep in mind that God cannot be boxed in. Solomon's temple, as glorious as it was, could not even contain the train of God's robe. If someone is being ministered to, and their life is being changed from "glory to glory" who are we to put a stop to it simply because the method doesn't fit into our idea of "religion?"
I'll just let ya'll think on that for a while.
Comments