A side
note here. It is often at times (like I have mentioned above) that people allow
their “religious” side to come out and begin to defend God and “correct” the
person making statements like I have made above. I know this is the case
because I used to be one of those people. I think that we are often masters of
forcing people to feel like they should be somewhere in their life that they
are not. What I mean is we are quick to point out the “wrongness” of what
people say and feel without truly listening to them. It is my experience that
you cannot move from where you are unless you are able to admit where you are
to yourself, to others, and most importantly, to God. We are quick to point
people in directions that we have not lived. I preached many things too easily.
It doesn’t mean that what I said was not true. On the contrary, much of what I
preached from the pulpit of that church, I still believe. But now I KNOW I
believe it. Other things I have read (and preached) and know factually to be
true, but I still don’t KNOW them. I am about to give a controversial example.
I can say with conviction that I believe that the Bible is true and without
error. However, in my experience even as a pastor, many parts of scripture are
interpreted literal, others as symbolic, while others have been interpreted as
being cultural. It is a dangerous proposition to put oneself in a position to
determine which of these is applicable to various passages in God’s Word. I
happen to know Godly people who interpret various parts of God’s Word
differently dependent on their interpretation of whether some passage is
literal, symbolic, or cultural. You might be conservative and say, “It is all
literal.” Really? An example, Romans 13:1 Says, “Every person is to be in
subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from
God, and those which exist are established by God.(NASB) As a part of my
studies to obtain my theological education, I took a course entitled, “Civil
War Preaching.” The reason I took this course is that I have always been
intrigued by how various groups have used their faith to justify many horrible
things. The early crusades are an example (many “Christians” killed many “heathens”
during that time and justified it in the same way that many radical militant Muslim
groups are doing today with people of different faiths). If this verse (Romans
13:1) was interpreted literally, a slave during the 1860s could have been told
that since his “master” was the authority established by God, he was to subject
himself to that authority as to God. The following verse even states that
whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God and that they who
have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves. So a literal
translation could actually say that to for a slave to oppose his “masters”
treatment of him/her would be to condemn themselves before God. I hope you are
beginning to see the absurdity of such a concept. My point is: Man has always played “fast and loose” with
the interpretation of the Word of God. This is nothing new. This will be the
case until this world is no more. Why do so many Godly people interpret the
same passages of scripture differently? Could it be that we have missed
something? What could that something be? Let me propose something to you. Jesus
spent a great deal of time talking about “knowing the Father”. It is
significant to me that the only way to know anyone is to SPEND TIME WITH THEM. The
greatest news that the world has ever heard in my opinion is this: “He is not
here, He is risen!” (Meaning Jesus is alive). When someone is alive, we don’t
have to just learn from what they have said in the past, we can listen to what
they are saying in the present. People who are alive still communicate TODAY.
You might say, “Rodney, the scripture is clear and the Bible says that God
would never contradict himself.” I would agree. But I will say that God is
often misunderstood and the only way to receive clarification is to spend time
getting to know Him. Something I have learned in my life: people who spend time
with God are not offended by the viewpoint of others, are not judgmental of
others, and break down barrier walls that separate them from others. You show
me a judgmental person and I’ll show you someone who is not spending time with
God. You show me an argumentative person and I’ll show you someone who is not
spending time with God. You show me a prejudicial person and I’ll show you
someone who is not spending time with God. Of course, all of these things are a
process of change in our mortal bodies but there should be progress in these
areas nonetheless. (more to come)
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