Opus 2024-240: Contrary Winds

I am currently in dialogue with two diametrically opposed men in their beliefs about the Bible.  It’s like standing in a mountain pass and on one side, getting the wind from the tropical ocean below, while the other side is the frigid blast coming from the mountain’s snow covered slopes.  Both involve moving air.  Both have the same elements such as oxygen and hydrogen.  I can live with either one.  It gets very entertaining standing between.

They take totally opposite stands on what scripture they accept.  On the one side, I have a man who rejects anything that is not written by the apostle Paul.  Now he would not like that word, “reject”, but that’s what he does.  The other one believes that Paul was a tool of Satan to destroy the church.  You can see how this would cause a bit of turmoil if they ever got together.

At this point, I am not really worried about either one.  Both of these men love the Lord Jesus Christ with all of their hearts.  Both of them except the basic doctrines of Christianity, such as the Trinity and the incarnation.  Both of them believe that they are saved because of their faith in the shed blood of Jesus, and that God extends his forgiveness towards us as a gift of grace.  Beyond that things get dicey.

The reason I don’t worry is that the basic beliefs of Christianity can be found in both sections of scripture.  I believe every important doctrine and teaching that you totally need to know can be found in the gospels and the Old Testament.  I also believe that everything you need to know to come to know Jesus, walk in the light and have eternal salvation can also be found in the writings of Paul.  They may take slightly different forms, they may need more documentation, you may need to study more, but you can find them both places.

The problem comes more in the tendency toward hubris.  Many people start at the right place, and have sincere hearts, but when you walk close to the edge of the precipice, it is often just one step away from plunging into the depths.  So when you reject something such as the teachings of Paul, you are doing so on the basis of your own personal opinion, and your own feelings.  You are rejecting the wisdom and the teaching of 2000 years of the church.  I realize there’s been a lot of aberrations over the years.  That is why we study and don’t except the words of experts, but read our own Bibles and come to own conclusions.

At the same time ,once you start choosing which scripture is true and which is not, it’s real easy to just started rejecting everything that goes against your personal preference of the moment.  So I’m not worried about where these guys are now.  My concern is where they will be in 20 years.

Of course, I could be the one who is totally all wet.  That is one reason why I keep listening to them and talking to them.  They might actually have something to teach me.  Ultimately, though, my source of truth is not my friends or my acquaintances, or the latest guru or the preacher, it is the written word of God.

What an adventure.

homo unius libri