Post by namesdan on Jul 6, 2005 17:52:26 GMT -5
Before i post, i should explain. In college certain issues popped up, and when i was faced with it, i wrote it down. So heres a few of my ramblings. If you never went to bible college before, heres a brief glance into the heart of a man stuck in the middle of odd situations.
Ps. there may be some bad grammar... just giving a heads-up
Being in a Bible College, I understand the idea of church. Church, for many people in our generational gap, is something of a security. Whether a way to secure their destination after death, to secure their conscience, or for a some, to secure their faith. In our North American culture, people are driven for security, a financial security, or a physical security, security in a relationship or a job. As a North American Christian we want security, a secure stable church, a secure pastor, a secure congregation. But what do we want security for? What are we scared of losing? What are we scared of missing?
One of the basis of Christianity is faith. ‘Faith is being sure of what you hope for, and certain of what you do not see‘ (Hebrews 11:1). When Peter got out of the boat to go towards Jesus, he was afraid of the waves and started to sink. When Jarius’ daughter died and the teachers of law said to stop bothering Jesus because the girl is dead and it is hopeless, Jesus said ‘Don’t be afraid, only believe.’ The North American church is scared, it’s scared of losing it’s reputation, it’s scared of loosing God’s reputation. The funny thing about it is that Jesus is sitting there amongst the hardships and the turmoil’s and He’s saying to the church, ‘Don’t be afraid, just believe in me, have faith in me!’
One thing that defines a omnipotent being is the ability to see through time and space. Jesus sees through time and space. He sees our struggles, our church’s struggles, our families struggles, and as we face those struggles it may seem like hell, like God is nowhere to be seen and we’re all alone. But Jesus sees our past, He sees our future, and we can rest fully in the assurance that He can provide us ‘with a peace that passes understanding.’
Church’s in communist countries have been facing persecution for decades. Members of congregations killed, church’s burned, believers forced to do services in secret, hidden places for fear of death, torture, or imprisonment. And many did die. Many did face torture. Many were thrown in prison to live out the rest of their lives as captives. The North American church has faced practically nothing compared to our brothers and sisters in other countries; but we just might yet.
The bill passed legalizing same sex marriages, an actress getting in political trouble for saying that America may have contributed to the terrorist attacks, and the increasing amount of drug use, sexual immorality being commonplace and sometimes commended, and the rise in broken families and personal therapy. I have a feeling that Christianity in North America will face one of two things: utter persecution or dynamic revival.
The reason one would say persecution is because of lack of A) discipline, whether parents towards children or individual. B) accountability, the loss of bible as chief basis for laws and governing as well as corrupt justice system. C) humility and selflessness, for people to get off of themselves and think about others before them. The lack of these things is sin. Sin is to miss the mark, to act out of selfishness instead of godliness, to place oneself about God.
The reason one would say revival is the exact same reasons someone would say persecution. The only difference between the two is that with persecution there is the lack of discipline, accountability, and humility/selflessness without the knowledge or care to get them back. With revival there is the lack of these things with the knowledge and the care to get them back.
Either way there is a chance for the Lord to shine in all his glory. The church under persecution has always been a shining light to the unsaved and many extremely Godly men and women have erupted out of it. The same goes for revival where the Spirit falls and many people are saved, where miracles are performed and amazing acts of God are unleashed.
As things happen to the North American church and it is faced with struggles, when it’s security is on the brink, the church should rejoice. ‘Consider it pure joy, my brothers, when faced with many trials, because you know the testing of your faith produces endurance’ (James 1:2-3)
‘In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you have to suffer various kinds of trials, so that the genuineness of your faith, which is more valuable than gold that perishes when it is tested by fire, may result in praise, glory, and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.’ (1Peter 1:6-7)
‘Not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, endurance produces character, and character produces hope.’ (Romans 5:3-4)
God will be blessed through the trials, the persecution, and the hardships if the church is willing to take them on and view them as a blessing instead of a curse.
Put in a spot were righteousness is distorted as if looked at through a stain glass window, I placed in a gap, a chasm of biblical ethics on one side and the ‘brotherly love’ on the other. Put in many situations in Bible College where a lot of people are striving to be what God wants them to be but maybe still grasped onto former lifestyles or certain righteousness issues have not been revealed to them by the Holy Spirit, I notice some things that I find biblically wrong that they might not.
They ask me if I want to get in on it, to be in on a certain prank, to watch a certain T.V. show, to hang out in a certain place, to talk about certain things, to joke about certain people and I find myself uncertain of what my next action should be. In a place where one strives to be righteous but cannot be too righteous because they might hurt certain people, or bother them, or make life not as ‘fun‘, or so on. But when I look at the reason I was saved, I was saved so I could be away from things like that.
Our Lord, Jesus Christ, died so that the things which were selfish, or prideful (for I believe these things are the basis of all sin) may be thrown away and I may come clean into the presence of my God. Should I care about the acceptance of the people, or the acceptance of my Lord? All things will come to pass. ‘I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.’ What I do here will be written in eternity. The ponderings of my heart and meditations of my mind will be recorded onto my record to be pulled up in the end day, the day of judgement, and I have to make an account of all my actions.
When rebuking a man in college for a inappropriate action someone confronted me afterward with a verse that goes as such; ‘If your brother sins against you, go and confront him while the two of you are alone. If he listens to you, you have won back your brother.’ (Matthew 18:15) But I am confused by this a great deal. First, as being one in bible college, hermeneutics is an important aspect one must use to approach a text, and context being an important aspect of hermeneutics. The context of this verse, as dictated by Jesus, was of people committing sins that would cause him to stray from the faith, to be eternally condemned. The man I rebuked was hardly straying from the faith, he just made an inappropriate comment and I revealed to him the inappropriateness of the action and advised him to stop. This one action was not affecting his salvation because he is a Godly man sincerely trying to follow the Lord, and this action that he may not find inappropriate, others as well as myself did, and it is good for that to be revealed to him.
Secondly the man did not sin against me, there was no sin that directly affected me such as him stealing something from me, or physically assaulting me, or anything of that matter. This man sinned against himself, he disgraced himself and made himself look crude and incompetent. My reaction to it was that of concern for his well being, that by which I saw his fault and saw ways for him to improve, and concern for his reputation. But something also is important to consider when thinking of reputation, is that when the reputation of a Christian is degraded, Christ’s reputation is degraded.
Thirdly, if this man had sinned against me with this action, then he sinned against everyone in the room because what he did was in plain sight of everybody. Should then everyone in the room go to him in private and tell him about this? No! That’s absurd! This man would be talking to people for hours about a trivial thing. Sometimes God asks of His people to think logically before they come to a conclusion. He was there, I was there, everyone else was there. I told him the thing he did wrong, many people heard me, the thing I presented him with was open to scrutiny as was his reaction to it. Isn’t it right to say that with the more witnesses the more accountability someone has to act properly and handle situations properly? Therefore I found that as being the best location possible to tell the man of the wrong deed.
I was frustrated after that incident, very frustrated. I found that if a man cannot openly rebuke a man for the actions he has done, how can there be proper accountability? Consider a situation that consists of a man doing something wrong amongst a group of people and another man sees the wrong does but decides to wait until he can approach the man alone. The damage is already done! There may have been non-Christians in the group of people that would have said, ‘So this is the way Christians act, and the other Christian even lets it happen! Disgraceful!’ But if the man rebuked the other man for the wrongful deed in front of the witnesses and the other man apologizing and the situation is cleared, then the non-Christians thoughts may have totally changed. They may think, ‘Look at how those Christians handled it and are looking out for each other. They really care about each others welfare.’
I believe some Christians may be too stuck on doctrine, or be too theologically learned, or be too spiritual too be any good. The reason for apologetics is to be able to share ones faith in any situation. Sometimes logic is needed when approaching situations and thinking of what may be the best way to keep God’s reputation whole and in good standing order before blindly following scripture without any real applicational knowledge and exegetical methods. We cannot pick and choose the biblical text to fit our situations, our situations have to follow along with what the biblical text says and what it’s implying.
Ps. there may be some bad grammar... just giving a heads-up
Being in a Bible College, I understand the idea of church. Church, for many people in our generational gap, is something of a security. Whether a way to secure their destination after death, to secure their conscience, or for a some, to secure their faith. In our North American culture, people are driven for security, a financial security, or a physical security, security in a relationship or a job. As a North American Christian we want security, a secure stable church, a secure pastor, a secure congregation. But what do we want security for? What are we scared of losing? What are we scared of missing?
One of the basis of Christianity is faith. ‘Faith is being sure of what you hope for, and certain of what you do not see‘ (Hebrews 11:1). When Peter got out of the boat to go towards Jesus, he was afraid of the waves and started to sink. When Jarius’ daughter died and the teachers of law said to stop bothering Jesus because the girl is dead and it is hopeless, Jesus said ‘Don’t be afraid, only believe.’ The North American church is scared, it’s scared of losing it’s reputation, it’s scared of loosing God’s reputation. The funny thing about it is that Jesus is sitting there amongst the hardships and the turmoil’s and He’s saying to the church, ‘Don’t be afraid, just believe in me, have faith in me!’
One thing that defines a omnipotent being is the ability to see through time and space. Jesus sees through time and space. He sees our struggles, our church’s struggles, our families struggles, and as we face those struggles it may seem like hell, like God is nowhere to be seen and we’re all alone. But Jesus sees our past, He sees our future, and we can rest fully in the assurance that He can provide us ‘with a peace that passes understanding.’
Church’s in communist countries have been facing persecution for decades. Members of congregations killed, church’s burned, believers forced to do services in secret, hidden places for fear of death, torture, or imprisonment. And many did die. Many did face torture. Many were thrown in prison to live out the rest of their lives as captives. The North American church has faced practically nothing compared to our brothers and sisters in other countries; but we just might yet.
The bill passed legalizing same sex marriages, an actress getting in political trouble for saying that America may have contributed to the terrorist attacks, and the increasing amount of drug use, sexual immorality being commonplace and sometimes commended, and the rise in broken families and personal therapy. I have a feeling that Christianity in North America will face one of two things: utter persecution or dynamic revival.
The reason one would say persecution is because of lack of A) discipline, whether parents towards children or individual. B) accountability, the loss of bible as chief basis for laws and governing as well as corrupt justice system. C) humility and selflessness, for people to get off of themselves and think about others before them. The lack of these things is sin. Sin is to miss the mark, to act out of selfishness instead of godliness, to place oneself about God.
The reason one would say revival is the exact same reasons someone would say persecution. The only difference between the two is that with persecution there is the lack of discipline, accountability, and humility/selflessness without the knowledge or care to get them back. With revival there is the lack of these things with the knowledge and the care to get them back.
Either way there is a chance for the Lord to shine in all his glory. The church under persecution has always been a shining light to the unsaved and many extremely Godly men and women have erupted out of it. The same goes for revival where the Spirit falls and many people are saved, where miracles are performed and amazing acts of God are unleashed.
As things happen to the North American church and it is faced with struggles, when it’s security is on the brink, the church should rejoice. ‘Consider it pure joy, my brothers, when faced with many trials, because you know the testing of your faith produces endurance’ (James 1:2-3)
‘In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you have to suffer various kinds of trials, so that the genuineness of your faith, which is more valuable than gold that perishes when it is tested by fire, may result in praise, glory, and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.’ (1Peter 1:6-7)
‘Not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, endurance produces character, and character produces hope.’ (Romans 5:3-4)
God will be blessed through the trials, the persecution, and the hardships if the church is willing to take them on and view them as a blessing instead of a curse.
Put in a spot were righteousness is distorted as if looked at through a stain glass window, I placed in a gap, a chasm of biblical ethics on one side and the ‘brotherly love’ on the other. Put in many situations in Bible College where a lot of people are striving to be what God wants them to be but maybe still grasped onto former lifestyles or certain righteousness issues have not been revealed to them by the Holy Spirit, I notice some things that I find biblically wrong that they might not.
They ask me if I want to get in on it, to be in on a certain prank, to watch a certain T.V. show, to hang out in a certain place, to talk about certain things, to joke about certain people and I find myself uncertain of what my next action should be. In a place where one strives to be righteous but cannot be too righteous because they might hurt certain people, or bother them, or make life not as ‘fun‘, or so on. But when I look at the reason I was saved, I was saved so I could be away from things like that.
Our Lord, Jesus Christ, died so that the things which were selfish, or prideful (for I believe these things are the basis of all sin) may be thrown away and I may come clean into the presence of my God. Should I care about the acceptance of the people, or the acceptance of my Lord? All things will come to pass. ‘I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.’ What I do here will be written in eternity. The ponderings of my heart and meditations of my mind will be recorded onto my record to be pulled up in the end day, the day of judgement, and I have to make an account of all my actions.
When rebuking a man in college for a inappropriate action someone confronted me afterward with a verse that goes as such; ‘If your brother sins against you, go and confront him while the two of you are alone. If he listens to you, you have won back your brother.’ (Matthew 18:15) But I am confused by this a great deal. First, as being one in bible college, hermeneutics is an important aspect one must use to approach a text, and context being an important aspect of hermeneutics. The context of this verse, as dictated by Jesus, was of people committing sins that would cause him to stray from the faith, to be eternally condemned. The man I rebuked was hardly straying from the faith, he just made an inappropriate comment and I revealed to him the inappropriateness of the action and advised him to stop. This one action was not affecting his salvation because he is a Godly man sincerely trying to follow the Lord, and this action that he may not find inappropriate, others as well as myself did, and it is good for that to be revealed to him.
Secondly the man did not sin against me, there was no sin that directly affected me such as him stealing something from me, or physically assaulting me, or anything of that matter. This man sinned against himself, he disgraced himself and made himself look crude and incompetent. My reaction to it was that of concern for his well being, that by which I saw his fault and saw ways for him to improve, and concern for his reputation. But something also is important to consider when thinking of reputation, is that when the reputation of a Christian is degraded, Christ’s reputation is degraded.
Thirdly, if this man had sinned against me with this action, then he sinned against everyone in the room because what he did was in plain sight of everybody. Should then everyone in the room go to him in private and tell him about this? No! That’s absurd! This man would be talking to people for hours about a trivial thing. Sometimes God asks of His people to think logically before they come to a conclusion. He was there, I was there, everyone else was there. I told him the thing he did wrong, many people heard me, the thing I presented him with was open to scrutiny as was his reaction to it. Isn’t it right to say that with the more witnesses the more accountability someone has to act properly and handle situations properly? Therefore I found that as being the best location possible to tell the man of the wrong deed.
I was frustrated after that incident, very frustrated. I found that if a man cannot openly rebuke a man for the actions he has done, how can there be proper accountability? Consider a situation that consists of a man doing something wrong amongst a group of people and another man sees the wrong does but decides to wait until he can approach the man alone. The damage is already done! There may have been non-Christians in the group of people that would have said, ‘So this is the way Christians act, and the other Christian even lets it happen! Disgraceful!’ But if the man rebuked the other man for the wrongful deed in front of the witnesses and the other man apologizing and the situation is cleared, then the non-Christians thoughts may have totally changed. They may think, ‘Look at how those Christians handled it and are looking out for each other. They really care about each others welfare.’
I believe some Christians may be too stuck on doctrine, or be too theologically learned, or be too spiritual too be any good. The reason for apologetics is to be able to share ones faith in any situation. Sometimes logic is needed when approaching situations and thinking of what may be the best way to keep God’s reputation whole and in good standing order before blindly following scripture without any real applicational knowledge and exegetical methods. We cannot pick and choose the biblical text to fit our situations, our situations have to follow along with what the biblical text says and what it’s implying.