So I was thinking today about some topics that are controversial and at the top of churches list of things to steer clear of. Things like women in leadership, what type of worship a church should have, turning the other cheek to name a few. But when I was thinking about turning the other cheek I was going back a forth between standing up for yourself and being a good witness and a thought entered my mind. Now the thought usually would have come and gone just as fast, it would have just become another point in my argument for what I believe but this time it caught my attention. The thought was that “it is just culture” and I started to think where did this come from? Why did my mind jump to that?
I started to dwell on this thought and think back to when i was younger when the whole idea of women in leadership was being argued over in my church and in the membership and i realized that that was the first time i have ever heard “it is just cultural” be uttered. Now i don't really care where you land on the whole women in leadership thing (we will probably get to that later) but this phrase started to bother me. You see I feel that if we start to say that one thing is cultural in the Bible and one thing isn't then our grounds for our beliefs and out grounds for our faith become very impetuously unreliable. I feel that we become hypocrites if we take a verse like 1 Tim 2:12 (see below) and call it cultural and then not even 5 verse before (see below) are verses that the church holds up as a staple of the Christian life. I mean if we say that this one part of 1 Timothy is cultural don't we have to open the door to the fact that the whole book of 1 Timothy is only cultural and if 2 Timothy is a extension of what was said in 1 Timothy then we would have to also open the door to 2 Timothy being cultural and we can't do that because 1 and 2 Timothy have doctrine in them that the church is built on.
So I guess when it comes down to it all I am saying is don't try to pick apart the Bible to prove your point, we should find God's point and let Him show us how to prove it. Don't try to disprove the Bible because it doesn't fit with your idea of what this life should be, because this would isn't what it should be but the Bible tells us the way it should be.
In Christ
PJ
1 Timothy 2
1 First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, 2 for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. 3 This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony given at the proper time. 7 For this I was appointed a preacher and an apostle ( I am telling the truth, I am not lying) as a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth. 8 Therefore I want the men in every place to pray, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and dissension.
9 Women Instructed
Likewise, I want women to adorn themselves with proper clothing, modestly and discreetly, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly garments, 10 but rather by means of good works, as is proper for women making a claim to godliness. 11 A woman must quietly receive instruction with entire submissiveness. 12 But I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man, but to remain quiet. 13 For it was Adam who was first created, and then Eve. 14 And it was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression. 15 But women will be preserved through the bearing of children if they continue in faith and love and sanctity with self-restraint
No comments:
Post a Comment