Defense of the Faith
It's not enough for Christians to have a simple understanding of their faith in this country. Persecution here isn't from angry mobs or yelling soldiers with guns. Persecution here is with intellectualism, relativist rationalism, pluralist philosophies, intolerance of the intolerant. The so called wisdom of modern scholastics is so enticing, so luring that even Christians have conformed to its pattern in direct violation of Romans 12:2. No, it's not enough to have a simple understanding of the faith. We need serious training. We need to know our Bibles. Really know our Bibles. And not just passages that we like, that bring us comfort, but passages interpreted with methods that seek to find the author's original intent (how the original audience would have understood it). Let me illustrate.
"I received a love letter from my girlfriend the other day. I opened it and flipped to the second page mindlessly and just started reading half down the page. I read, "Because of that, he kissed me on the forehead and we cuddled for the rest of the movie." I was furious! How could she let another guy kiss her and then why would she cuddle with him? And why on earth would she tell me about it like it was good news?! I was in a total outrage. I stormed over to my friends house next door and showed him the sentence I had read and he couldn't believe it either. Then when I came home, my mom noticed my mood and asked what was bothering me. I handed over the letter and went to my room. A little later my mom entered and said it was a very sweet letter and that she couldn't figure out what that had to do with my bad mood. I looked at her shocked and pointed out the sentence I had read. She laughed annoyingly happily and quickly showed me that my girlfriend was talking about her dad after they had not talked for a while because of a fight they had. They had made up and she was kissed by him on the forehead and cuddled with him like they used to do when she was littler."
Obviously, no one would actually go through this because we simply don't read letters that way. Yet so many times I find Christians reading their Bible in the same erroneous manner described above. The books of the Bible weren't meant to be chopped up into verses and chapters so that we could take any verse and make it say whatever we want it to say. The verses and chapters were only added later (uninspired) to aid in discussion. The Bible cannot say whatever you want it to say if you read it as it was intended to be read. Authorial intent is so important! Please, please, please read your Bibles knowing that the authors are trying to tell the original audience something and that God did sovereignly intend for us to draw principles from that. But don't be so arrogant as to think that God only used the original audience as vessels to get his message solely to us. Don't forget that the Bible is a sword and that like all swords it can be used poorly and for bad reasons. Know how to use your sword. Be armed! Fight the good fight!
"Grace to you and Peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ"
Peter
"I received a love letter from my girlfriend the other day. I opened it and flipped to the second page mindlessly and just started reading half down the page. I read, "Because of that, he kissed me on the forehead and we cuddled for the rest of the movie." I was furious! How could she let another guy kiss her and then why would she cuddle with him? And why on earth would she tell me about it like it was good news?! I was in a total outrage. I stormed over to my friends house next door and showed him the sentence I had read and he couldn't believe it either. Then when I came home, my mom noticed my mood and asked what was bothering me. I handed over the letter and went to my room. A little later my mom entered and said it was a very sweet letter and that she couldn't figure out what that had to do with my bad mood. I looked at her shocked and pointed out the sentence I had read. She laughed annoyingly happily and quickly showed me that my girlfriend was talking about her dad after they had not talked for a while because of a fight they had. They had made up and she was kissed by him on the forehead and cuddled with him like they used to do when she was littler."
Obviously, no one would actually go through this because we simply don't read letters that way. Yet so many times I find Christians reading their Bible in the same erroneous manner described above. The books of the Bible weren't meant to be chopped up into verses and chapters so that we could take any verse and make it say whatever we want it to say. The verses and chapters were only added later (uninspired) to aid in discussion. The Bible cannot say whatever you want it to say if you read it as it was intended to be read. Authorial intent is so important! Please, please, please read your Bibles knowing that the authors are trying to tell the original audience something and that God did sovereignly intend for us to draw principles from that. But don't be so arrogant as to think that God only used the original audience as vessels to get his message solely to us. Don't forget that the Bible is a sword and that like all swords it can be used poorly and for bad reasons. Know how to use your sword. Be armed! Fight the good fight!
"Grace to you and Peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ"
Peter