I just don't get it. To me it looks like blatant contradiction, but so many people are happy holding contradictions in both hands and claiming they're true. Like, they tell me, "I have a high regard for Scripture" and then explain all the errors in Scripture. "No, Jesus didn't die for our sins." "No, Scripture is not inerrant or infallible even though it is God-breathed." "No, Paul was wrong when he said he was preaching the gospel of Christ. His gospel was not Christ's gospel." And the list goes on and on.
The New Testament is full of "saved by grace through faith apart from works" as the gospel, but these argue that the gospel is something else. Maybe it's "Saved by faith ... but ultimately you have to work for it." Maybe it's "Everybody goes to heaven" even though Jesus said, "For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it" (Matt 7:14). Maybe it's "God forgives all sin" even though the Bible is clear that God is just (e.g., Psa 33:5), and simply forgiving sin is not justice (Nah 1:3). A currently popular "gospel" seems to be taken from Jesus's words in Luke 4:16-21. There Jesus quotes Isaiah 61:1 where God proclaims good news to the poor, the captives, the blind, and the oppressed. "That's a gospel for everyone," they tell me. But, of course, it's not. It's more of a "best life now" promise that provides temporal relief to a select group -- the poor and marginalized -- with nothing good to offer to the rest. It ignores Jesus's, "Repent and believe the gospel" message (Mark 1:15) because there is no repentance in Isa. 61:1. And if the good news was relief for the poor and marginalized, apparently Jesus Himself didn't know that "The poor you will always have with you" (John 12:8). If that was the gospel that Jesus preached, it was a failed gospel ... by Jesus's own words.
So people stand there with the "revered" Scriptures in one hand and obvious denials in the other and are happy with it. They get to decide which part of "God-breathed" applies and which does not. If it meets their standards, God is blessed to have His Word affirmed; if not, too bad. And that is "high regard." That's what passes for respect for God's Word. That's what passes for respect for God. I'll never understand this kind of thinking.
4 comments:
Like so many things, they hold scripture in high regard, but they hold their own human Reason in even higher regard.
That's your interpretation. The Bible has been copied and translated and orally passed on as to be unreliable. My God isn't like that, she's just love love love (ignoring that holy holy holy is the only attribute of God that is raised to the thrice superlative). More evidence of sin rotting brains.
At least give me an argument...something with evidence, facts! Instead, all I get is "your 'human tradition'" isn't the same as God's Will, despite quoting Scripture verbatim.
Yes, Marshal, that's always been my complaint. "That's your opinion" is all well and good as long as you give me an alternate biblical opinion.
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