Orthodox II

Rob responds to me.... Not only do we not know our history… I don’t think we know our orthodoxy. I cannot encourage us all enough to “handle the Word, handle the Word, HANDLE THE WORD!” The ol’ illustration of teaching bankers to detect counterfeit money is illustrative J… excuse the pun. They teach them to handle good money so much, that when the counterfeit is introduced, they can detect it… “something just doesn’t feel right.” We will never run out of history to learn (and we should learn it). But the Word must be the primary source conditioning our minds to detect the counterfeits (Joshua 1.8).

I respond to rob....

You know I aggree with you about the Word....

As children of modernity it is hard to grasp, and we dont want to believe, that we bring convictions and presupposition's that control how we will see,and understand, the very Word of God. Until every thought, every presuppositions, every understanding, until we are like St Anselm with his confession of " I believe, that I may understand..." we are capable of altering the true meaning that God intended us to see in his Word. I can confess for myself right here,guilty and forgiven!

I use to say...But I am saved now.....

Since we are saved, let us press on to take hold of him who took hold of us, and heed the instructions given us , that we should no longer walk in the futility of our minds, that we must find out what is acceptable to the Lord, and to see that we are not taken captive to hollow human philosophies....(phil3:12,phil3:12, eph4:17,eph 5:10,) Is it pressuposition's, the world views, that we dont even know we have? That do not all automatically fall away after our salvation experience, or even after we start reading our bibles a lot? could these be part of the necessity of the warning given to...believers?

Exhibit A would be your spirtual father, who loved you like a son. But now, really would rather..... ? We know he reads and believes his Bible. But something keeps him from seeing what you see.

Something keeps him from seeing what was plainly seen as rivers of understanding that were embraced by Christians for over a thousand years. During the Reformation this same stream of thought exploded outward from the straight jacket that the Renaissance had tried to fit over it. Modern Science was some of the first fruit and our basic American governmemt an advanced example from it.

Freebie...I love this verse....We are supposed to ...test all things.... (those Bereans again!)...I thes5:21...but by what standard? Does this not mean we must judge? in some fashion? ( from the back row....judge not lest you be judged!) Why are we commanded to test all things? Is not this at odds with the normal Christian understanding of just...being led by the Spirit? Is that understanding biblical? Just asking.

great, now my keyboard has teeth marks all over it.

Rob you are dead on about.... I don’t think we know our orthodoxy. And here you must have your history to know what has been understood to be orthodox.

Repent and Reform, Repent and Reform....