I've been given the gift of some time today, and I've got a burning thought I'd like to unpack here on Corgi Hollows.
I had an encounter recently where I mentioned the apostasy of a well-known Christian leader to a group of women that I assumed were like-minded. If looks could kill I'd be dead right now, because one of the women clearly disagreed with my take on the information.
She said no word, but I knew I had overstepped in sharing the information.
We tread on eggshells these days, in this time, even now, before those who share the pews we sit in on Sundays and stadium seats in Christian events. We are becoming alone.
But here we are, for such a time as this.
When you are a Bible reader, and a Bible believer, when you believe that God defines Himself and sin---you get in trouble with those who would rather define God and sin.
You can be labelled a "HYPER FUNDAMENTALIST."
I remember, back in my young days, we had a young man stay with us, he worked for the family business for the summer. His grandpa was a well-known "fundamentalist," and we chatted about philosophy and theology. His parting gift for me was a beautiful copy of St. Exupery's "The Little Prince." I cherish that copy.
One thing I observed over that summer, was a delicate undermining of trust in the inerrancy of Scripture. His faith was shifting from the Bible to other ideas, and he challenged my own foundation on Scriptural truth.
He thought I was a hard-liner, really, and he cared enough to try to make me see it.
I wavered, because I like this young man, and I thought he was infinitely smarter than I----six or so years older---and perhaps he really had given a lot of thought to theological matters. I think he's a pastor now.
My faith in the Bible certainly took a blow, and it would be years before I built up my own foundation in God's Truth again. I never got FAR from it, but it certainly suffered. God is patient with me.
The nuances of critical thinking can be incredibly damaging.
Better to cling with tenacity to a text that has stood the test of time---the one the Roman Catholic Church tried to burn in the Middle Ages, the one the Counter Reformation still undermines at every turn.
The text is self-validating.
Sin is clearly defined, God is defined (Creator, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, etc.) and we have a grid for a worldview that stands all of the fiery darts of the evil powers that exist.
Not too long ago I had someone observe that I "thinned the veil" between the spirit and the body. Writers have had experience with the spiritual for centuries. Are they psycho-tropically induced? Are they the experience of only a small and weird minority (like Sadhu Sundar Singh, for example) I picked up a book at the Goodwill by a poetess from the early 1900's who wrote about all the spiritual experiences she'd had. Is she an example? She mentioned the influence of Madame Blavatsky on her thought, a theosophist.
The veil is really thin for those who know Christ. We live in a world that perfectly blends the spirit with the physical. We are born again, spiritually awake, spiritually made new. We have found The Way.
The Way is based solely on the Word of God, what He says in the Bible. It must be in the Bible, chapter and verse, weighed against other Scripture, and all of Scripture.
When we compromise the weight and teaching of the Bible, the commands and guidance it gives, we are drifting away from the fundamentals of the faith, the authority of Scripture.
I grieve that we even need to address this, but it is for such a time as this.
We are in the age of apostasy as predicted in the Bible, and people of faith must hold to strict boundaries.
The slippery slope is dangerous, and it is taking an entire generation away from clear Biblical guidelines. We are not discussing bowling and smoking and alcoholism anymore---
We're discussing fornication and adultery, murder of children, RIGHT IN "THE CHURCH!"
We're not in Kansas anymore! ---as Dorothy of Oz claimed.
This is a time for a clarity of faith: it isn't the "Feels" of faith, nor the Nice. We have a text that is relatively easy to interpret. It is hard to twist it, (though many do!) and it has given guidance for millennia. It's timeless.
As God says, "My Words abide forever."
For this time we can hold the text out and say that our belief is in this. It is an ancient text, but it is the authority we stand on. You must have a foundation of faith, and it could be in your own spirit, but that has nothing solid underneath. You may claim that a denomination or religion is your foundation, and you agree with it wholeheartedly. What happens when that organization changes? Do you change with it? Do you adopt the change without reservation? Do you flow with the whims of the age?
Having the text of Scripture as your faith base is a rock in the midst of a storm.
The storm comes. Its clouds are swirling above our heads even now.
Are you clinging to the Rock that is Higher?
Where else shall I go, Lord?
The Word is a tower, a high fortress. Run to it.
I had an encounter recently where I mentioned the apostasy of a well-known Christian leader to a group of women that I assumed were like-minded. If looks could kill I'd be dead right now, because one of the women clearly disagreed with my take on the information.
She said no word, but I knew I had overstepped in sharing the information.
We tread on eggshells these days, in this time, even now, before those who share the pews we sit in on Sundays and stadium seats in Christian events. We are becoming alone.
But here we are, for such a time as this.
When you are a Bible reader, and a Bible believer, when you believe that God defines Himself and sin---you get in trouble with those who would rather define God and sin.
You can be labelled a "HYPER FUNDAMENTALIST."
I remember, back in my young days, we had a young man stay with us, he worked for the family business for the summer. His grandpa was a well-known "fundamentalist," and we chatted about philosophy and theology. His parting gift for me was a beautiful copy of St. Exupery's "The Little Prince." I cherish that copy.
One thing I observed over that summer, was a delicate undermining of trust in the inerrancy of Scripture. His faith was shifting from the Bible to other ideas, and he challenged my own foundation on Scriptural truth.
He thought I was a hard-liner, really, and he cared enough to try to make me see it.
I wavered, because I like this young man, and I thought he was infinitely smarter than I----six or so years older---and perhaps he really had given a lot of thought to theological matters. I think he's a pastor now.
My faith in the Bible certainly took a blow, and it would be years before I built up my own foundation in God's Truth again. I never got FAR from it, but it certainly suffered. God is patient with me.
The nuances of critical thinking can be incredibly damaging.
Better to cling with tenacity to a text that has stood the test of time---the one the Roman Catholic Church tried to burn in the Middle Ages, the one the Counter Reformation still undermines at every turn.
The text is self-validating.
Sin is clearly defined, God is defined (Creator, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, etc.) and we have a grid for a worldview that stands all of the fiery darts of the evil powers that exist.
Not too long ago I had someone observe that I "thinned the veil" between the spirit and the body. Writers have had experience with the spiritual for centuries. Are they psycho-tropically induced? Are they the experience of only a small and weird minority (like Sadhu Sundar Singh, for example) I picked up a book at the Goodwill by a poetess from the early 1900's who wrote about all the spiritual experiences she'd had. Is she an example? She mentioned the influence of Madame Blavatsky on her thought, a theosophist.
The veil is really thin for those who know Christ. We live in a world that perfectly blends the spirit with the physical. We are born again, spiritually awake, spiritually made new. We have found The Way.
The Way is based solely on the Word of God, what He says in the Bible. It must be in the Bible, chapter and verse, weighed against other Scripture, and all of Scripture.
When we compromise the weight and teaching of the Bible, the commands and guidance it gives, we are drifting away from the fundamentals of the faith, the authority of Scripture.
I grieve that we even need to address this, but it is for such a time as this.
We are in the age of apostasy as predicted in the Bible, and people of faith must hold to strict boundaries.
The slippery slope is dangerous, and it is taking an entire generation away from clear Biblical guidelines. We are not discussing bowling and smoking and alcoholism anymore---
We're discussing fornication and adultery, murder of children, RIGHT IN "THE CHURCH!"
We're not in Kansas anymore! ---as Dorothy of Oz claimed.
This is a time for a clarity of faith: it isn't the "Feels" of faith, nor the Nice. We have a text that is relatively easy to interpret. It is hard to twist it, (though many do!) and it has given guidance for millennia. It's timeless.
As God says, "My Words abide forever."
For this time we can hold the text out and say that our belief is in this. It is an ancient text, but it is the authority we stand on. You must have a foundation of faith, and it could be in your own spirit, but that has nothing solid underneath. You may claim that a denomination or religion is your foundation, and you agree with it wholeheartedly. What happens when that organization changes? Do you change with it? Do you adopt the change without reservation? Do you flow with the whims of the age?
Having the text of Scripture as your faith base is a rock in the midst of a storm.
The storm comes. Its clouds are swirling above our heads even now.
Are you clinging to the Rock that is Higher?
Where else shall I go, Lord?
The Word is a tower, a high fortress. Run to it.
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