Re: You know you're a Christina when .. (was: OT: Racial superiority / Intelligent design was Re: OT:Thanksgiving



"Judson McClendon" <judmc@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:_imqj.67318$Mu4.22699@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"William M. Klein" <wmklein@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

"Judson McClendon" <judmc@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
<snip>
The real problem comes when Christians decide their thinking is better
than God's, and discount some or a lot of the Bible. All bets are off at
that point, and they are going to be all over the place with strange and
indefensible interpretations based on human judgment, not Scripture.
It doesn't mean they aren't Christians, it just means they aren't very
knowledgeable, or wise. In many respects, they are "baby Christians."

You seem to have missed my point.

No, we're talking about the same thing. :-)

The real problem that SOME of us who believe we are Christians have is
with those who believe that "the Bible" is a static truth.

God does not change, and His Word does not change (James 1:17).

- There are some Christians who believe that God gave man an "apostolic
succession" to help us in a CHANGING understaninding of what the Bible
means and how to read it.

Our teacher is the Holy Spirit (John 14:15-26).

- There are some Christians who believe that God gave humans reasonn so
that they can take His past works (and words) and understand them in
today's world.

(Proverbs 3:5)
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;"

- There are some Christians who believe a variety of things that make
them think that God did give humanity the Bible, but did not stop giving
humanity revalations - even if they contradict previous (relevant to THAT
time) inforamtion.

Those revelations come to us directly from God through His Holy Spirit
(John 14:15-26), not through a human appointed mediary:

(1 Timothy 2:5)
For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men,
the Man Christ Jesus,

Personally, I cannot even begin to relate to anyone taking the Bible
literally today. I know good (and not so good) people who do, but it
just has no relationship to me or my faith in God.

Exactly. As the Scriptures above illustrate, such human philosophies
amount to placing human judgment above God's Word. The Bible is
very clear about how we should view it (Matthew 4:4, 2 Timothy 3:16)

In another part of these discussions you have talked about "consistancy"
and I fully accept that *IF* one starts from the belief in the Bible as
"literal truth" then one ends up believing that the Bible must be literal
truth. It is equally true (to me at least) that if one starts from a
belief (say in the beliefs of the Nicean Creed but) NOT in the Bible as
literal truth, then one ends up not seeing that one needs to believe in
it as literal truth in order to be a Christian.

Well, yes. But consider what that implies. If you reject the accuracy and
authenticity of the Bible from the beginning, you aren't going to come to
the conclusion the Bible does, and you will not be in agreement with it.
Of course. :-)

What is required to be a Christian is to place our faith in Jesus Christ
and His redeeming sacrifice to make us acceptable to God. Only God
can judge a person's heart whether or not they have truly done this,
though the person can be sure. Beyond that, it is no longer about
salvation, but how faithfully we submit our lives to God, and how
willing we are to allow the Holy Spirit to conform us to the image of
Jesus Christ (Romans 12:2).

One is not a Christian because they're righteous, they're declared by
God to be righteous because it is accounted to them through their
faith in Jesus Christ. It is a free gift of God's Grace :-)

Oh, well,
Mostly I have tried to stay out of these discussions as I don't see them
as very productive.

Productivity isn't always immediately apparent. There are probably a lot
of people reading these posts who won't comment here, but who may
benefit in one way or another from seeing differing opinions articulated.
:-)

I hope so.

Pete.
--
"I used to write COBOL...now I can do anything."


.

Relevant Pages

  • Naked Pope in a Glass House
    ... The NAKED POPE in a GLASS HOUSE ... Conversion by Violence not of God, September 12, 2006, Associated ... Christian, Christendom, Muslims, and Muslim World loosely in general ... Muslims, Christians and Jews. ...
    (talk.politics.mideast)
  • Naked Pope in a Glass House
    ... The NAKED POPE in a GLASS HOUSE ... Conversion by Violence not of God, September 12, 2006, Associated ... Christian, Christendom, Muslims, and Muslim World loosely in general ... Muslims, Christians and Jews. ...
    (alt.religion.islam)
  • Republican preachers spouting hate, lies -- why no outrage from the right??? Why dont we he
    ... Pledge of Allegiance to the Christian Flag (as recited at Summit ... The God of Islam ... Christian faith. ... "Islam is a religion in which God requires you to send your son to die ...
    (alt.politics)
  • Running Away From Science
    ... The death of God ... Sir Richard Gregory, sometime Editor of Nature, was one of the unusual ... I preach the gospel of Science. ... Christian origins of Science ...
    (alt.religion.christian.roman-catholic)
  • Running Away From Science
    ... The death of God ... Sir Richard Gregory, sometime Editor of Nature, was one of the unusual ... I preach the gospel of Science. ... Christian origins of Science ...
    (alt.religion.christian)