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I’m A Bible-Believing Christian?
There are a lot of folks (and churches) who are quite proud to profess that they are solidly
biblical both in what they believe and in the way they practice their faith. Yet when one hears what they have to say or watch how they act, you might be somewhat confused as to in what exactly they base their belief.
Back around the turn of the century, I came across a list of what some people claim was in Holy Scripture that actually wasn’t. Such things as:
- "God helps those who help themselves"
- "Hate the sin but love the sinner"
- "Let go and let God"
- "The kingdom of God is inside you"
- "Everything happens for a reason."
- "Sex before marriage is a sin."
- "God needed another angel in heaven!"
- “There was a donkey at the cradle of Jesus.”
A lot of times, we get a bit confused between dogma and da’ Bible. Dogma is a set principles or doctrines laid down as authoritative and true. To give these ideas or positions authority, people ascribe them as being “biblical,” that they are either straight out of the Holy Book or are clear interpretations of Scripture.
Humans being what we are (broken, torn between truth and what serves our other purposes) at times can take liberties with what the Word contains and twist it into something that buttresses our preferred positions. Like those above, they can either be relatively harmless (from a faith perspective) or rather hurtful and misleading. Sometimes, they can be downright wrong.
I came across this item this week. I thought I would share it with you.
Russell Moore, an Evangelical Christian and long-time leader in the Southern Baptist Convention, in an interview on NPR, said that “Multiple pastors tell me, essentially, the same story about quoting Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount – only to have someone come up afterward to ask, “Where did you get those liberal talking points?” Moore added that “What was alarming to me is that in most of these scenarios, when the pastor would say, ‘I’m literally quoting Jesus Christ,’ the response would be, ‘Yes, but that doesn’t work anymore. That’s too weak.’”
I hope that we never need to struggle with this here at GSLC. But each of us may have to speak to others in our neighborhoods, workplaces, polling places or even our families with the truth, the perhaps unpopular truth, that Jesus calls us to be humble, merciful, generous, and kind.
No doubt about it.
Shalom.
Pr. Mark
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