Hitting the pause button 102923

 Sunday October 29th, 2023, ano 4

Sunday meditation

Hitting the pause button, and asking;"Have I really got this right?"

Earlier this week, I was working on a piece of writing and came across 2 John 1:9 (I’ve included a little extra to keep it in context) Starting at verse 5;” …And now, dear lady, I am not writing you a new command but one we have had from the beginning. I ask that we love one another. 6 And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love.7 I say this because many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist. 8 Watch out that you do not lose what we have worked for, but that you may be rewarded fully. 9 Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God; whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. 10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not take them into your house or welcome them. 11 Anyone who welcomes them shares in their wicked work.”

The general consensus of interpretation of this verse is the writer was having to deal with Christ’s message being corrupted. It wasn’t that the people doing this were denying Christ's message, but they were using it as a stepping stone “to something more…” They may very well have been the forerunners of what would become the Gnostic philosophers, a competing theology that was false, and enticed many early Christians away from the true message.

This got me thinking about what can get thrown into my writings and posts without much thought in regards to if it is consistent with the gospel’s message. Specifically, I am now giving considerably more thought to the words I put in God’s mouth.

I like putting a character into dialogue with God in order to address an issue I’m interested in writing about. It lets me get difficult questions out in the open and examine them. But in doing so, I find myself having my God character, saying things He never said or even agrees with

…And that is tripping a major “Check engine light” in my brain.

There’s a million ways we can and have,misused the scriptures. We quote scripture selectively editing- to support a personal agenda (we “take away or leave out”).

We can fall prey to “running ahead”, that is, adding more to God’s message than he intended when we build a whole biblical worldview on a single obscure verse. Recently I wanted a character who represented Christ to say, “Do not fear Chaos, for chaos only exists in the minds of men”(A thought I really attracted to,bb). But I hesitated. After giving it some thought, I didn’t follow through, as I’m not entirely sure it’s true. I’m not sure it’s consistent with scripture.

This is not a small issue, The writer of 2nd John tells the recipient of his letter in regards to those missionaries who bring an incorrect message;

"10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this (correct) teaching, do not take them into your house or welcome them. 11 Anyone who welcomes them shares in their wicked work.”

Not welcoming (taking in) a missionary is a pretty “In your face” statement to say the least. He goes on to say those who DO welcome them, are complicit with their evil. That’s pretty strong language too. I don’t think it’s an outlier, other places in the NT the apostles are consistent in not tolerating anyone adding to, or taking away from, the teachings of Christ.

You look at what’s out there in the marketplace under “God’s Word”, and you are deluged with authentic quotes, but quoted entirely out of context. Even the Word itself is not immune, There’s, The Environmentalist's Bible, The Woman’s Bible, The Vegetarian’s Bible and so on. Sometimes I think between misquoted texts taken as TRUTH, and “specific emphasis” bibles we have completely lost the true message.

I’m as guilty as the next person.

I think (skipping the argument and going directly to the conclusion), the best solution is to spend a significant amount of time daily/weekly/yearly, studying God’s Word. In other words, a lifetime. Correctly done, you learn to analyze and dissect the grounds stated for interpreting or applying a biblical verse one way instead of another, you learn to spot “flavor of the month” theology. Studying the Bible changes you.

When you study, you learn to learn.

To know how to learn and make it second nature, is to open the door of your heart to true Wisdom and to become wise is to see God’s hand in everything, yet on your deathbed you will still say, “God’s is still a mystery to me".

Learning and evolving should never stop, not until the very moment of death. AAfter all death is a new experience and there’s something to be learned from new experiences, don’t you think?

Luvya,

bobb

All reactions:

4Michael Brandt, Deborah Faber McGarvey and 2 others