[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
pick and choose
Peter said:
>>I'll tell you why -- because it's impossible. We *all* pick and choose
>>which parts we follow, it's just a question of *how*.
I understand (and support) the thought behind this: we all have a limited
view of what the scriptures are and can do. B/c we are human, our
limited views include blind spots and just plain misinterpretations of
the scenery.
But I think "pick and choose" is the wrong phrase. Ideally, we strive
throughout our lives for a complete understanding, and our vision,
hopefully, broadens and becomes clearer as we go. This process model is
different from "picking and choosing" in that we are not resigning
ourselves to misunderstanding or picking only those items that appeal to
us; instead, we're choosing to try to understand more and more.
Granted, some people start and end with the limited view of the world
they had when they were 15. But that's not the ideal, and that's not
what most Christians I know are really doing.
So my thought on the can't-just-choose-to-ignore-parts-of-scripture
question:
You shouldn't just choose to ignore parts of scripture. Like Peter
(Chattaway, not the Apostle), we should probably acknowledge the
incompleteness of our views, their need for expansion, etc. But that
doesn't mean we shouldn't be trying to deal as honestly and completely as
possible with each passage of scripture. That certainly *does* mean that
we ought to be taking cultural context into account when we look at, say,
whether men can have long hair or not. It also means a lifelong process,
not a couple of courses in Biblical Literature and philosophy. We are
trying to come to the best possible understanding of the whole of
scriptures, using our intelligence, our reading skills, our knowledge of
history, our knowledge of the rest of the book . . . and the leadings
given to us by the holy spirit (a separate and knotty topic). The
"cafeteria Christian" model--the one implied by the words "pick and
choose"--includes the tendency to say, "Well, I'm really not comfortable
with that bit of scripture, so I won't acknowledge it"; that sort of move
is very different from trying to come to grips with the whole of
scripture. It's self indulgent and assumes that anything one is
uncomfortable with is automatically something that God didn't really
mean. What's that line from Judges? "Every man did that which was right
in his own eyes." That doesn't work.
Some of us have more experience dealing with our frustration at people
who refuse to understand the limits of our ability to understand. Others
of us have more experience dealing with our frustration at people who
refuse to believe anything that they find difficult (regarding, for
example, sexual mores). These frustrations stem from two separate
maladies. I don't think they're even on the same continuum. But we've
responded to this question based on where our greatest frustrations lie;
there have been two conversations.
That is all,
Fred
np: the Verve
________________________________________________________________
GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO!
Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less!
Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit:
http://dl.www.juno.com/get/web/.
---------------
Unsubscribe by going to http://www.actwin.com/OtR/
Follow-Ups: