Family
Schools
Legal framework and laws
Authorities and role models
Religious doctrine and denominations
and much more....
Wait a minute.... Did I say Religious
doctrine and denominations are a barrier to truth? I did. This is a
very difficult thing for some. Including me. I get depressed
sometimes.
But I guarantee that as long as we hold
on to ANY of this inculturation, we are preventing God's own truth
from entering our lives. We have to let it go.
The first issue is Faith. Or trust, if
you will.
Do you trust God?
Did you give your life to Him? What do
you think that means?
Do you think that you now have to turn
to some institutional organization to “indoctrinate” you into the
TRUTH?
Do you think that you now have to
constantly be on guard and manage the events in your life? The people
you meet, the paths you take, the truths you learn?
Seriously? The creator of the universe
that created everything there is out of absolute nothingness by
speaking? He needs a committee to tell you what to believe and how to
behave?
One of the problems is when we have a
new believer we tell them: “Surround yourself with other believers
and listen to your pastor.” This is anti-scriptural.
There's a story about an Ethiopian
Eunuch in the bible. He was baptized and sent, alone to spread the
word to an entire country, the same day.
He didn't receive any denominational
ordination. Take a look at the Christian presence in Ethiopia today.
Its in the millions, and has one of the longest and strongest
presences of any African nation.
There's another story about a Samaritan
woman. Again, sent same day she was “saved” to minister to an
entire population. Alone.
She went to no leadership-training
workshops.
Then there's this demon-possessed guy.
Jesus comes along and pow! Kicks them demons out and the people that
know the guy are so in awe of the transformation that the bible says
they were “afraid.” He spends his life raving with multiple
demons inside and that's business as usual, but now he's healed and
they are afraid.
When he wants to go with Jesus he is
told to stay and spread the news in his own community. I guarantee
you he did not have a copy of the New Testament to preach from.
And then there's this Matthew guy. Same
day Jesus calls him, sends him out to the very community that hates
his guts. He was a tax collector. In the bible they repeatedly make
mention of “sinners and tax collectors” so apparently the tax
collector was such a jerk he needed his own category.
Jesus gives him a plan, its found in
Matthew chap 10, and repeated in Luke chap 10. It involves things
like “take nothing with you” and the bounty of the harvest is to
be found in the harvest. This means there are no multi-million dollar
training or events or infrastructure needed.
So whats going on here? Is there really
a bunch of “Christian” institutions and churches out there that
preach how being prideful is such a sin and yet think that God needs
an interpreter?
The “Word” of God is what? The
bible? Or Jesus? Both are called the “Word.” If something comes
up that is in conflict or contradicts, who wins? Jesus or the bible?
It does happen.
What happens when your religion is too
small for your God? Its called “putting God in a box”.
The question is: Can God be anything
not found in a literal legalistic interpretation of the bible?
Can the bible itself become an idol?
There are basically two line of thought
here. There's the “Catholic” way and the “Protestant” way.
In the Catholic view, the Word of God
as expressed through the bible is “organic”. This is not to be
confused with the “Organic Church” movement. What this means is
that the Word of God grows as the times change. That a group of
special people get together and decide what the Word has to say about
a certain topic. Then when they announce it, that becomes a part of
the Word of God. It's kinda like when an amendment to the
Constitution is made.
In the other view, common to all
Protestant denominations, there is a belief that the bible is it.
Nothing else. If there is a question about a new topic, the scripture
is searched, people pray, any little verse taken within or without
context that supports what they want is found, and that becomes the
Word of God. If you don't like it, you are dis-fellowshipped. Go
start your own denomination.
Anything else is heresy, or a cult.
These very processes are actually
described in the bible. They are not found in the descriptions of the
new churches spawned by Jesus and His apostles. Both ways are
described in the old Pharisaical tradition. You know, the one that
branded Jesus a heretic.
And again in the Jerusalem church
described in Acts. You know the ones that tried to kill Paul, the
author of much of our New Testament? Also for being a heretic.
Could it be that Christianity is about
“heresy” in a very real way?
“What do you call it when the
assassins accuse the assassins?” (Colonel Walter Kurtz, Apocalypse Now)
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