But in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. (Matthew 15:9)
I was advised by one of my liberal friends this weekend that “Idolizing the Bible only leads to fundamentalism.” He has a horror of fundamentalism: it gets in the way of his love affairs with Darwinism and Big Government. Happily, he reminds me, “we have the Church” (he means his church) to give us teachings that supplement or even replace the Bible.
As you can see by the Bible quote above–oops, there I go again!–Jesus has already addressed this issue.
Imagine what harm it would do to the church, and to the whole Christian community, if we were to cut ourselves loose from the Bible and just rely on the teachings and opinions of sinful, mortal men. Oh, wait, we don’t have to imagine it! In fact, we’ve got a picture of it.
This is how we get a church featuring goddess worship, feminist theology, same-sex parodies of marriage, and general assembly delegates poncing around in animal costumes… among other things.
I once interviewed a high official of the Methodist Church, who came right out and said, “The first thing I learned in seminary was that the Bible is not the word of God!” He was proud of having cut himself loose from the Bible. More fool him.
Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.
He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. (Psalm 2:1-4)
There will come a time when the Lord stops laughing.
And that will not be a fun time for this world.
Almost every day, certainly frequently, I am reminded of the wisdom of God. Not my wisdom, but HIS wisdom, and I can only wonder how so many can even assume they know better, except for being demonically possessed. Over time, they become hoisted on their own petard.
It sounds like your liberal “friend” has his own fundamentalism. He admits he has his own secular religion, and it’s his way of saying my religion is better than yours.
The arrogance is astonishing – people who believe they know more and can counsel better than Our Lord.
Matt. 7:13-14 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
Another saying springs to mind: “They have their reward.” And that’s all the reward they’re gonna get.
True fundamentalism, as I understand it means that one believes:
-Biblical inspiration and the infallibility of scripture as a result of this
-Virgin birth of Jesus
-Belief that Christ’s death was the atonement for sin
-Bodily resurrection of Jesus
-Historical reality of the miracles of Jesus
. . . all of which I believe.
The term fundamentalist has come to be used to describe Young Earth creationism, with which I do not agree.
Just dealing with point #1 above, one either believes that the bible is inspired by God, or they don’t. Strangely, there seem to be a lot of people that want to pick and choose which parts of the bible they will obey. When someone goes through the bible and cites verses which agree with their point(s) of view, while dismissing others, they aren’t really studying the bible. They are, in fact, studying their opinion, then claiming that these opinions are biblical when, in fact, they are simply verse-checking, out of context.
As far as church supplementing or even replacing the bible: on what grounds could they make that claim. Moses made some bold claims, but he also showed Divine backing, by parting a sea. Jesus shook things up, but also did things that could only happen with God’s approval and backing. Without these signs of God’s backing, the claims of any human are just that, merely human claims.
Hasn’t the Catholic Church always put “church teaching” on a par with Scripture?
In some instances, the Catholic Church has indicated their teachings are above Scripture – remember the pope is ‘infallible’ – and is called the Vicar of Christ (His replacement on earth)! Like Unknowable, I’m not picking on Catholics – but the institution itself is corrupt.
Probably. I have started many a conversation by telling people that talking about God and talking about religion are not the subject. There are some wonderful, devout people that belong to churches, but that does not mean that their church represents true worship.
I suspect that the picture will clarify in the future. When the End Times events begin to unfold, the religions of the world will choose their side of the issue for once and for all. (Actually, the current Pope seems to have done this already.) Once the issue is out in the open, people will know what to do.
Indeed – and isn’t it interesting that he’s the first Jesuit pope?
I didn’t realize that. Now things seem to make sense.
Poor John Paul II! He undertook the herculean labor of trying to break the power of the Jesuits, and look what happened. Meanwhile, they just might canonize him as a saint.
It’s as if the Victorians hung pictures of Florence Nightingale in every bedroom in England, and still ran their military field hospitals as filthy, crowded death traps.
Well, this is interesting, and has never happened before with any of your posts or subsequent comments: I just discovered this one in my spam folder but am unable to determine which comment may have tossed it there.