As soon as we believe the Bible says thou shalt not judge, we begin a slippery slope of non-discernment, being blown to and fro by every wind of teaching and the latest, newest evangelical idea and teaching, taking everything at face value, never questioning, never thinking, only accepting, assuming, and consuming. If there is questioning, Scripture is not where we go to for the answer, but our selves. We do not make ourselves accommodating to God, but we make God accommodating to ourselves. Using our mind and studying and reading is work - something we do not want to do - and it leads us to things in Scripture that are difficult to swallow, causing anxiety and cognitive dissonance - something we do not want to feel. We are taught to question everything in just about every other area of life; as a matter of fact, that is the unwavering anthem of our generation. However, this is not present when it comes to our current Christian and/or evangelical beliefs. When it comes to our Christian beliefs, we are taught to keep our mouths shut, disengage our minds, not to question, not to judge, not do discern, but to just accept. And anyone who practices discernment is a pharisee. When in reality, the ones who did NOT practice discernment were the pharisees, because they did not even recognize the Savior they claimed to serve, and did not even accept Him, and even killed Him and those who followed Him. It was the pharisees and legalists who stuck to the cultural beliefs of their day; it was they who did not judge or discern; it was they who were nothing but products of their culture, who did not truly look at and truly study what the Scriptures said. It was the pharisees, because of their non-discernment, who outwardly displayed affection for God, but inwardly were dead. Now we have people who outwardly say they love God, but dont even open their Bible and cant really even explain who He is or the basic theological fundamentals of the Gospel or of the Christian faith. We have people who say they love God, but cant really explain anything about Him. We have people who claim to love God, but dont even want to use their minds or discernment to get to know Him. To love God is to want to know Him; to want to know Him is to read with rigor and studiousness what He has given us to know Him: His Word. We have come to the point where we need to admit that if we dont read our Bibles every day or week, and if we dont use our discernment and God-given minds to understand Him correctly, we dont love God. We just love the idea of what we like, and if God happens to fit into our schema of what we like, then well incorporate Him, yaaaaaay. And because we think thats okay, we think that its okay for everyone to do it. We give ourselves the power to determine Gods character and to determine who He is, thus giving us several different views of God and His Gospel. We say if thats what you believe, then thats fine. If you believe this is what the Gospel is, then thats what is right for you. We glorify ignorance and self-centeredness: what is right is what I say is right. We glorify tolerance and ignorance until, of course, someone says that ignorance is wrong and that Ephesians 4:17-19 totally contradicts what they say. We will not tolerate those who say a plethora of different beliefs is wrong. We say all beliefs about God are totally valid, so long as your belief is actually one that is not Scriptural and absolutistic. The danger of tolerating many different views of the Gospel is that, by doing so, we are tolerating people exalting themselves to the point of believing that they have the power to make Scripture be what they want it to be; that they have the power to make Scripture say what they want it to say, and that they have the power to make God be what they want Him to be. The Gospel is the culmination, the combination, the relationship, the epitome, and the existential and ontological reality of the nature, the personality, the character, the actions, and the will of God. To have five different definitions of the Gospel, is to have five different definitions of God: of redemption, of salvation, of Gods sovereignty, of mans depravity. To possess false Gospel knowledge is to have a false conversion. And that is ultimately why to have different understandings of the Gospel is something we should be deeply concerned about: because if someone does not possess the correct knowledge of the Gospel, then they cannot submit themselves to that knowledge. And the only way man can enter Heaven is if he submits himself to the truth. How can a man submit himself to the truth if he does not know, or believe in, the truth? He cannot. And will therefore not be glorified. However, we live in a world that values subjective and relativistic thought, and surprisingly, many, many people who hold to subjective thought are those who call themselves Christians. What is evangelically appropriate now is not the phrase this verse means..., but the phrase to me, this verse means... If you desire to have yourself called pharisaical, legalistic, pompous, or a know-it-all, then declare that Scripture has one meaning, and that truth is absolutistic and knowable, for there is no surer way to be called a pharisee by the average, contemporary American Christian than to declare Scriptural absolutism. You will be dubbed as narcissistic and arrogant if you have the audacity to proclaim that what your friend who calls himself a Christian is saying, or believes, is actually contradictory to what Scripture says. What is the most heartbreaking is that people who do not even read Scripture on a daily, weekly, or even monthly basis on their own are the ones who make these ad-hominems. It is not the people who neglect the proper reading and study of Scripture who are called pharisaical, but the ones who do not. The man who studies the Greek, Hebrew, sociology, culture, anthropology, historicity, Bibliology, and etymology of Scripture, who daily listens to sermons by Biblical scholars and pastors, who goes to church every Sunday and who has regular communion with the Saints, and reads his Bible on a daily basis is the one who is called narcissistic, pharisaical, and and a know-it-all by the man who does not study any of the aforementioned things, who does not read his Bible on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis, and who only attends church on an inconsistent basis. The man who does not legitimately study Scripture wants to make claims about what Scripture says, and has the audacity to say that his claims are correct, while simultaneously calling the man who studies Scripture and says his own claims are correct is audacious The man who shows total evidence of being in Christ is called unChristian by the man who shows absolutely no evidence of being in Christ. In other words, the light is called bad by the darkness. This is where Christianity in America is at. Christianity is now nothing more than an intellectual safeguard or an intellectual scapegoat. It is nothing more than a tool to make people feel better about themselves. Christianity has been manipulated and contorted in order to justify the consistently wicked actions of those who call themselves Christians. No longer do you see men going to the Scriptures in order to find truth. What you see now is men going to Scripture in order to justify what they want to be true, or what they think ought to be true. This is made evident by the fact that the phrases there are too many variables to know what Scripture actually means, the Bible has been translated too many times to be reliable, Biblical phrases mean different things to different people and can have different meanings because God speaks to people differently, and so on, are excessively common to hear come out of the mouths of evangelicals, but yet, those same evangelicals use specific Scripture verses when confronted with ideologies that are unpalatable. For instance, the man who says there are too many variables to know what Scripture means, will, when someone confronts him, or someone he likes, with the reality of his sin, he will say: the Bible says not to judge. The woman who says The Bible has been translated too many times to be reliable will say the Bible says to be kind and to speak the truth in love to a person who makes her feel bad when someone confronts her with her sin, or a sin which she enjoys or desires not to feel bad about, and tells her the spiritual reality of it. When it comes to obeying Scriptural truth and following Christ by doing what He has commanded, the evangelical will say the Bible is an unreliable source to know how to live your life, but when it comes to living however he wants to, that same evangelical will say the Bible says not to judge or God is love. They have turned the Bible into a shield that protects them from spiritual criticism or rebuke, and a sword that cuts a path for them to live whatever lifestyle they want. They have created a God that loves the things they love and hates the things they hate. They have created a God that loves their wicked lifestyle and who hates or call sinful the person who dares tell them their lifestyle is wicked as wicked can be. They have created a God in their own image; they have created an idol, and they lay down and bow down before it, and dedicate their lives to it. They do not follow Yahweh, for theyve no idea who He is. These people are narcissistic and self-centered and self-exalting. They will spend their lives calling themselves Christians, blaspheming the name of God, misleading many people, and damning their own souls. Christ is a tool they use to let them do what they want to do, watch what they want to watch, hear what they want to hear, and think what they want to think. God is nothing more to them than a way to justify their carnal lifestyle, and they will go to Hell should they not repent. Beware of being like the average American evangelical. Beware of living like the majority of those who call themselves Christians. For they may dress like a sheep, but on the inside they are ravenous wolves who hate God and who hate those who follow Him. Beware of such people, because they hate you, and desire to kill you; they are children of their father the devil, and they hate light and the light that shines through you. Do not fall victim to the relativistic thought that justifies carnal living, but be renewed by the transformation of your mind that conforms yourself to the logic, philosophy, epistemology and perspectivism of Jesus Christ. You will know a believer by the fruit he produces, and if the fruit he produces is not good according to, or in alignment with, Scriptural truth, then that person is not a Christian. At all.
Posted on: Fri, 12 Dec 2014 19:43:59 +0000
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