"For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. "He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. "This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. "For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. "But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God."(John 3:17-21)
The whole Bible is designed by God to bring you to Jesus. That is to say God's design is that you come to the Word of God (Jesus) in Faith (Loyal Acknowledgment). We can say this again with other words: God's will is that you come, in the obeisance of loyalty, to Jesus Christ, to His life, and to His authoritative teachings. But Religious men including myself have a vested interest in not getting God's purpose right. That vested interest produces much misunderstanding in the interpretation of Scriptures. It's like the old saying about a lie, "Once you tell a lie you have to tell ten more to cover the first." The same is true with so many doctrinal debates; once you embrace theological distractions from the teaching of Christ, you embrace confusion of the scriptures. And just like with the lie, men will have to develop more and more scriptural confusion to cover the first departure from God's purpose. Ironically, a lot of heated debate which takes place among people who agree the Bible is authoritative, takes place in areas of confusion which are way down stream from the fundamental confusion of sidestepping Jesus and His teaching. My suggestion is loosen your grip on downstream debates that amount to cover for the earlier confusion. Give attention to the central thrust. The point under debate may become clear and or dramatically adjusted. The vested interest of natural man can be undone by a strength that comes from God. The strength that is ours in the faith of Jesus Christ is a strength greater than the strength of the world, and the flesh, and the Devil. In Revelation chapters 2 and 3 Jesus said to the people of the churches things like these: 'Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me. 'He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne (Rev 3:20-21). Lets firm up in our hearts and minds the centrality of the overcoming way.
Posts
