“Discernment is not simply a matter of telling the difference between what is right and wrong; rather it is the difference between right and almost right.” -Charles Spurgeon
This is where our problems come from in the church. It's the Scripture twisting, minor shading that has gotten us to the point of irrelevancy. We allow people to take portions of Scripture, and exalt them to the expense of others. God is love, but God is also just, God is vengeful, but also merciful. Jesus was not just a community helper, but the Son of God, who got angry, demanded righteousness, and helped the poor.
We need the whole of Scripture to strengthen our discernment. May we have it this year!
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Spurgeon on discernment
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Sermon Recap for April 20 2025
So, it's been a while, because I was on vacation one week, off at the oral defense of my dissertation another week. If you are curious, ...
-
So I still, from time to time, get books to review. It works like this: I get a free book and agree to review it. Then I beg for an extensio...
-
Numbers 22 very well might be the inspiration for a certain furry movie character, but I’m going to fade a little bit away from talking don...
-
A couple of weeks ago, I ran through a few of my in-print organizational resources. Moving on from there, I thought I’d share the three main...
Protestants! Catholics don't have this problem - we've got the magisterium (sp?) to carry forth the apostle's explanation of scripture through the ages. That's their job - to make sure that the words of Jesus and the aposotles are carried faithfully forth from age to age. Traditions too. :) So, when we want to know what scripture is saying, we can open the Catechism and there is the explanation. It fairly rocks!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteGood point....of course, one could argue whether or not the RCC has been effective in that responsibility. Which, of course, is what we protested about in the first place. Could lead to lots of circling arguments, couldn't it?
ReplyDeleteCutseox
ReplyDeleteOh yes. Because Lord knows there was no division in the Roman Catholic Church prior to the reformation. Lord knows that Christianity was in perfect harmony before the reformation. Oh wait, I seem to remember hearing about a certain Greek church and a certain coptic church.
And of course there is no scripture twisting going in the RCC today. I mean after all, Father Micael Manning and Jermiah Wright's buddy Father Pflaeger are both just founts of orthodoxy aren't they?
Truth is, I think we should see a unified Church following Christ. But, given mankind's sinful nature, I don't think we'll ever get there. I'm sure some of my Baptist brethren will form a committee to verify the second coming of the Lord Himself. And probably won't even allow Him to vote on that committee.
ReplyDeleteSo, the RCC tries to interpret for their people, we Protestants interpret for ourselves, and the world gets to snipe at us while we do it. As long as we have sinful people in the churches, we'll have issues within the church.
Personally, I find Scripture makes me responsible for understanding and following God's Word, and doesn't allow me to pass that off to any form of church hierarchy or structure. I think this is the most Biblical. Catholics find the Apostles have passed on authority, which is what most Charismatics think, but you can't get them together, can you? So, what do we do? Follow as best we can. If we can't work with each other because of those differences, then pray for each other to get right, and trust God to deal with all of you who are wrong :) or with me too.