Today’s Scripture Reading (January
15, 2015): Acts 22
I have some
concerns with regard to the Christian Church. I am part of it, although the
church may not always believe that this is a good thing. By denomination I am a
Baptist, although, again that is not the denomination with which I have always
aligned myself. But one of the things that has attracted me to this group is
their belief in diversity – at least, a belief that they maintain on paper.
Baptist’s hold to the belief that every person, and every congregation, has the
right and the duty to do just as God has instructed them. Again, on paper, this
is one of the highest duties. No one has the right to impress on someone else
their ideas about God. Ideally, as long as I can sit down and explain my beliefs
according to the words found in the Bible – the Holy Scriptures, the Book –
then people may disagree with the conclusions that I have reached, but they
must allow me to follow the God that I serve. I do not pretend to be always
right – in fact, I believe that one of the weaknesses of the Christian Church
is that we do not fail nearly enough – we do not risk enough as we follow God.
But we must be allowed to walk that path.
Recently I
had the opportunity to speak to a group of Baptists, however, they were not part
of a the congregation to which I belong, about this very idea. And I suggested
some hot topic ideas and that have caused division within the Christian church,
and in some cases have cause Baptist denominations to condemn Walt Disney
Productions – admittedly an interesting practice – and argued that as long as
we can honestly say that this is what I believe that God has directed us to do,
then we need to be okay with that – accept that.
But we
don’t. We find the differences in what we believe as reason to divide and
separate. Even the Baptist’s denominations have divided over issues, often issues
of marginal importance. The flavor of Baptists to which I belong separated from
another flavor over the idea of women in ministry – we believe that we are
called to follow God regardless of what sex we happen to be. God calls women to
minister in the same way that he calls men. Inside the Christian Church there
can be no difference. And for that sin we have been cast out.
Paul is a
sought after teacher in Israel, and he holds the attention of the people
Jerusalem until he speaks of the Gentiles. As soon as he dares to say that God
has sent him to minister to those who are not Jews and have not accepted the
Jewish way of life, the people want him dead. That is not an orthodox teaching.
Paul cannot have been sent to those who are not Jews. He must be wrong. He must
be in sin. And that means that Paul must die.
Yet the
people wanted to kill Paul for something that God had truly led him to – the
inhabitants of Jerusalem had become deaf to the concerns of God. Their God had
been placed in a Jewish box – and he could never emerge, the people wouldn’t
let him. And they were willing to kill anyone who dared to say anything
differently. This was the God of the Bible that they had read, and discussed,
and taught, and what Paul was teaching was simply too dangerous a variation –
and it violated everything that they knew about God.
I am
concerned for the Christian Church, because sometimes I see in us, not the
willingness to follow God like Paul, but a people who have placed God in a box
and are desperately afraid to let him out – just like the people who wanted to
kill Paul. We don’t have all of the answers, and there may be something very
important in the teaching of the ones we would throw away. Could it be that God
is once again sending another Paul into his church, so that we can become
everything that God has intended us to be? Is that a strong enough possibility
to cause us to pause, and simply listen, to those who hold beliefs that are
different from ours, but whose ideas still proceed from the same book that we
call Holy.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Acts 23
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