Today's Scripture Reading (June 16, 2024): 2 Timothy 3
One of the
biggest dangers with internet and T.V. preaching is that we don't know those
from whom we are learning. I am convinced that this is why we are commanded to
gather in local churches to learn from those we know and someone we have
learned through experience to trust. None of us are perfect; we all need to be
held accountable, including our very human Pastors and leaders.
We have all
had human teachers, people with whom we have had interactions, and they have
taught us in various ways. For most of us, that teaching often started with Mom
and Dad or Grandma and Grandpa. They taught us that God loves us and showed us how
to return that love. And it went from there.
I have sat
under the teachings of wise pastors. I have to admit that I haven't accepted
everything I have been taught, but these teachings became the starting point
for my faith journey. Through these teachers, tradition finds its role as we struggle
to understand the faith.
Tradition is
probably the most challenging factor of faith to see and understand. And often,
we give our traditions long and unmanageable names to make it even harder. I am
a proud Baptist but grew up in the Church of the Nazarene. I have even pastored
in the Church of the Nazarene. When I was at one church, I heard a story in
which one of my congregation members was asked what church they attended. He
answered that he and his wife attended the First Baptist Church of the Nazarene.
Apparently, even then, I was confusing. Being raised in the Church of the
Nazarene means that I was raised as a Wesleyan–Arminian, and the names are
taken from John Wesley and Jacob Arminius. Arminianism is a response to
Calvinism and, especially, the Calvinist belief in predestination. Jacob
Arminius believed that all are called or predestined to Christ. But not all
accept that predestination. With Calvinism, only some are predestined to be Christians,
and only some will make it to heaven. But according to Calvin, If you are
predestined, you have no choice because God's grace is irresistible. For Arminius,
grace is resistible.
Wesleyan means
that I am part of the Holiness movement. And the Holiness movement believes
that there is a second work of grace. Christianity starts with an act of grace
that brings you into the kingdom and life with Christ, but God is not finished
with you yet. You are a Christian, but often you are a Christian without power.
There is another moment when you come to a place where you kneel before a holy
God and say, "All of you for all of me." I am done fooling around. God,
I want everything you have for me, and to get it, I am willing to give up
everything that is of me." This moment comes at some point after you have
become a Christian.
A few years ago,
someone asked me what tribe I belonged to, and I told him that I was a
Wesley-Arminian. The question that came back was, "Is that even
scriptural?" And my answer was Yes. However, these traditions become the
glasses through which we interpret the Bible. So, when I say that I believe the
Bible talks about a tangible love, some of that is because I have put on my Wesleyan-Arminian
glasses. I am convinced that the Bible is progressive, that the complete
revelation of God does not happen until Jesus in the New Testament. Jesus is
love, and he is the complete revelation of God. And so, when there is hate
mentioned in the Tanakh or Old Testament, I am okay with that because, in the
Old Testament, we didn't have the entire revelation of Jesus yet.
But I also
know that sometimes love looks like hate, and if you are a parent, you know
this. How many times have you grounded your child or denied some request, and
their response has been, "You hate me." You won't let me touch that
hot burner, you won't let me run out into traffic, so you must hate me. But my
glasses, the tradition in which I was raised and learned to trust, says that
God is love. I believe God acts in love. Love is more central to the image of
God than even his omnipotent power. These glasses have been crafted through my
interaction with pastors and teachers I have spent time with and who I trust. As
a result, I see love when I read the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation.
And I have to
admit that I don't want to trade my glasses. I have tried Calvinist glasses on,
and they don't fit my face. For me, love is central, and it is essential to my
theology [what we say about God] because of the teaching I have received from
various human teachers I have known.
Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: 2
Timothy 4
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