I thought I would share this reply to a blog I wrote last week.
Hope it blesses you.
Thank you for all the prayers and encouragement.
Pastor Ray
Dear Pastor Ray,
Supersessionism, dispensationalism, Calvinism, Arminianism, cessationism, continuationism, etc. etc. etc. We dot those i’s and cross those t’s in futility trying to structure God into our favorite religious wineskins. Not only is it folly, it is incredibly arrogant. Add to that our disguised idolatry of “church fathers” or, for that matter, the nation’s “founding fathers”. Our word choice is telling, especially since we often subliminally capitalize the words. There is something wrong here.
“Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven.” Matthew 23.9
We often twist the word of God to serve our theology and earthly beliefs. By doing so, we are in effect claiming human omniscience, an oxymoron. We boast our biblical IQ, touting our Intelligence Quotient, when in reality it reveals our Insolence Quotient. Why is it insolence? When we puff ourselves up, dot our i’s, and cross our t’s we marginalize the true and only “I” and the “T” He crossed for us. Let us follow the Great I Am and His death on the cross to a T while accepting our pride, sinful nature, and limited intellect.
As you can tell, today’s teaching “lit my fire”. Thank you for that.
Pastor Ray, in response to your response, I read this yesterday in my daily devotion.
The scriptures are giving all of us who desire to follow Jesus a vital challenge: rather than allowing what we think we know about God to define how we view Jesus, let us allow what we learn about Jesus to define and redefine how we view God. If you want to know who God is and what He’s about… if you want to know what God’s purposes, His priorities, His desires, His heart, His mind, then look at Jesus.
Blessings on you my friend!!