Rev 18:4 And I heard another voice from Heaven, saying, Come out of her, My people, that you may not be partakers of her sins, and that you may not receive of her plagues.
There is a type of person who picks verses like others pick ripe fruit, squeezing gently, inhaling the aroma, choosing the piece that most suits their needs of the moment. That need may be comfort, or inspiration, or a need to bolster one's own angle on things. The idea of context is apparently foreign thinking to them.
Allow me to impersonate the type:
I am unhappy with America, unhappy with strictures the US places upon me ( taxes, number of spouses, like that ) and because it is self-evident that I cannot be wrong, then the nation and its laws certainly must be. How may I Biblically justify myself?
A-HA! COME OUT OF HER! That's it! I must dig into the Book of Revelation, and see what God says about the heinous apostasy that is certainly the YouEssofAY, because the revelation is just like reading the NY Times, if the Times were inspired by the Holy Spirit, rather than...other spirits.Of COURSE it's about the US...EVERYTHING is about the US.
Except that the book of Revelation was written specifically for the Christians of the first century. "A Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave to Him to declare to His servants things which must shortly come to pass." (Rev. 1:1) . As Jesus warned the Jewish believers in Matthew to leave Jerusalem when they saw the siege beginning which led to the utter destruction of Jerusalem, So he warns the believers in Roman environs to "come out of her" spiritually and physically before the ultimate destruction of Rome.
Jesus was talking to the Christians of that day, in the Rome of that day. Our nation is not analogous to Rome. It is merely another nation in the long roster of ethnae , with Christians resident who are commanded to be good citizens within Scriptural bounds, and to pray for the leadership, and not to be whiners and complainers.
Well, that kills most talk radio.
7 comments:
I have found looking, I believe, more objectively than I used to,(hard to say since I'm the only one in this meat-sack but) That almost all of the new testament is aimed at the Christians of the times they were written. What a lot of people take as codes and laws are merely examples and guidelines only for Christians that they apply to. If they were meant to be laws that applied to all Christians, for all time, Jesus would have said something about it while He was here. The Christ does not need anyone, then or now, to speak for him or put words directly in his mouth. He was here, He spoke for Himself, and if it was important enough, He would have said it.
As for the rest, divinely inspired? yes. A millstone around the necks of everyone? No. To borrow a quote,
"Actually, they're more like guidelines"
The $64 dollar question is who, as a collective church or leading individual, doesn't take one or more of these and runs with them like they are laws that are directly hinged to our salvation and use them to dangle people over the pit?
I think a key to this attitude is the preacherly phrase "What Jesus was TRYING to teach was...".
Poor sad Son of God, with that whole speech impediment thing. He TRIED to teach things. The subtext here is "He TRIED...let me SUCCEED".
Maybe I'm being unfair.
Jesus gave some specific commands, Mark 16 15-18 is pretty plain, but much of the Gospel is subjective, individually and collectively applicable. The person-type here MUST find putative authority for his personal rebelliousness. It is ALWAYS tragically funny to me that people who appear allergic to plain commands like Be baptised, meet together, do-the-math marriage (1+1=1), look for authority for their freakboy opinions in the Bible.
Been talking to Mark Call again?
Sorry about the duplicate comment. I'll try to do better in the future. :o(
Naaaah, just meditating on issues he (and others) has raised.
Some will say, Your assertions border on private interpretation! BFD; so do those of the fella with the pointy hat in Rome.
We'll find out the truth at the Bema, and we're all gonna be in for a "tune-up" - or a "check up from the neck up" so-to-speak.
All these idiots with backward collars running round screeding "If you ain't one o' us, you've missed the bus!!!" notwithstanding.
Ted (or rather the whomevers that would make the assertion)...no private interpretation here. Just letting the word speak for itself.
Try reading Josephus' history of the Roman siege of Jerusalem. What happened to the Jews is amazing, and completely fits what Jesus warned of in Matthew 23. The Christians knew what was up, and got out of Dodge.
Post a Comment