Our pastor is in a series in the Book of Galatians right now, and some points from his message this morning tie in with Chambers' writing that is for today. Chambers talks about temptations, not the ones that I consider the "bad ones" like murder, rape, stealing, etc., but the more subtle ones, ones that we can hide under a veneer of "goodness"; ones like pride and not doing our best, and being quiet in the face of possible ridicule.
Christians believe what the Bible says, right? If I say that I do believe what the Bible says and teaches, can I just believe the part I think is right and comfortable for me, or do I have to believe the whole thing? Can I say that there are errors that have occurred over the centuries, and what does not sound right to me must not be the original Biblical meaning? Do I have the right to say that the Bible is God's Word to man, but say that all God has said has not been included, and that the church down through the years has conspired to leave out of the Canon those writings that did not fit into their settled doctrine?
The pastor this morning talked about the temptation to believe what sounds good to us in our human nature. There is a stir in church circles right now about universalism and pluralism-the ideas that all religions lead to the same ultimate end, and all of us will end up in heaven some day, because we are "good", but the Bible does not teach that. So, do we close our eyes to the text and go with what feels right to us, because "God is Love", or do we believe that God is the god of justice also?
Back to the same question from the Truth Project...Do I really believe what I believe is really true?
Do I believe simply because of the culture I was raised in, and can all religions have some part of the truth? Can truth be divided up or is something either true or false?
The temptation is to begin a statement about faith with the words "Well, it seems to me that.....", but I will choose to begin with "The Bible says..."
God accepts us into heaven by faith in Jesus Christ. This is Biblical doctrine and Here I Stand.
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