Random Thoughts
A few things that have been going through my heart and mind...
I feel like I'm in a new season of learning. As look back over my last assignment at my previous church, it felt like I learned as much I could during that season. Kind of like being in sixth grade in elementary school; you've learned all that you can at the elementary level and you need to move on. Now I feel like I'm a freshman in high school, learning new things that is stretching my mind, heart, soul and strength.
I'm doing a study on the last days. We are seeing prophecy fulfilled as Jewish people are heading back to Israel...from Russia, America, Europe, China. The cool thing is that these Jews have learned new languages...Russian, English, French, German, Chinese. I believe that there will be a season when Jewish people will embrace Jesus as their Messiah and then God will send these people to other nations, speaking to those nationals in their own language. Pretty cool.
Is it possible that those who hold to extreme conservatism are the new Pharisees?
Any thoughts?
I feel like I'm in a new season of learning. As look back over my last assignment at my previous church, it felt like I learned as much I could during that season. Kind of like being in sixth grade in elementary school; you've learned all that you can at the elementary level and you need to move on. Now I feel like I'm a freshman in high school, learning new things that is stretching my mind, heart, soul and strength.
I'm doing a study on the last days. We are seeing prophecy fulfilled as Jewish people are heading back to Israel...from Russia, America, Europe, China. The cool thing is that these Jews have learned new languages...Russian, English, French, German, Chinese. I believe that there will be a season when Jewish people will embrace Jesus as their Messiah and then God will send these people to other nations, speaking to those nationals in their own language. Pretty cool.
Is it possible that those who hold to extreme conservatism are the new Pharisees?
Any thoughts?
posted by Gung Ho at 1:42 PM
2 Comments:
Last days... good stuff. But be careful. Your comments on how you perceive prophecy being fulfilled indicate that you are running Scripture passages through a set of filters or lenses that arise out of typical American eschatology. The problem with many is that they don't know they have lenses on! It sounds like the lenses you are using come out of semi-dispensational eschatology and a futurist/literal approach to Revelation. That's fine - but can you read Scripture through the other lenses available? Do you know why you like those lenses better than the other ones? Just because most 20th century Americans used that set of eschatological lenses doesn't mean that they are the best ones!
One more comment. I have found Pharisees in every theological/denominational environment I have been in - and I have probably been a Pharisee in all of them! The key is to define what it means to be a Pharisee. One key sign of Pharisaism is when we elevate human teachings, beliefs and practices to the point where they are treated with the same authority as divine teachings, beliefs and practices. Another sign is when we attempt to define spiritual maturity by a checklist. This is especially true if the checklist is about the exterior rather than the heart.
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