Friday, May 02, 2014

Hermeneutics, anyone?

We do not interpret the book [of 1 John] by three verses [1 John 1:8-10]. Rather, we interpret the verses by the plain sense of the book.— Called to be Holy, page 167

<idle musing>
I believe they call that trump verse hermeneutics. Fancy words for taking a concordance and finding a proof-text to say the opposite of what you don't want to see but is staring you squarely in the face. Also known as avoiding conviction or justifying your sin...

OK, I'm being cynical in that last statement, but you understand what I mean. The entire book of 1 John is saying you don't have to sin. In fact, if you are born of God, you can't sin. But that's too scary to face. It means I have to give up my favorite hobby—playing god! We can't let that happen, so we take one verse out of context and use that to countermand the clear trajectory of the rest of the book.

Lord deliver us from ourselves!
</idle musing>

1 comment:

Steve Finnell said...

IDENTIFYING GOD"S RELIGION?

Are numbers of the membership of a Christian denomination or of a non-Christian religion a valid indicator of identifying God's true religion? No, they are not.

NUMBERS

1. Islam 1.3 billion.
2. Catholics 1.2 billion.
3. Hinduism 828 million.
4. Those who identify themselves as Christian, other than Catholic, 1 billion.
5. Baptist 110 million.
6. Buddhism 364 million.

Identifying the Lord's church is not predicated on the number of members of a group or church.

There are 7 billion people in the world.

Matthew 7:13-14 "Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. 14 "Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to to life, and there are few who find it.

TERMS OF PARDON TO ENTER THE NARROW GATE.

1. Faith: John 3:16, John 8:24
2. Repentance: Acts 3:19
3. Confession: Romans 10:9,10
4 Water Immersion: Acts 2:38, Mark 16:16, 1 Peter 3:21

YOU INVITED TO FOLLOW MY BLOG. http//:steve-finnell.blogspot.com