I constantly have to remind myself of the unique situation these people are in. A brand new religion only comes around....once in a bazillion yrs? They are understandable confused at times and some people still want to hold onto some of the old ways. There may be some who don't find it appropriate to eat meat or drink wine during certain times. I believe what Paul is telling them is that if it is coming from a place of good conscientiousness then so be it.
I think of it like the Pentecostal woman not wearing pants....if you firmly believe that that's necessary....then more power to you, I shan't judge you. But don't judge me, because I don't. That's, I feel, what Paul's saying here, if it comes from the right place inside of you, then its fine.(in matters of eating meat, not eating meat etc..... as long as you aren't not eating meat because Baal says meat on Thursdays is berry berry bad. I don't wanna be misunderstood as saying do whatever feels right to you in all things. Here I am speaking as trivial stuff like your everyday pants wearing and meat eating sorts of things.) And let me add that this is just like me not eating meat and people always wanting to talk about it and justify their reasons FOR eating meat. I always wanna scream at them I DON'T CARE WHY YOU COULD NEVER NOT EAT MEAT! AND YOU SHOULDN'T CARE WHY I CAN! Its a personal decision, I don't judge you, you shouldn't judge me....right?!
We are to listen to Him, not each other.
Paul also says don't allow people to make you stumble, keep your personal convictions strong. This is exactly what I was struggling to understand last night as I was watching The Tutors and Sir Thomas Moore was getting his head lobbed off. Sir Thomas Moore refused to swear an oath to his dear dear friend Henry VIII saying that he was the supreme head of the church.....you know the story..... He was actually pretty much the downfall of Henry, they were so close and Henry really respected and loved Sir Thomas. Anyway his wife and daughter came and begged him to just say it. If he didn't then when he was killed they would be destitute as all of his belongings would be seized by the crown. He refused and I just wonder if was thinking of these words.
And then in saying his goodbyes he seems to come down on the "pro-kiss hello" side of the argument.
1 comment:
You are right on. This isn't talking about judging or rebuking people for what the Word says is sin, it's simply saying what Crystal said. It's also warning us to be careful about what we do in front of other, "weaker" believers, so that we don't cause them to stumble. If they see us doing something that their conscious tells them may not be right for them ("gray" areas as Crystal said), and they ignore their conscious and do it anyway because believing that we (the "stronger" believers) know better, than we cause them to stumble....and that is a sin. Is this saying that with certain [small] things you may have to act one way around some people and another in private or around others?.....Yes.
Also, to the point Crystal was talking about this being a new religion - I sometimes forget (and others don't realise) that when Paul and Mathew and John, etc. are writing these letters, they are just that for them - letters. When they speak of Scripture, they are talking about the O.T., not what they are writing at that moment. I don't believe they realise that their letters and writings would become Scripture and be around for the next 2,000+ years. As I've said before, when you look at when, and by whom, the Scriptures (O.T. and N.T.) were written, it is absurd to think this is some big conspiracy and blind luck that it all fits together the way it does. Its very cohesiveness throughout the ages, and unity overall, created in times before anyone could even imagine a global community, or the impact they, as a collection, would ever have, proves its Divine inspiration and truthfulness. There is, nor ever has been, a book, a collection of writings, written over such a vast time that comes close to comparing with the Bible in any respect. Thousands and thousands of years. It's really incredible. And the accuracy at which it's bean passed down through the ages....new prints when compared with old manuscripts show only a couple % difference in texts, and all are obvious translation/spelling errors or type-os.
Tomorrow is Acts 20:4-21:40
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