Steve and I had breakfast with two of our favorite friends this morning. As we caught up with all of the things going on in each of our lives, we once again found that God was central in our conversation. We thrilled to learn how our Lord is working in each of our lives and shared in the joy and excitement for each other. Soon we found our conversation taking turns onto new roads that are not traveled nearly enough among us as Christians… in my humble opinion.
There are certain things that are non-negotiable to us who are true believers and followers of our Lord Jesus. Examples: Jesus is God. He came to earth as a man. He lived a perfect life with no sin at all. He was crucified for our sins. He died and rose again. He lives now at the right hand of the Father awaiting the time appointed to come for His bride, the church. The Bible is God’s holy, inspired Word, true in every aspect and without contradiction or error. There is no way to heaven but by Jesus Christ alone, just to name a few. These things must be agreed upon in order to be a Christian believer.
But… there are other things that can be considered negotiable. There are subjects that should be interesting to discuss because there really might be more than one way to interpret the meaning of some scriptures. I will not give specific examples here, but deal in generalities.
It seems that the
I believe that the Lord is pleased for us to approach His Word without preconceived ideas. To look at it without preparing the way with what our parents, teachers, preachers, commentary authors, etc have said. Now that in no way should be interpreted to say that I don’t think we should listen, read and learn from these wise people. Good, complete Bible study always should include the wisdom of solid Bible teachers. It just means that I believe it is good to sit down with the scriptures and try to see what God has said right there on the pages of the Bible. What does He literally say! No previous interpretation from someone else. Sometimes when we allow ourselves to listen to God’s Word this way, He teaches us some surprising truths. Sometimes, our traditional concepts are not as black and white as we thought. You know, the reason that all scholars do not agree with each other is because somebody allowed themselves to think differently than tradition instructed.
Now, as my wonderfully wise husband reminds me often, we must have balance. I do not mean to say that we can twist scripture and make it mean what we want in the name of negotiable thought. We must remember that God’s Holy Word is absolute and without contradiction or error. We cannot make up meaning to any part of it. Unfortunately that is what has happened in the cultic and heretical movements that are so popular today. We must be very careful to compare scripture with scripture and ask the Lord to keep us closely on track. But that does not mean just accepting the interpretation that someone else has come up with no matter how long it has been around or how much of a traditional belief it has become.
I long for a day when we as Christians can sit down with each other to an open discussion without fear of “what other people will think”. I long for a time when we can stretch our Biblical thinking and study to “sharpen” each other as the Bible teaches and not condemn or discredit each other for a different interpretation that just possibly could be true and right.
