Dear Brothers and Sisters,
My Sisters and Brothers,
Last week I saw a Facebook meme that, if I may paraphrase said, “I am always suspicious when someone says something is not biblical.” It then pointed out that bashing the heads of your enemies’ babies was biblical (Psalm 137). A few more things that are also biblical; slavery, women and children being property, incest, rape, and murder to name just a few. The meme went on to say that the writer would prefer the standard be “Christ-like” rather than “biblical”. The truth is we all pick and choose which portions of scripture we want to use to base our faith upon. I have held for years that for any point someone takes, I can find scripture, if you give me time, a concordance, and let me take as much or little as I want and take it out of context that will say the opposite. Do you remember that when the devil was tempting Jesus in the desert, he used scripture too: “The tempter came and said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, “He will command his angels concerning you,” and “On their hand, they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone,” (Matthew 4:6).
As election season draws near, we hear many ads that take their opponents out of context at best and proclaim absolute fabrications and lies in many cases. Two Sundays ago, we heard Thomas doubt that Jesus had actually appeared to the disciples in the upper room because he did not see the wounds in Jesus’ hands and side. Much harm has been done to the church of Christ by people taking what preachers and others say without questioning. There are certain teachings of the Church that to be Christian must be affirmed. The virgin birth, Christ being both truly God and truly human, and the bodily resurrection to name a few. What they do not mean is that we cannot question them to understand them better. God has given us minds to think and explore and I believe we do God a disservice to blindly believe. Each Sunday we proclaim our faith with the Nicene Creed. I greatly prefer the wording from rite two which says, “We believe” rather than “I believe.” And why? Because there may be days when I find myself questioning something I firmly believed the day before and may again that afternoon, but when in that moment of doubt, I can know that there are others in the Church who can buoy me up when I am weak. Just as we should question the claims made by candidates, we should never be afraid to question, even about God, for God is big enough to take our uncertainties. As the Father said to Jesus, “I believe, help my unbelief.” (Mark 9: 24).
Peace,
Bryant+
