δουλογος

	H O M E
Theological, Doctrinal, and Spiritual Musing - and whatever other else is on my mind when I notice that I haven't posted in a while.

Blogroll

T.U.L.I.P.

- Endorsed
- Indifferent
- Contested

I Affirm This

The Nashville Statement

Autobiographical

Profile

Name:Daniel
Home: Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
About Me: I used to believe that evolution was reasonable, that homosexuality was genetic, and that people became Christians because they couldn't deal with the 'reality' that this life was all there was. I used to believe, that if there was a heaven - I could get there by being good - and I used to think I was more or less a good person. I was wrong on all counts. One day I finally had my eyes opened and I saw that I was not going to go to heaven, but that I was certainly going to suffer the wrath of God for all my sin. I saw myself as a treasonous rebel at heart - I hated God for creating me just to send me to Hell - and I was wretched beyond my own comprehension. Into this spiritual vacuum Jesus Christ came and he opened my understanding - delivering me from God's wrath into God's grace. I was "saved" as an adult, and now my life is hid in Christ. I am by no means sinless, but by God's grace I am a repenting believer - a born again Christian.
My complete profile...

The Buzz

Daniel's posts are almost always pastoral and God centered. I appreciate and am challenged by them frequently. He has a great sense of humor as well.
- Marc Heinrich

His posts are either funny or challenging. He is very friendly and nice.
- Rose Cole

[He has] good posts, both the serious like this one, and the humorous like yesterday. [He is] the reason that I have restrained myself from making Canadian jokes in my posts.
- C-Train

This post contains nothing that is of any use to me. What were you thinking? Anyway, it's probably the best I've read all day.
- David Kjos

Daniel, nicely done and much more original than Frank the Turk.
- Jonathan Moorhead

There are some people who are smart, deep, or funny. There are not very many people that are all 3. Daniel is one of those people. His opinion, insight and humor have kept me coming back to his blog since I first visited earlier this year.
- Carla Rolfe

Email Me

Monday, March 09, 2009

If You Don't Believe It All
You Don't Believe At All.

"If you don't believe all the scriptures, you don't believe the scriptures at all, no matter what you think, and no matter how zealous you appear to be."

I am paraphrasing what Jesus said to the Jews who were seeking to kill Him in the fifth chapter of John's gospel. Recall how Christ explains their rejection of His testimony: (v. 38) "You do not have His word abiding in you, for you do not believe Him whom He sent." [NASB]. Don't picture these Jews as slackers either. They were not slackers, they were students of scripture at a time when scripture was copied by hand at great expense. If the individual had a private copy of scripture, he likely had to pay the wages of the scribe who copied it for him - a task that would take months. These people were serious about their religion - dead serious. So when Christ says of them, (v.39) "You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me." [NASB], Christ is describing the deeply religious Jews.

How is it that these religious Jews failed to see their Messiah? Bad interpretation? Poor schooling? None of the above. Christ plainly says,(vs.46-47) "For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me, for he wrote about Me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?"

Had you asked these Jews whether or not they believed Moses' writings, you would have received a zealous and resounding "YEA AND AMEN!" They regarded themselves as people who believed Moses. But here Christ shows that they didn't believe all that Moses wrote, because Moses wrote of Jesus, and they denied Him. They were convinced that they were the real deal, even though Christ showed them that they were not - and he showed them that they were not by pointing out that they didn't believe all that Moses wrote.

Do you believe all the scriptures? Or do you believe as much as seems reasonable to you? What would our Lord say of your faith?

Labels: Difficult for some to understand., faith, musings

posted by Daniel @ 10:49 AM 0 comment(s)