Inbreeding, Butterflies and Responsible Discipleship
Posted by: ba <ba@...>
http://www.forthright.net
Straight to the Cross
COLUMN: Hands-on Faith
Inbreeding, Butterflies and Responsible Discipleship
by Barry Newton
It was not because there was a lack of conviction
or a deep passion for the message that a problem
existed. The crisis Jeremiah encountered involved
a simple but fatal activity which boiled down to
inbreeding.
An amazing story unfolds before our eyes from
Jeremiah 23. Anyone today, who might lightly
dismiss the power of what it would have been like
to have been caught in the dynamics which were at
work, would be leaving themselves wide-open to
repeating being whisked away by forces equivalent
to a raging torrent. So what was happening?
To put the story in modern terms, a bunch of
preachers were reading each others books,
attending each other's lectures and building upon
each other's messages in order to present to God's
people a powerful solidarity in proclaiming a
comforting message./1 Unfortunately, their message
originated no higher than their own imaginations;
their message did not come from the LORD./2 But
with the people wanting the message to be true and
relying upon the claim that it was from the LORD,
the reality that it was actually man-made could in
no way diminish their appetite to readily consume
it and find comfort in it.
Inbreeding is always a danger when any group only
listens to itself. For example, how will those who
embrace the common Protestant teaching of
salvation by faith alone be able to arrive at an
accurate understanding of the text unless they are
willing to engage in a dialogue about the text?
Conversely, if we totally disengage ourselves from
dialoguing with those with different
understandings, might not we also be subject to
inbreeding? While we may be confident in our
understanding, should we not always remain open to
receiving the legitimate message of the text ...
even though it might be different than what we
currently think is true? Our allegiance should be
to the faithful message of the text.
In order to avoid the ditch of inbreeding, it
would be quite human to over-react and thus
plummet off the other side of the road into the
ditch of becoming a butterfly. If someone were to
flatly assert that truth equally comes from many
sources or that we should listen to all voices,
then life becomes the flimsy flitter from one
attractive flower to another with no particular
guiding direction or ability to distinguish the
quality of each message.
Responsible discipleship requires more than the
naivety of inbreeding or the flittering to embrace
every new and appealing idea. The path the Jewish
Bereans chose illustrates a responsible approach
to those who claim to present truth. They examined
the Scriptures daily to see if the message they
were hearing was true./3 They neither walled
themselves off nor did they wildly embrace
something just because it was new. They tested the
message they heard against Scripture. As a result,
they embraced the truth of the gospel and became
disciples of the Lord.
Scripture reveals what is true; Scripture is the
standard./4 We have been repeatedly warned that
personal feelings and experiences are
unreliable./5
1/ Jeremiah 23:30, 27, 17
2/ Jeremiah 23:16, 21, 25-27, 32
3/ Acts 17:11
4/ 2 Timothy 3:16-17
5/ Romans 10:2; Galatians 1:8, Deuteronomy 13:1-3;
2 Thessalonians 2:9-12
----
Read this article online, tell us what you think,
see who's commenting, click here:
forthright.antville.org/stories/676323/
----
You can help us get the word out. Here's how:
forthright.antville.org/stories/340415/