Aron
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As I said, your hope may be more grounded, in both in scripture and actual human experience, than mine is.
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My hope is grounded in hope. Hope that what is described in the Bible is actually true. Sometimes I live according to that hope. Sometimes not. Depends on how I feel at the moment. How one acts is determined by faith more than hope. If one believes a chair is solid enough to sit on, one will sit on the chair. But if one only hopes the chair is solid enough, it then becomes a matter of how one feels at the moment. The variableness of which depends on the person.
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By ultra-orthodox I meant ultra-rigid, or very inflexible, as to what constitutes truth. I find you can't really have a discussion with such people. They just want you to see things their way. It is hard to have a conversation with someone who already has all the answers.
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I understand, and rather than call them ultra-orthodox, I call them fundamentalists. Different terms denoting the same thing. We all would prefer that everyone sees things the same way we do. Numbers makes us feel better about what we believe. It’s like believing the sun will come up tomorrow. If everybody believes it, it makes it easier for us to believe it. It’s like Paul said,
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1Co 14:8 Again, if the trumpet does not sound a clear call, who will get ready for battle?
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The unclear sound of the trumpet of Christianity is not conducive to faith, at least it isn’t to mine. It’s why I think that those who do end up believing in Jesus Christ, do not have Christianity to blame for it. Tradition (cradle Christians), a particular need fulfilled by a belief, maybe. Even Lee Stroble’s supposedly open minded account ended in his becoming a part of denominational thinking, Evangelical Protestantism.
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In spite of my repeated attempts, I have not been able to convert anyone to the church of aron
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LOL I haven’t had any luck with the MacDuffian Church either. For which my thankfulness abounds. Do you know how much a Church costs these days? I rather like having others with more affluence than I foot that bill.
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I agree. Peter's counsel to the elders is a saving word. With authoritative human leadership you get the chance of abuse ("lording it over the saints"), but Peter's word terminates that possibility.
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In Christianity, authoritative human leadership is seen more as a necessity than an abuse. Where natural leadership replaces supernatural leadership which it’s intended to represent. Like the Pope being the Vicar or representative of Jesus Christ on the earth. Which all seems pretty natural to me. A rather blatant denial that the Spirit indwells all believers alike. Something that may be a misunderstanding of Spiritual functions, which are different expressions through those who are indwelled by the same Spirit. That together with the common idea that Overseers rule, that has been the common idea in Christianity for so long, would naturally result in some sort of hierarchy. Even the Protestants couldn’t get away from it.
And I’m sure that someone will eventually point out that the common view is that elders and overseers are not the same. So that Episcopal authority will be different from what Peter said about the Elders. I don’t remember the argument for authoritative Elders in Presbyterianism.
MacDuff