Quote:
Originally Posted by Drake
Igzy,
Your starting point is your experience or what you believe and hence you trace into the Bible from that starting point.
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I believe experience and perspective, both personally and historically, are critical to Biblical interpretation. I don't believe Scripture should be interpreted in a vacuum. I believe the lessons of history and of observing the fruit of views and practices are crucial to a healthy application of Scripture, especially to what we should admit are vague principles like apostleship and church ground.
Many of the LCM's fringe beliefs have been shown over time to be unhealthy, to the observation of many. What I have seen about you and others is that you simply pretend these unhealthy fruits don't exist. What you should be doing is applying a healthy skepticism to those LCM views (or anyone's) which are based on debatable principles and which produce questionable fruit.
I've noticed some people want certainty about every little item in the Bible. If they can't get it, they pretend their best guess is certain. For example, we can't for sure say what an apostle is, but they pretend to know exactly what one is. Then they force that view upon themselves and others. Why not just say, 'we don't know for sure, so let's not go to extremes'? The same goes for church ground.
If anyone on this board thinks that they are going to, at this late date, nail down and settle once and for all that they know what all this stuff means then they are dreaming and probably a little crazy. Greater minds and purer hearts than ours have been trying to for centuries. There is a wisdom in the general consensus, and it says that some of this stuff we just can't nail down for sure. Fringe groups like the LCM pretend they have, and thus do damage.
This is why I always return to general ideas and principles, while others are scratching through the details. In my opinion they often miss the forest for the trees. The sad thing about the LCM defenders is that they aren't even defending their own beliefs. They are defending what someone else told them they should believe, thus being "good brothers," like those Mormon boys who faithfully defended their belief that Jesus wasn't God.
In your case, Drake, I'm not sure you believe any of the stuff you say. I tend to think it's mostly just a game to you, a way to pass the time.