Quote:
Originally Posted by OBW
I recently commented in the other forum that we seem to be too eager to read between the lines of the record in scripture. We are looking for preferences.
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yes, this is true. All of us have biases, and we go into the record wanting to prove "innocence" or "guilty" on some party or party line; and we thus push some aspects of the record and ignore or repress others. The facts are the facts, but we distort them in our desire to arrive at our preferred version of the "truth".
In my particular line of inquiry, the danger might be that I say "I am of John", as Dong Yu Lan is now being accused of doing. That's really no better than being "of Paul" or "of James" or of anyone else. Because if we think we've proven the superiority of our way to others, then we merely have built our own custom-fit cage, and have climbed in, safe and secure from the unpleasant intrusions of reality.
The escape, to me, seems to be to submit our perusal of the record to the rough and tumble of the assembly. There will be some there, soveriegnly provided by God, who will cut away our excesses, and point out our lacks. Potentially the assembly of the called-out ones provides a great boon to the truth-seeking believer.
I myself am not against Paul, nor against the appointing of elders & such. But at least my inquiry seems to have released me from the requirement of being subject to such a system. Paul said, "Am I not free?"; and he also said, "Imitate me as I imitate Christ." So I am imitating Paul: I declare that I also am free. I am free to find my own place within the assembly of the faithful.