There
are many today who like to say that they follow the Bible and nothing else when
it comes to their doctrinal stance. And that certainly should be our mindset.
But we cannot be so blind as to believe that our doctrinal beliefs have not
been influenced by those who were on the scene of human history before us. The
reality is that, in any human endeavor, the people who are involved in any one
of those particular endeavors will influence each other to a greater or lesser
extent. This is true in the church as much as in any other human affair.
Perhaps where Christianity differs from many other organizations or
undertakings, is in the fact that Christianity has a very definite guide by
which its adherents guide themselves: the Bible. That protects Christians, to a
great degree, from influences that would seek to destroy its message since we
don’t have to depend on what others say; we have the manual directly from God
and it can direct our steps in following after the Master.
It
is also true that, aside from the written word, we are the beneficiaries of
having the guidance that the Spirit of God provides. Unlike science or history
or any other field of human study, the Spirit provides us with direction that
unbelievers do not have as they go about their daily lives. But it is essential
for us to understand that we are not the first ones to have received such a
gift. Something that I often observe when it comes to scientists, and
especially those who seek to provide a naturalistic explanation for everything,
is that they are guilty of what I call the primacy of the modern. This is the
idea that because we in the modern era have come to certain conclusions, that
fact by its very nature gives greater credence to whatever other conclusions
are drawn. But we in the church also engage in a very similar habit. We
discount the opinions and ideas of those Christians who have gone before us if
they happen to contradict our own, and we do so because we somehow have come to
the conclusion that we have it all together. In that view, the ancients just
weren’t as smart as we are or didn’t study the Scriptures like we do.
Imagine
this scenario for a minute. Nearly two thousand years go by and, for one reason
or another, the Spirit of God does not give anyone, or at best a very select
few, the knowledge and light to be able to see the Scriptures for what they
are. Then, all of a sudden, beginning in the late 18th and into the
19th century, God decides that now he can provide the light
necessary for man to understand his word. Does sound rather farfetched, but
that is just what some would have you believe. Some go about it in a very open
fashion, such as the claims of Joseph Smith who taught that he received a
revelation of the Father and Son and that they told him that the denominations
in existence at the time (the early 19th century) were all wrong.
According to Smith, then, he was to begin a totally new group which had the “truth.”
Or what about Charles Taze Russell? He just happened to receive a revelation that
Jesus was not God and assorted other doctrines that have little to do with the
Scriptures.
To
be sure, these are extreme examples. But when we discard off hand the conclusions
of many throughout church history, we are guilty of similar arrogance. It has
been said that if we today can see as far as we do, it is because we are
standing on the shoulders of giants. Others have gone before us and have blazed
the trail so that we can see more clearly than even they did. Hopefully we are
doing the same thing for the generations that will come after us so that,
together with the ancients, we can add to the body of knowledge that will help
others become more what God wants them to be. This is especially important when
it comes to examining the dictums of scripture. Our attitude should be that we
are going to examine the Scriptures in order to ascertain what they tell us
about God, rather than trying to prove our particular doctrines by them. After
all, if we do not leave for our progeny something that will help them become
more godly, then we have neglected a very important task while on earth.
I whole-heartedly agree Mike, we must not be too arrogant in assuming that we know more than those who came before us in understanding scripture. It seems that any arrogance at all in any form or fashion would inherently impede us from accurately understanding those things taught to us by scripture.
ReplyDeleteGood job!
Casey, thanks for you comments. Human nature being what it is, we're always trying to convince ourselves that we have the right doctrine or belief and that others may not. Unfortunately, when we come to Christ, our flesh comes along for the ride and that flesh very often gets in the way of what God is trying to teach us. Thanks again!
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