The Foundation of Appropriate Hate

There are a lot of things that bother me.  I shared one of them yesterday.  Today is a bit of an expansion on that theme.

Driving around town from time to time I see bumper stickers – I am convinced that there are some folks who are committed to sharing their entire world view on the back of their cars…  One of them I see frequently is this one:

 The problem is how many of those who slap that sticker on their bumper define hate.  Basically if you don’t agree with their position you are a hater…  It is a form of verbal tyranny.  I have also seen bumper stickers that claim that God does not hate anyone, those folks are Biblically illiterate, Romans 9:13.

But there is more.  Psalm 119:113, David says that he hates the double minded, in the context, those who turn their back on or place their hope in something other than God and His Word.

I get that.

I am totally and completely confused how one can claim to be a follower of Christ and yet take positions that are militantly unbiblical.  I was talking earlier this morning about yesterday’s blog post to a friend.  He told me of one of his acquaintances who though conservative in their approach to the Bible was attending a liberal seminary.  He shared that in the Greek and Hebrew exegesis classes the professors have to work incredibly hard to force the text to support the positions that they have chosen.  Technically, that is called eisegesis.  It is a whole lot easier to let the Bible say what it says.

I am going to choose to stand with David.  I choose to hate that behavior.  I choose to hate those who twist the Word of God to their own ends.  So:

Confront?

Yesterday I shared about talking with a man who was committed to what he “knew’ to be true over what the Bible actually says.  On our way home we ran into a couple at one of the airports who were engaged in training for ministry in a denomination that has completely abandoned what the Bible says.  They were excitedly sharing how they were in the process of ordaining those who were practicing homosexuals as well as performing “Christian” ceremonies to wed homosexual couples.

Whatever your view on this issue, the Bible is very clear that this behavior is sin.  It is also clear that those who are continuing to live unrepentant in sin, whatever that sin may be, are not to be in the leadership of a church.  Further, to sanction those who are living in unrepentant sin, again whatever that sin may be, is to participate in that sin.  Neither a local body nor a denomination should be engaged in either of these practices.

They shared that the wife was the one pursing the MDiv at the seminary.  She told me she was excited about the Greek and Hebrew she was taking.  She was taking Greek and Hebrew exegesis.  My internal response, really loud internal response, was, “Why?”  Why would one be excited about learning to study in detail that which one has rejected?  It frankly makes no sense.

It was all I could do to not say what I was thinking.  I did not.  The concourse at SEA-TAC three minutes prior to boarding was not the time nor place.

I wanted to.

I still do.

It makes me mad.  I have permission.  Look at Psalm 119:104, 113, 128, 158, 163, David says he hates and loathes those who have abandoned the Word of God.  So it is ok that it makes me mad…  But, on the other side of the coin, 2 Timothy 2:24 – 35 tells me I need to gently correct…

I know who they are.  I have a way to contact them.  I just have to pray through how and when.  SEA-TAC was not the right time or place.

The Bible or What You Believe

I was on vacation for the past couple of weeks.  My wife and I were in Alaska on a land and cruise tour.  It was much better than I expected.

One day we took a train from the coast of Alaska up to and through the US and Canadian Yukon.  On the way up one of the men asked me what I thought about Acts 29 churches, many in the group have figured out that we are engaged in ministry.  I had no idea what he was talking about.  So I asked for more information.  He told me that his son was in an Acts 29 church.  That he and his son had got into a long discussion about the church and in the end he had upset his son.  There was a doctrinal issue that separated them.  It does not matter what it was for my purpose here.

He told me what he believed.  He stated that belief like it was the end of the discussion and it was with his son.  There was one significant problem.  He would be hard pressed to validate what he believes from the pages of the Bible he takes to church.

Believing something does not make it true.  Truth is not determined by what I believe, what my pastor believes, what the statement of faith of my church or denomination states, or what my society thinks is true.  Truth is determined by what God says is true.

In John 14:6, Jesus said He was the truth...  In 2 Timothy 3:14 - 17, Paul tells us that all Scripture is inspired by God.  Multiple times in Psalm 119, David ascribes truth to God's Word.  Bottom line, if what I believe cannot be validated by a proper study of God's Word, it is not true.

In the final analysis, that is what matters.  As followers of Christ, our continual quest should be to plumb the depths of God's Word continually aligning what we believe with what the Word says.