Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!usc!cs.utexas.edu!bcm!dimacs.rutgers.edu!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: tblake@bingvaxu.cc.binghamton.edu (Thomas Blake) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: Misconceptions about JW's (Re: Lazarus again) Message-ID: Date: 5 Apr 91 08:24:51 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: State University of New York at Binghamton Lines: 100 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu Brothers and Sisters, Last night, as I lay in bed I reached for my Bible, and opened it. It opened to Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians. The bible I read (Good News Bible - Today's English Version) has subject headings, and the one that fairly lept off the page was "Divisions in the Church". I Corinthians 1:10-17 10 By the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ I appeal to all of you, my brothers, to agree in what you say, so that there will be no divisions among you. Be completely united, with only one thought and one purpose. 11 For some people from Chloe's family have told me quite plainly, my brothers, that there are quarrels among you. 12 Let me put it this way: each one of you says something different. One says "I follow Paul": another, "I follow Apollos": another, "I follow Peter": and another, "I follow Christ." 13 Christ has been divided* into groups! Was it Paul who died on the cross for you? Were you baptized as Paul's disciples? 14 I thank God that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius. 15 No one can say, then that you were baptized as my disciples. (16 Oh yes, I also baptized Stephanas and his family; but I can't remember if I baptized anyone else.) 17 Christ did not send me to baptize. He sent me to tell the Good News, and to tell it without using the language of human wisdom, in order to make sure that Christ's death on the cross is not robbed of its power. * Christ has been divided; some manuscripts have Christ cannot be divided. (TEV) How would Paul put it today? "One says `I follow Paul': another, `I follow Luther': another, `I follow Wesley': another, `I follow Calvin': another, `I follow Peter (the pope)': another, `I follow Christ.'" We round up into little camps following the teachings of different wise men! Which ones of us follow Christ!? If you follow the teachings of Christ, and do good works in his name I will call you "My Brother" or "My Sister". On this list, we very wise debate facets of our faith. We produce proof texts to prove our point, we prove and disprove what can never be proved or disproved. (When I was a child I learned the phrase, "The Devil can quote scripture to serve his purposes." It's more than just a pithy little saying, look at the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness.) We bicker and bicker, occasionally a non-believer decides to have some fun. Like a child stirring up an ants nest with a stick, they hurl a few insults and watch the fun. They call us fools, and we in our wisdom rush to prove that we are not. I Corinthians 1:18-25 18 For the message about Christ's death on the cross is nonsense to those who are being lost; but for us who are being saved it is God's power. 19 The scripture says, "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and set aside the understanding of the scholars." 20 so then, where does that leave the wise? or the scholars? or the skillful debaters of this world? God has shown that this world's wisdom is foolishness! 21 For God in his wisdom made it impossible for people to know him by means of thier own wisdom. Instead, by means of the so-called "foolish" message we preach, God decided to save those who believe. 22 Jews want miracles for proof, and Greeks look for wisdom. 23 As for us, we proclaim the crucified Christ, a message that is offensive to the Jews and nonsense to the Gentiles; 24 but for those whom God has called, both Jews and Gentiles, this message is Christ, who is the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For what seems to be God's foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and what seems to be God's weakness is stronger than human strength. (TEV) There's Isaiah again! Doesn't he get around!? Isaiah 29:13-14 13 The Lord said, "These people claim to worship me, but their words are meaningless, and their hearts are somewhere else. Their religion is nothing but human rules and traditions, which they have simply memorized. 14 So I will startle them with one unexpected blow after another. Those who are wise will turn out to be fools, and all their cleverness will be useless." (TEV) A song I learned as a child: "We are one in The Spirit, We are one in the Lord. We are one in The Spirit, We are one in the Lord. And we pray that all unity Will one day be restored. And they'll know we are Christians by our love, by our love. Yes they'll know we are Christians by our love." My question: *Will* they know we are Christians? (If you were arrested, and charged with being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?) Tom Blake SUNY-Binghamton