Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!uwm.edu!psuvax1!psuvm!DKAUNI2!UK3W From: UK3W@DKAUNI2 (Matt Will) Newsgroups: bit.listserv.christia Subject: Re: CHRISTIA Message-ID: <"90-02-08-11:41:26.91*UK3W"@DKAUNI2.BITNET> Date: 8 Feb 90 18:06:04 GMT References: Sender: Practical Christian Life Reply-To: Practical Christian Life Lines: 52 Approved: NETNEWS@PSUVM Gateway > > I only continue posting this time as a kind of jest. My use of the "my > God your god" tactic was supposed to provoke thought, not more > scriptural citation. If the point is not obvious that we worship the > same God is not obvious, then it is foolish to continue the discussion. > My point is only that you have no means towards understanding God, > except by your own and other human interpretations of text that is > impossible to understand without direct contact with God. You cannot > possibly understand the meaning of the word, "Christ," nor can you > understand Jesus, because you are reading the words of scripture through > a narrow human filter called the intellect. Believe it or not, this is > not a personal attack. It is an attack on all of humanity. We all > share the same limitation, our humanity. We also share the same common > salvation in Christ, but you have chosen to make yourselves into an > exclusive, "700 Club." > > I'm sure we'll bump into each other some day. > > Peter Peter, I got your point that we have to understand God in worship, prayer etc. In those moments, through His Holy Spirit, he can speak to us and guide us. But that is not the only way. We also have to read His Word in order to understand what His intentions are for His people. It is not enough just to read it as if it were any other book, so we have to see each verse in its context, and we always have to ask what it could mean for us today. It is too easy just to take a word and see what meaning it has for us today, but we have to always ask ourselves what could have been the meaning 2000 years ago. Language changes with the century, and it is a very unsatisfactory way to express what we think or see. But it is the best way that we can express ourselves, so we have to live with it. In order to grow in the spirit, we have to both read His word and pray over it so we can fully understand it. Also, we can never be sure that we have seen or understood His word correctly. We can hope that, and there might be a lot of things that might speak for our interpre- tation, but we have to always be aware that we are only on the way to the full understanding of the word. So we should always be open to discuss our interpretation with others that might see the matter from a different viewpoint. As Christians, we are all part of one big family, and we should try to walk together to fight against the ennemy rather than fighting against ourselves. I find it important to unite the Chri- stian church (though by keeping a certain diversity), rather than provo- king separation. Don't think you are right and everybody else is wrong. There is a truth, but we are only on the way to reaching it. Let's go out together and tell the world about the gospel of Jesus Christ. Let's learn from each other and let us be open-minded. After all, we are only human. With brotherly love, Matt