Skip to main content

Boundaries of Belief

Last week we discussed how the Bible establishes the foundations for our beliefs. The Bible provides clear information about the fundamentals of our faith and practice. There are things that we, as Christians, can be confident about and sure of in our faith.

However, the Bible does not provide us with all the information that we would sometimes want. It's clear on what matters most, but outside of those things the Bible often presents us with information without necessarily putting it all together for us. After all the Bible states that the purpose of scripture is to teach, rebuke, correct, build up, and equip. (2 Timothy 3:16)

What the Bible does do is establish boundaries for these discussions and topics. The foundations are laid clearly and the Bible then provides boundaries to keep us from straying off the foundation into heresy and error. Within these boundaries, however, there is room for dialogue and even some disagreement.

Let's take one of the fundamentals I looked at last week, the Second Coming of Jesus. It is an integral part of the Christian faith that Jesus is coming back. This is part of our message to the world. Like I said last week, that statement alone is the foundation. The details of when, how, and what comes before are all up for discussion. The Bible does set boundaries for this.

For example, the Bible I think clearly sets the boundary that the Second Coming will not be a secret. The timing is a secret and when it happens is like a thief in the night, but when Jesus returns everyone will know. Another boundary that is set is that the general resurrection will occur at his return, not some later date. The list goes on.

Within those boundaries, upon the foundation clearly laid in scripture, there are different opinions about the end times. There are the three different views on the millennium, dispensational vs covenant theology, and more. We must remember to stand firm on our foundation while being gracious and charitable to those who disagree with us but are still within the boundaries.

This can be a difficult thing to do, but it is essential to our unity. If we cannot love one another enough to recognize that none of us are perfect and may get things wrong from time to time, how can we ever hope to be unified? While our disagreements are important and need to be discussed we should do so charitably and with the best possible outlook on the other person. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Thankful

Today is Thanksgiving, the day that we are supposed to celebrate all the things we are thankful for. It is a time of family reunions, football, and turkey eating. I sincerely pray that each and every one of you has a good day today. I'll admit that being thankful has not been easy for me this year. As pretty much all of you know, my mother passed away December of last year. Though she had been in the hospital for months, we were not expecting it. In fact I was sure she would be finally able to come home within a matter of weeks. Instead she peacefully passed on into the arms of Jesus, whom she loved more dearly than anyone else. As you can imagine, the entire family was heart broken. After what can easily be described as the worst Christmas ever, I returned to home to Illinois. It was here that I finally broke down. I spent the next months doing everything except being thankful. I cursed God, wept, screamed, begged to have her back, and was generally not the nicest person to be...
3 comments
Read more

Proverbs, Wisdom

Wisdom is an essential part of living a godly life. The ability to make good judgments and identify potentially sinful situations are skills all Christians should have. The Bible repeatedly emphasizes that it is the duty of parents and older Christians to pass on these skills and train younger generations in wisdom. The book of Proverbs is a book all about wisdom. The various authors of the book are trying to pass on the things they have learned to a younger generation. They want all that come after them to know that true wisdom comes from God. Background Like the book of Psalms, the book of Proverbs is a collection of various sayings and proverbs from many different people. The primary author we associate the book with is King Solomon, who wrote the most out of any single author, but he is just one of several writers. It is a very interesting book in this regard. The book of Proverbs can be tricky because it isn't always consistent in how the text flows together. Some...
Post a Comment
Read more

What is Theology?

Greetings all! For the first true post I have decided to cover what will be one of the defining aspects of this blog; theology. I know that when I was growing up theology wasn't a word that was used in the churches I attended. In fact I don't recall ever hearing the word until I was in high school, and even then it was used negatively like theology was a bad thing. Theology is inseparable from Bible study, Christian living, and being a disciple of Jesus in general. It is an indispensable part of being a Christian. The thing is we haven't always treated it that way. We have allowed our theology to fall by the wayside, believing it to be useless or not appropriate. So what is theology exactly, and why is it so important? What is Theology? The word theology simply means "the study of God." The goal of theology is to reveal who God is, and when we know God we also come to know ourselves, sin, the world, and so on. What we've done in the past (and this may ju...
1 comment
Read more