When asked by a student to sum up what was msot important about his life's work and theology in as few words as possible, Karl barth replied, "in the words of a song my mother used to sing me, 'Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so". To me, this rather nicely summarises what theology should be. Now, I'll admit I don't have a firm understanding of Calvin's Institutes. I can't get my head round the idea of election, I don't have a huge interest in Hebrew or Greek and I just don't see where people get some of their interpretations of Revelation from. Neither does it tend to bother me. In Matthew 18, Christ says, "unless you become like little children, you shall never enter the kingdom of heaven". [Note: all references will be taken from the TNIV translation of the Bible unless otherwise noted.] In Luke 10, we see that "[God has] hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children". I feel from this that my aproach to Scripture - that of a small child - is a fair and acceptable one. Can I stand and debate complicated issues? Not really. Do I need to? Only for fun. I'll leave such things to pastors, thanks.
However, here is what I understand, from the scriptures, by just taking things at face value, as they where given.
1)I am saved by grace alone (Ephesian 2)
2)All that is required of me to be saved is that I trust in the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 14)
3)Faith without deeds is useless(James 2)
4)The perceived contradiction there is because you think too hard
5)All are equal in Christ: race, gender, age etc are meaningless (Galations 3/4)
6)My actions are meaningless in regards to my salvation (Epehesians 2)
7)All scripture is innerant (2 Timothy 3)
8)We win(Revelation in general)
9)We don't know and cannot predict when Christ will return(Matthew 24)
10)Jesus loves me, this I know, for the bible tells me so.
That's just a few points that sprung to mind. I think we can all agree that these points can't be argued, non?
Wednesday, 4 June 2008
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