“Now the Pharisees…were listening to all these things and were scoffing at Him…and he said to them…that which is highly esteemed among men is detestable in the sight of God.” (Luke 16:14-15)
“So, let us go out to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach.” (Hebrews 13:13)
I was raised by my parents to see the Bible as the inerrant truth from God. I thank them for this and still see it that way today. Unfortunately, however, I was also brought up mainly on the theology of men. Much of what I learned was from pastors and Sunday school teachers who had gained much of what they believed from seminaries or books and hymns written by other men. Therefore when I finally decided to study the Bible in detail on my own at the age of 24 I came to the Bible with my mind made up, filled with and confident in the “Baptist Faith and Message” upon which I was raised. It was the conclusions of men I thought wiser than myself. And for the next 30 I saw nothing but these traditions apparently being confirmed as I read, taught and preached from the Bible year after year.
Gradually I began to see some individual passages of the Bible whose context did not line up with traditional theology in the light of the whole Word of God. I finally came to the conclusion that SOME of what I had learned and taught was simply NOT TRUE. It was merely TRADITION, which, like the doctrine of the Pharisees, was “highly esteemed among men", but was “detestable in the sight of God”.
I finally got the courage to point these false traditions out to those with whom I had worshiped alongside for 40 years and suggested to them what I now believe to be the truth actually taught in the Bible. The traditional view, however, was set in stone for them, and I was politely asked to go “outside the camp” if I insisted on teaching views different from Southern Baptist tradition. So here I am, outside the camp for the most part, but happy and content for this forum to post my thoughts, understanding with Paul that…
“…whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord…and the power of His resurrection…forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:7-14)
“So, let us go out to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach.” (Hebrews 13:13)
I was raised by my parents to see the Bible as the inerrant truth from God. I thank them for this and still see it that way today. Unfortunately, however, I was also brought up mainly on the theology of men. Much of what I learned was from pastors and Sunday school teachers who had gained much of what they believed from seminaries or books and hymns written by other men. Therefore when I finally decided to study the Bible in detail on my own at the age of 24 I came to the Bible with my mind made up, filled with and confident in the “Baptist Faith and Message” upon which I was raised. It was the conclusions of men I thought wiser than myself. And for the next 30 I saw nothing but these traditions apparently being confirmed as I read, taught and preached from the Bible year after year.
Gradually I began to see some individual passages of the Bible whose context did not line up with traditional theology in the light of the whole Word of God. I finally came to the conclusion that SOME of what I had learned and taught was simply NOT TRUE. It was merely TRADITION, which, like the doctrine of the Pharisees, was “highly esteemed among men", but was “detestable in the sight of God”.
I finally got the courage to point these false traditions out to those with whom I had worshiped alongside for 40 years and suggested to them what I now believe to be the truth actually taught in the Bible. The traditional view, however, was set in stone for them, and I was politely asked to go “outside the camp” if I insisted on teaching views different from Southern Baptist tradition. So here I am, outside the camp for the most part, but happy and content for this forum to post my thoughts, understanding with Paul that…
“…whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord…and the power of His resurrection…forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:7-14)