"When Christians believe it, but don’t live it" by Stephen M. Miller Bible blog of award-winning bestselling Christian author, Stephen M. Miller. for Tuesday, 24 May 2016
"When Christians believe it, but don’t live it" by Stephen M. Miller
BELIEVE IT. Christians don’t seem to buy everything the Bible is selling. But take care asking them why. It gets some of them pretty upset. Photo by Transp, flickr, CC2.
CHRISTIANS GET ACCUSED of cherry-picking the Bible.
Have you ever picked cherries?
You pick the ones that are ripe and juicy. You leave the ones that are rotten and wormy.
Bible cherries Christians love to chew on
- “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).
- “Anyone who believes and is baptized will be saved. But anyone who refuses to believe will be condemned” (Mark 16:16).
Bible cherries Christians can’t swallow
- “Do not resist an evil person! If someone slaps you on the right cheek, offer the other cheek also” (Matthew 5:39).
- “Those who use the sword will die by the sword” (Matthew 26:52).
Atheist and comedian Bill Maher accuses Christians of “lawyering the Bible” to find loopholes around Jesus.
We want to read “pray for your enemy” as something we do after we blow them up.
I wonder if there might be any value to admitting that Mr. Maher is right.
We simply say yes, there are parts of the Bible we believe, but don’t live.
For many Christians, they can believe that Paul meant what he said when he declared homosexuality unnatural (Romans 1:26) and sinful (1 Corinthians 6:9).
But those Christians know homosexuals and they believe that the sexual orientation of those folks is natural to them, regardless of what Paul said.
So they disregard Paul and they regard homosexuals.
They don’t pick Paul’s cherry off the tree.
In the same way, Christians who want nothing more than to see drones taking out terrorists disregard Jesus’ pacifist cherries hanging in the tree.
Would it
- damage Christianity
- or bring a sense of honesty to Christianity
Or should we go back to lawyering the Bible, defending what seems to amount to a rewrite – and sometimes an absolute reversal?
The reason I’m thinking about this is because my Bible study group is currently in a series of lessons that talk about the tough side of being a Christian. I assigned myself the topic “We get a bad press.”
So I’ve been looking at the criticisms that non-Christians make about Christians.
And some of the toughest criticisms I’ve read seem justified.
So they need a response.
Even if the response is, “I know it’s in the Bible. I have great respect for the Bible. But that is just something I’m not willing to practice.”
This topic is pretty doggone close to some others I’ve covered – which got me in trouble:
The more I study the Bible and the more I work with people who have grown up in the church, the more I realize that some longtime Christians simply don’t want to think about it.
They believe what they believe.
They really don’t want anyone telling them different: preacher, teacher, or the Bible.
So when they get confronted, they
- clam up
- steam up
- or blow up.
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