Lord willing this will be an ongoing post/topic which will both make some observations and ask questions of the culture in which we live. I have some ideas as to where it is going, but certainly do not know fully as of yet. A word of caution...some of what I will ponder may rub us the wrong way. That is OK, introspection is not easy...
Some scholars say all priests in the 1st century were Sadducees (other scholars say most if not all were). This is interesting to me because Sadducees did not believe in resurrection, angels, and spirits (e.g., Acts23:8). Side note, it is easy to remember this about them because since they did not believe in resurrection they were sad-you-see (Sad-u-cee). Anyway...
Since the priests were to be the mediators between God and man (cf. the Old Testament), what did this disconnect with reality (i.e., no spirits, angels, etc.) do to/for the people of the land?
Now for us today... What about religious leaders here in America? I am not saying there is a denial of angels, spirits, or resurrection...but does the teaching (or lack thereof) betray a lack of their importance...?
Hmmm...we will continue, I look forward to your feedback.
There is certainly a great lack of encouragement from church leadership in religion to access spirit,angels, spiritual guidance on a momment to momment basis in our lives.
ReplyDeleteSad-You-See, nice one big guy. I would say that thing that scares me most is how normal is more un-normal everyday and more excepted in our christain culture. We do tend to speak more of Gods love than correction and how we actually do have angels watching over us and how his resurrection did in fact happened and completed another factor for us to know that he was Gods son. Taking a blind eye to spirits also makes the devil seem more like a cartoon figure that real has no power. I would say that there is this thought that we need to cater to peoples feelings and not hurt them or cause them to have conviction because it would be to much on them. If i put my hand on the burner then I know its going to be hot. The truth is that if someone truly loves me and desires the best for my life they will speak truth into my life and allow the conviction to happen.
ReplyDeleteI must say that I can count on one hand the number of sermons I've heard on these topics in my entire life. It sure isn't talked about much.
ReplyDeleteJason - very true there is (generally speaking) a lack of encouragement in this area. I suppose it can be chalked up to (at least in part) fear... It may be fear because "it" is unfamiliar (we often fear what we do not understand...not that we will fully ever understand "it"). It may also be fear of "it" being abused or touted as some sort of spiritual merit badges. It may also be fear of leaders admitting their ignorance of "it."
ReplyDeleteLuke - Thanks, not original to me though (but once you say it enough it does become so, right?). And truth in what you say, yes... God's love and correction - a difficult balance for sure. It seems a/the major factor here is "Who is the audience?" when looking at those issues (which are one in the same). Also, Resurrection...wow, what a topic!
Honey :) - I agree.