Know ye not that ye are the temple of God,
and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
If any man defile the temple of God, him shall
God destroy: for the temple of God is holy,
which temple ye are. Let no man deceive himself.
If any man be wise in this world, let him
become a fool, that he may be wise.
For the wisdom of this word is foolishness
with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise
in their own craftiness. And again, The Lord
knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that
they are vain. Therefore let no man glory in men.
For all things are yours....
1Corinthians 3:16-21a
Authentic Christians are those who have come to understand who they are, there is no need to "go and find yourselves" for God has told you who you are and that is the "temple of God!" Authentic Christians do not follow a man, no matter how theological. It is good to read, to study the works of men but not to the exclusion of others men who have come to be understood as false. Maybe they are: and, maybe they are not, and you can only know the truth if you read them and compare them with other theological men. Even then we must avoid to follow a person, no matter how theological they may seem to be, and they may be very close to the truth, even espouse truth. Compare all things as Paul instructed us to do (1Thessalonnians 5:21). This is one of the major errs of cultural Christians: they follow a man: i.e., Joel Osteen, Bill Johnson, Paul Wimber, Charles Finney, oh, and even Authentic Christians must not put on a pedestal those who when examined by Scripture are teaching the truth of Scripture. Authentic Christians do not follow a man: read on from the above Scriptures and see whether or not Paul has warned us about the err. Cultural Christians, liberal Christians do not consider what it means to be an Authentic Christian and to have Authentic Christian Faith. Authentic Christians make Authentic Christian Faith to have value and to be the motivating principle in their lives. If Authentic Christian Faith is not followed, allowed to be the way of life, to have its rightful place, then far too often a person' faith and religion turn into a cold and lifeless system of rules and regulations. Cultural Christians either add much to their religious beliefs to make them feel as though they are authentic, or, cultural Christians see the commands of God to be rigid, restrictive on their freedom and they resent those restrictions and have little or no desire to take thought as to whether or not they actions are Scriptural.
Cultural, or liberal Christians tend to interpret Scripture in ways that favor their lifestyles. We must also take care not to do the same, to make Scripture fit our desires or a lifestyle we desire to act upon and this is done if we do not take into account the spirit of the law that is contained in Scripture, or a verse, and this due to a lack of Bible study, a lack of knowing Scripture. Cultural Christians, liberal Christians attempt to skirt the Bible's teaching by doing the thing we must take care not to do: rationalize. How is this done? By saying that today's culture is different from the culture when the Bible was written. The cultural or liberal Christian will point out that the culture of the early Bible writers required stricter prohibitions: they attempt to explain away the truth and do this so often by figurative or hyperbolic. Did God give instructions that only fit some people and not others? Or, do all of God's words, His commands, His precepts apply to all men in all times? Were some to keep God's commands literally and strictly and others were allowed to "loosen" up those commands to fit the culture of the day?
Linguistic gymnastics or other rationalizations are used systematically to explain away the requirements of the Word of God. If the attempt to explain away God's requirements fail: a decision is make that we should give some "grace" to ourselves (this is the thought of cultural or liberal Christians). We, and those who are cultural or liberal will, in the least periodically indulge ourselves and we will appeal to our fallen nature as the problem. Yes, all men are weak, all men need salvation, all men must decide whether to be Authentic Christians or cultural, liberal Christians and remove a false sense of security. Yes, God is full of grace and will help us but we must not rationalize our actions, and our beliefs and simple fall upon God's grace.
It is true: only God's grace is that which gives to us hope and we must state that with true humility. True humility feels the burden of these truths and longs to be free from burden of sin. Sin becomes hideous to us and we long not to grieve God. Cultural, or liberal Christians do not have such an attitude. They have no love for holiness and no desire to acquire it.
Do not just follow men and their teaching. Inspect what you expect, and even inspect your expectations. Scripture is our guide, our way of knowing the truth and this is by our study of the Bible, to meditate, to pray and the power of the Holy Spirit will aide you. You must use this power of God for God is calling you to be holy.
Therefore, thou son of man, prepare
thee stuff for removing, and remove
by day in their sight; and thou shalt
remove from thy place to another
place in their sight: it may be they
will consider, though they be a
rebellious house.
Exekiel 12:3
Consider your faith: change inside/out
Richard L. Crumb
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