(Originally Written May 31, 2008 in the Journal)
Praise the Lord for today because this is the day that the Lord has made. May all of heaven and earth proclaim your holy name and may your glory be acknowledged throughout all time! There is no God but the one true God, the God of Jacob! Praise the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Praise you for the beauty of the earth, the birds of the sky and the fish of the deep. Praise you for all things good and praise you for even the troubles that have befallen me because they have drawn me nearer to you.
I was thinking on the words of Rob Bell in Velvet Elvis. He talked of faith like a trampoline vs. faith like a wall. When you have faith like a trampoline then doctrine is the springs that propel you upwards toward God. When you have faith like a wall each doctrine fits in a certain place and if you remove one, the wall starts to crumble. He talked of a man who said if you deny the literal seven day creation you deny the resurrection of Jesus Christ. This seems false and destructive. But, I believe doctrine is vital to Christianity.
To deny the literalism of creation is not to deny the resurrection of Christ. But to deny the validity of any passage of the Bible is to reject the Word of God. You cannot deny any part of the Bible as valid and be Christian. A passage may be taken as poetic or figurative or literal, but it is valid always. You cannot make piecemeal of the Scriptures. Doctrine is man's interpretation of Scriptures and thus, fallible, where the Scriptures are not. But the Lord has endowed us with reason and we must make proper use of it.
Thank you Lord for today! I picked up the Penguin Classics Early Christian Writings today and will be reading it in conjunction with Bible readings.
Notes on Early Christian Writings
Clement of Rome
Clement seems to have been the fourth bishop of Rome, following Peter, Linus and Anencletus. The date of Clement's epistle to the Corinthians seems to have been written around 96 A.D. The letter shows Clement's extensive knowledge of the Scriptures, which as a Gentile, meant the Septuagint. He also shows a strong familiarity of the books that became the New Testament. He writes of harmony and draws also on Stoic Philosophy. While he combines the Hebrew Scriptures with Stoic philosophy, he subordinates Stoic Philosophy to Christian vision. Clement also uses strong Trinitarian language, much stronger than found in the New Testament.
1 Clement
Clement praises the Corinthian church for how they used to act. "Always you were ready for any deed of goodness...whatever you did was done in fear of God" (Early Christian Writings, 24).
The Clement extols them for having fallen back to their evil ways. They have traded folly for wisdom. "All have fallen back into the horrid sin of envy - the sin that brought death into the world" (Early Christian Writings, 24).
He encourages them to turn from envy and follow the examples of Peter and Paul. He reminds them that many of the elect have been tormented by envy and had to fight it unto their very deaths. He warns them that envy has ruined marriages and overthrown cities and nations. He tells them to turn from envy and reflect on the preciousness of the Blood of Christ, which is an outpouring of salvation and has opened grace of repentance to mankind.
The Lord always opens up the chance for man to repent. It is never too late.
The Lord never forsakes those who place their hope in Him, but puts pain and penalty on those who rebel against Him.
He calls on them to be humble and show forgiveness.
"Christ belongs to the lowly of heart" (Early Christian Writings, 29).
He tells them that humility is always found in the great men of God: in Elisha, in Elijah, in Job, in Ezekiel, in David and even in Christ, all of whom had reason to be proud.
He encourages them to aim to achieve the tranquility of which we were made to be in. He states even nature operates in harmony with itself: night and day, the seasons. These fulfill God's plans for them.
He tells them to respect those who God has set over them. He says to teach the children in Christian thought.
He reminds them that mercy will be shown to those who set their hopes on the Lord.
He warns them not to doubt the resurrection because there is evidence of the resurrection all around them.
He tells them that, "untruth is the only thing that is impossible to God" (Early Christian Writings, 34).
He reminds them that there is nothing that the Lord does not see or hear.
He calls on the Corinthians to give up everything that is opposed to God because they are God's chosen portion.
He reminds them that God rewards faith and that they are justified by faith.
He tells us that though we are justified by faith we ought to strive to good works because the Lord himself delights in working.
The Lord has mad man in His own image and blessed him, commanding man to increase and multiply.
We must put forth all our effort into the work of righteousness.
We must wait in patience for the Lord and He will bestow the greatness and beauty of His gifts upon us.
Men who do things that are detestable are held in detestation by the Lord. Not only this, but men who consent to these things are held in detestation.
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