The matter is quite simple. The Bible is very easy to understand. But we Christians are a bunch of scheming swindlers. We pretend to be unable to understand it because we know very well that the minute we understand we are obliged to act accordingly. Take any words in the New Testament and forget everything except pledging yourself to act accordingly. My God, you will say, if I do that my whole life will be ruined. How would I ever get on in the world? Herein lies the real place of Christian scholarship. Christian scholarship is the Church’s prodigious invention to defend itself against the Bible, to ensure that we can continue to be good Christians without the Bible coming too close. Oh, priceless scholarship, what would we do without you? Dreadful it is to fall into the hands of the living God. Yes, it is even dreadful to be alone with the New Testament.” - Soren Kierkegaard
This Sunday in the sermon at Jacob's Well, we will be looking at two paintings by Caravaggio that depict the same scene but painted at different times in his life (Supper at Emmaus, 1601 & 1606). One of the often tragic fading realities of the Christian life is the disappearance of "Joy & Amazement"...our hearts seldom burn anymore. We have grown accustomed to the One who used to bring life altering wonder...now it's painfully obvious most of us have become bored of Jesus.
I think many have come to the same conclusion about faith that Homer Simpson came to in an episode where his son asked him a question about the families religion:
Bart: What religion are we?
Homer: You know, the religion with all the well-meaning rules that don't really work in real life.
If we are going to have any substantive impact on this post-modern culture, we are going to have to recover a New Testament fire that once again produces "Joy & Amazement". Speaking with Jesus has got to burn again...or the smoldering wick of our devotion will yet again cast a dark cloud of irrelevancy over our generation.
1 comment:
You must be taking this Pastor thing to heart because your posts are getting pretty convicting.
Maybe a post from one of those wild eyed Calvinists would be appropriate--
"The world was once destroyed with water for the heat of lusts, and it is thought it will be again destroyed with the fire for the coldness of love."
Thomas Brooks, Precious Rememdies Against Satan's Devices. A must read for all Christians.
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