Checkpoint wrote: ↑Wed Nov 18, 2020 6:13 pm
Yes, things will all get sorted out one day.
Actually, things are
already sorted out, whether we wrestle with them -- or wrestle with each other over them -- or not. And I don't mean "wrestle with" in any negative sense here, Jacob wrestled with God (Genesis 32), you know, and we should, too, regarding difficult things. Even wrestling with each other can be a good thing, as God can use that for our good, too. Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another (Proverbs 27:17), right? The problem comes when this "wrestling" crosses over from striving
with (with God or with neighbor) to "contending" and thus striving
against (against God or against neighbor). You see the difference, I'm sure. This can happen pretty easily and for several reasons, pride and even idolatry chief among them. As we both know, Jesus said we should love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, and mind (this is the great and first commandment), and we should love our neighbor as ourselves (Matthew 22:37-39).
Checkpoint wrote: ↑Wed Nov 18, 2020 6:13 pm
In the meantime we see only a little, and often bang into each other in our little "knowledge" patch, as we fondly imagine we have this or that all sussed.
Well, sure, but even the Bible is very clear that there are differences among even us Christians. Not that anyone is a "better Christian" than anyone else, but that there are differences in "strength" among the brethren. Even so, as Paul says, even the weaker parts of the body are indispensable (1 Corinthians 12:22). And I should say, too, that in saying what I have said here, I don't necessarily mean to insinuate that anyone here is "weaker" than anyone else; we all have areas of weakness.
Checkpoint wrote: ↑Wed Nov 18, 2020 6:13 pm
Let us not be riding for a fall.
I agree. Sure. God forbid.
Checkpoint wrote: ↑Wed Nov 18, 2020 6:13 pm
1 Corinthians 8:1-3 "We know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. The one who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know. But the one who loves God is known by God.
A good word. Yes, none of us know as we ought to know; that can encompass a lot of things. But still, some understand certain things better than others, and if so, in keeping with Jesus's commandments from Matthew 22 above, we should strive
with God in proclaiming His Word and glorifying Him, and with our neighbor to build them up in the Lord rather than... well, opposite of that. As Paul goes on to say in this very passage from 1 Corinthians 8, that would constitute sinning against our brothers and wounding their conscience when it is weak and thus sinning against Christ (vv. 11-12). Paul says the same things in Romans 14. The problem is not imparting knowledge in and of itself. Imparting knowledge is a good thing; it's one of the reasons God gave us each other. The problem, rather, is imparting that knowledge in sinful ways and possibly destroying our brothers, for whom Christ also died.
Hey, you might notice the word "destroyed," as used by Paul in 1 Corinthians 8:11 above. The Greek root word used here is
ἀπόλλυμι (apollymi), and it means in the context here
not to be annihilated physically or wiped from existence, but rather to be
brought to ruin spiritually. James uses the same word in the same way when he says "(t)here is only one Lawgiver and Judge, He who is able to save and to destroy" (4:12). Peter does the same (2 Peter 2:12), and so does Jude (1:5, 10). What we see from Paul, Peter, and even John in Revelation regarding "destruction" as rendered in English (
ἀπώλεια, or apōleia, in the Greek) is very much the same, but in the form of a noun rather than a verb.
Grace and peace to you and all.