I received the following scripture verse and commentary today:
"Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they [also] which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen." (Revelation 1:7)
"Soon will be the coming of the Lord from clouds and on high! At long last, all creation will bow before Him in full recognition of His majesty and glory. Praise the Lord all you people! Lift His name on high! Bask in the redemptive power of His blood! Believe on Him and be saved in the final day!"
To which I responded:
"Why do you say the coming of the Lord will be soon? Wags have been sharing that dogma for thousands of years, possibly to scare ignorant people into salvation or to comfort the saints by using false prophecy. It's both misleading and unsupported by Scripture and it sounds like you know something you don't. No man can know such things. If that's your opinion, why not preface your statement by saying " I believe" before making such an unsupportable and misleading claim?
For the record, I believe that more harm is done to the cause of the Kingdom through the spreading of such bad dogma than all the affairs and failures of prominent Christians combined."
Flippant faith dogma, such as the opening line in the commentary above, is deadly because it presents personal suppositions as facts. So, when the facts don't pan out in real life experience, two things take the blame: 1) your faith, because you can't make it work like others say it ought to, and 2) God, because failed dogma makes His promises sound like blarney. Dogma is deadly to the spirit because it kills reason, ignores experience, calls for faith in man-made doctrine, creed or opinions and short-circuits the process by which sincere seekers of truth work out their own salvation.
Dogma is everywhere in the church and it blocks the believer's view of God, faith, prayer, repentance and reconciliation, to name a few.
Where do you see it, smell it or hear it?
I'd be interested in what you have to say.
Jack
What Matters About Me
- Jack C. Getz
- I am who I am, not what I have done. For those who care about pedigree, I have little more than being a former public school teacher and a pastor/denominational adminstrator. The following insights come from a couple of tests I took. They may explain why I am a Contrarian and why I decided to do a blog about it. The first test is a standardized personality profile. The second is something strange called a Brain Type test! 1)“Jack lives outside traditional boundaries and ahead of the curve. When others focus on limitations, Jack creates new possibilities and ideas. He is a doer, not just a dreamer. Well grounded in reality, logic and analytical thinking. He enjoys meeting and working with other creative and ambitious people...a fearless leader. Only 3-5% of U.S. population has these qualities.” 2) Jack's Intellectual Type is Word Warrior. This means he has exceptional verbal skills. He can can easily make sense of complex issues and takes an unusually creative approach to solving problems. His strengths also make him a visionary. Even without trying he's able to come up with lots of new and creative ideas. (Like blogging as Contrarian?)
This challenges common ideas about the purpose of praying. Not a rehash of old dogma.
Click Image to purchase - Search Jack Corbin Getz Or Check major online book sellers.
It is not just "dogma" that the Lord is coming again: HE SAID HE WOULD!!! But I do agree about date setters or those who use the term mainly to move someone to repentance. To come to Christ should always be based on a man's need to be saved - not because of what will happen to him/her... but because they recognize that they are out of line with the holiness that God requires of them to walk daily as someone who plans on staying around awhile, and getting some work done for Him in life. ie. "Go ye into all the world..."
ReplyDeleteThat being said... we cannot ignore the facts and the times that we are living that SCREAM OUT on their own that SOMETHING is about to happen. SOMETHING is up. Now, couple that with the Myan belief that the world will end in December of 2012... and you even have the most brazen sinners (I call them the news media)(HA!)looking for the rocks and the hillsl to cover them.
For the most part I don't believe that people read their Bibles anymore but depend on others to tell them what to expect. BAD IDEA!!!
AS FOR ME... I DO BELEIVE JESUS IS COMING VERY SOON.. and the next line just completes the statement... ARE YOU READY? It follows that:
When we pray we ask ourselves... are you ready for God to do what ou ask of Him?
When we walk on in faith we say are you ready for God to show you His Divine WILL for your life today - no matter what?
When we get married the preacher asks... In Sickness and in health... in wealth or poverty, do you promise to forsake all others and remain faithful to your spouse?
We cannot live without asking the "ready" question - even of ourselves. If we tried to... we might end up at work in our birthday suit.
Wayne, there's nothing in my post that says He isn;t coming. I just poke at those who seem to think they know when He's coming. Not even Jesus knew that.
ReplyDeleteReading the signs is fine if that's what you need, but simply being prepared seems the best way to travel for me!
Thanks for your thoughts. I'll read them again to be sure I'm not missing something.
One more... the dogma isn't that He's coming, it's those who think they can tell the rest of us when that is. How many centuries have good hearted people said: "I know he's coming soon." and their bones are dried to dust.
ReplyDeleteLive so that it doesn't matter when He blows the trumpet. That means live purposefully, urgently and righteously. Then let the chips fall where they may.