Therefore let us move beyond the elementary teachings about
Christ and be taken forward to maturity, not laying again the foundation of
repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God, instruction
about cleansing rites, the
laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. And
God permitting, we will do so. (Hebrews 6:1-2)
The
book of Hebrews was written to people who had been Jews and had become
followers of Jesus Christ. They would have – should have – understood the
basics. It’s likely that the people reading this letter thought they
knew the old scriptures. Keep in mind that the Jews, the Greeks, and the Romans
all lived their religions. You didn’t walk through a door or eat a meal without
at least going through the motions with regard to some god or other. The Jews
were strange and obstinate, because they would only go through the motions for
one God, but at least they knew the motions and they could probably tell you
all about those motions – or so they thought.
The same is true in our day. There are a lot of people out there who think they understand Christianity. They can mouth a few verses, or at least a meme or two. Some even go so far as to catch on to what the modern scholars have to say. Some folks think themselves so sophisticated that they can discern whether Jesus really said something, and can tell, based on minor variations in the text, whether it was written by the same person as another piece of what is designated as being one text. But they don’t get the truth found therein.
I attended a church for a time that spent Sunday mornings giving gospel presentations. That was what Sunday mornings were for, I was told. That way if someone came who wasn’t saved, they would hear. So, Sunday after Sunday, for years, the same small band of worshippers heard the same message – “You need to be saved, and here’s how to do it.”
I’ve attended other churches where the safe basics are taught. The idea seems to be to spread the faith as far as it will go – across the world, but a micron deep (it takes 25,400 microns to make an inch.) There are adults out there who still think the flannelgraph versions of the Bible stories they heard in kindergarten are the whole truth of the stories. Shallow … shallow … shallow.
The author of Hebrews is calling us to move out into deeper water, not losing the truth found in the shallows, but not being stuck therein. We need to give up our one-dimensional god (“Oh, God is love…”) and learn that yes, God is love, but He is also justice, holy, omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient, wise, righteous, transcendent, immanent, glorious, independent, eternal, perfect, blessed, good, peace, the way, the truth, the life… apart from Him there is no other.
And, He calls us to love Him and, as a consequence, to love our neighbors. He does not call us to love our neighbors so much that we make them our gods, and go through the motions with Him when we’re safe inside our walls (wherever those walls may be.)
There is so much more to being a Christian than we learned by our third grade in Sunday School. A lot of it is there, but the adult version, while not being warm and fuzzy, is a lot stronger.
The same is true in our day. There are a lot of people out there who think they understand Christianity. They can mouth a few verses, or at least a meme or two. Some even go so far as to catch on to what the modern scholars have to say. Some folks think themselves so sophisticated that they can discern whether Jesus really said something, and can tell, based on minor variations in the text, whether it was written by the same person as another piece of what is designated as being one text. But they don’t get the truth found therein.
I attended a church for a time that spent Sunday mornings giving gospel presentations. That was what Sunday mornings were for, I was told. That way if someone came who wasn’t saved, they would hear. So, Sunday after Sunday, for years, the same small band of worshippers heard the same message – “You need to be saved, and here’s how to do it.”
I’ve attended other churches where the safe basics are taught. The idea seems to be to spread the faith as far as it will go – across the world, but a micron deep (it takes 25,400 microns to make an inch.) There are adults out there who still think the flannelgraph versions of the Bible stories they heard in kindergarten are the whole truth of the stories. Shallow … shallow … shallow.
The author of Hebrews is calling us to move out into deeper water, not losing the truth found in the shallows, but not being stuck therein. We need to give up our one-dimensional god (“Oh, God is love…”) and learn that yes, God is love, but He is also justice, holy, omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient, wise, righteous, transcendent, immanent, glorious, independent, eternal, perfect, blessed, good, peace, the way, the truth, the life… apart from Him there is no other.
And, He calls us to love Him and, as a consequence, to love our neighbors. He does not call us to love our neighbors so much that we make them our gods, and go through the motions with Him when we’re safe inside our walls (wherever those walls may be.)
There is so much more to being a Christian than we learned by our third grade in Sunday School. A lot of it is there, but the adult version, while not being warm and fuzzy, is a lot stronger.
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