Sunday, August 29, 2010

“Baptists Sure Know Their Bible!”

Welcome back, everyone-it’s been a bit of hiatus.
“Baptists Sure Know Their Bible!”
Once again, the‘feint praise’ someone trotted out the old bon mot of Bible knowledge to compliment a Christian whose theology was actually anathema to hers. It’s like a Lithuanian saying, “Those Estonians are sure a clean people!” (For a bunch of whathoozit troublemaking drunkards!)
Sure, we know the Bible, imperfectly-but only because we are known by God, brought into His family and taught by His Spirit. If not for God granting us Grace, making us Christians…the Bible would be as closed a book to us as it is to the world which hates God.
Ah, Grace.
Cultural Christians-those who grew up in a church which promised them that they were indeed Saved… cultural Christians are doomed. They have not been granted the Grace of God.
They are not born again, which Christ said is a must.
They may dance for Jesus, go to church, feel all religious on Sundays…but Christ will say to all who claim Him but have not been born again: “I never knew you. Go away.”
“It’s not important where you worship God-you can be sitting on a lake, watching a sunset, or sitting in a pew. God is everywhere!”
Not an exact quote, but the gist of it is right.
I can worship God anywhere, and I do-God accepts my worship because I am His child, known and loved by Him. Cultural Christians could live in a church building 24/7, singing and shouting prayers and still be ignored by God.
The problem with the ‘worship God through Nature’ scenario is it leaves out Christ, His redemptive work on the cross, His paying for my sins and yours by becoming an acceptable sacrifice to redeem His creation.
Not everyone is redeemed, and a Loving God does indeed send people to hell, because He is also a Just God.
What is unloving? Assuring people that they are saved, that they are in no danger of hellfire, when they are, according to God, doomed.
I’m not quoting Scripture here to ‘back up’ and support my point because it’s not about Bible knowledge-dear antagonistic Antigone claimed to know the Bible better than I do, and was as yet an atheist. By now I hope that God has granted her the Grace He granted to me 30 years ago. It’s about being quickened/born again/granted Grace by God.. That is it.
Bye the bye-it’s been five plus years since I started Fine Dry Wit, and Antigone and most others have moved on. I almost did myself, as mi vida loca was getting pretty loca. But I’m still infrequently here; as mentioned in the last post, I have shut down the comments-if you do have comment to make, email me at fine_dry_wit@yahoo.com and I will post your brilliance here.
May God make you my brother/sister and not my enemy.