20O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called: 21Which some professing have erred concerning the faith. Grace be with thee. (1Tim 6:)
"Study to show thyself approved unto God." These are the words of advise (or command) that Paul had for Timothy. I think they apply equally for us as well. Certainly for me.
Babies study everything. Their eyes are wide open studying anything that comes into their presence. Food, mud and dog's hair can enthral them. Every sight, every sound, every movement captivates them.
And then they grow up. Life becomes mundane, dreary and unchallenging.
Until they become a Christian.
Suddenly life takes on new meaning. We see everything through new eyes; we hear through new ears, and we analyze the world through a new heart.
Almost as if we had been Born Again.
As with a baby, an adventurous and curious nature brings along with it dangers at every corner. Food, if not properly prepared can choke; mud, though cooling on the cheek can damage the eye; and dog's hair, when off the dog, gets into everything.
New converts, like a baby, absorbs - and believes everything they are told. They question little, and that little they do question is often belittled as foolishness.
A baby is first taught what and what not to put in its mouth, eyes, nose and ears.
A baby Christian must be taught the same.
A baby is taught to crawl, then to kneel, then to stand and walk.
As is the baby Christian.
Much learning for the baby comes not from a school, but from a sandbox, where he or she is instructed by other babies with less knowledge than themselves. And this trend continues into school, and college, then into adult life.
And the world, like wolves, awaits.
The world does not remain only in the world; it infiltrates into any crack and crevice that is unsecured.
The Church is no exception.
The Bible warns us to beware of "tares" (poisonous plants that resemble and hide amongst the wheat), and "wolves," not in the world where they belong, but in the Church.
Wolves are unscrupulous. They destroy and devour with full intent. But all wolves are not wolves by intent, some unknowingly become wolves by instruction. Consider the story of Oliver Twist.
What a "child" learns in his formative years will seem perfectly normal when he is an adult. In this same manner cultures are formed; many that we look upon as bazaar and incredible.
Consider the Ubange, the Kamikaze, the drug cultures - and what is now being taught in our schools and in the media as "normal" and "proper."
What one learns, one teaches.
So we must beware, and be leery of what we turn our ears toward.
Those who teach us the Bible have themselves been taught. It may be that they studied under some great and famous tutor or teacher, or they may have, like what we are setting out to do, learned on their own. But even those of us who have been self-taught are not free of doctrinal error. One cause of this is that of the child in the sandbox - we learn from one another. We check commentaries, and dictionaries, and the web for answers. And, if we are not very careful, we will settle for that answer we have been given.
An answer is a dead-end. Once we have an answer, though it may make no sense at all, and conflicts with all else we have learned and been taught, we accept.
Thus cults. And dogmas. And Doctrine of men.
And Denominations and Articles of Faith that are accepted unquestionably when the doors of that denomination are entered, no matter how bazaar they may seem, or how much they conflict with what we have learned previously.
Walls. Doctrinal walls that separate and divide the Church of God like a giant puzzle in a child's playroom.
A child draws a picture of Mommy with her stick arms protruding from her ears and her legs dangling footless from her chin. This is the way the child sees his Mommy, because he has yet to learn how to see.
Children in a sandbox build sandcastles that look like tottering dumpsters in which they house and protect their imaginary armies. The children place twig men as soldiers around their castle to guard it from all invaders who might desire to tear down the fine structure they have built. And the children use sticks for swords with which to battle one another in an attempt to overthrow what the other has built.
Bible Scholars are in actuality nothing but children in a sandbox building sandcastles, one in competition with another. For castles they use Doctrine; for stick soldiers they use Preachers; and for weapons, they use Commentaries.
In the World, what the Scholars and the "Intelligentsia" are coming up with is absurd and ridiculous to those of us in the Church. And to the World that which we cling to in the Church is foolishness and insane.
And they are right.
"See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant."
These are the words of God spoken to Jeremiah at the beginning of his ministry. When the old is worn out, or no longer functions, or was built improperly, it must be torn down so that another, hopefully better, can be built in its place.
Many fine old homes had to be torn down in order to build magnificent buildings.
Jeremiah was greatly resisted in his efforts to rebuild the Establishment into what God wanted it to be. Powerful people had built their reputation, livelihood and their kingdom upon the false Traditions and religions of the day. Anyone who stood against the Establishment, no matter how brittle and lopsided it may have been, risked their lives as did Elijah, and Ezekiel, and the other Prophets....
And as did Jesus, and the Apostles.
That is the purpose of this section. Here I am going to attempt to tear down, re-examine, as well as explore outside the walls built to protect, then rebuild with what will hopefully be what God had intended us to have learned from the beginning.
And with the help of the Holy Spirit, I believe it can be done.
14Of these things put them in remembrance, charging them before the Lord that they strive not about words to no profit, but to the subverting of the hearers. 15Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. 16But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness. 17And their word will eat as doth a canker: (2Tim 2:)
4Then the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 5Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations. 6Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! behold, I cannot speak: for I am a child. 7But the LORD said unto me, Say not, I am a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak. 8Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the LORD. 9Then the LORD put forth his hand, and touched my mouth. And the LORD said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth. 10See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant. (Jer 1:)
