I've written in the past that I am a Christ-follower but that I detest all the do's aand don'ts of religion. Perhaps I am doing "religion" a disservice, for it is not really a specific religion that I detest, rather it is those who choose to have a narrow-minded view of right and wrong, of sin and righteousness, and usually of their own "moral superiority", even if it only exists in their minds... In Jesus' day they were called Pharisees, those Jewish spitiual leaders who thought they had all the right answers and held others accountable to their own standards... They still exist today...
I attend a non-denominal local church and we're pretty big, so we have small group meetings called "Growth Groups" during the week to help build community, discuss the message, etc. I attend one such group and, last Monday night found a modern day Pharisee attends my group too. We discussed a number of subjects during the course of the meeting, and I could see some of my comments really ground on him. I commented on how many times a sermon will be prepared and then scripture added to support it- even if it didn't always fit. Or how some sermons are never heard- like how Jesus was going to attend a wedding party when he performed his first miracle. The Bible is clear that Jesus was going to celebrate, and back in his day a wedding party could go for days. The host would serve his best wine and when everyone got snockerd they'd bring out the cheaper stuff 'cause people wouldn't notice. When Jesus, at his mother's request, turned the water into wine it created a stir, because it was better than the good stuff already consumed! Obviously the party was in the "who cares" stage... Ever hear a sermon about Jesus' partying? When I commented that Paul said, "a little wine is good for the stomach", my Pharisee friend said I was just making excuses for social drinking (I don't imbibe at all, but I don't mind or judge those who do!).
Later, after the meeting was officially over I was talking with another guy about the possibility of other life in the universe. I said with all the knowledge out there that we don't know it would be sheer human arrogance to assume we are alone. My Pharisee piped in and said the creation account is clear- we are the only creation of God. So when I said let's look at Genesis and see, and I proceeded to quote the account, specifically where the Bible says God seperated the waters from the waters with an expense that He called "heaven", and then gathered the waters together under the expanse and called them seas, and the dry ground he called land. And then I asked, what did God do with the waters on the other side of the heavens? Without a hesitation he said "Water vapor", like God had given him some Divine insight. I asked if the possibility could exist that God created another creation and he answered, "No, this one is perfect. God doesn't make mistakes". So I asked him to explain the verses that speak of the earth groaning in its brokenness, or if this creation is perfect why is there sin? I asked about dinasaurs, and if the Biblical account is all encompassing why aren't they mentioned, outside of the leviathan, a sea creature of old? He asked what I thought and I said I don't know, but perhaps it's possible that God created them and destroyed them via flood. He told Noah he would never flood the earth again which suggests that perhaps He'd done so in the past... I now offended my Pharisee, for I suggested (in his mind) that God had created a mistake and destroyed it- and God doesn't make mistakes (and yet our world is so imperfect!).
These were just some of the topics covered, but when the old guy informed me that "when he was in Bible college" kids questioned things but still there's only one right and one wrong answer. Then he said, so condesendingly, to me, "You can believe what you want but there's only one right"- the inference being, of course, that he is right. Well, my Friend, there was another who was so arrogant in his "rightness", and he too was a Pharisee, but God set him straight. His name was Saul Paulus, or more commonly known as the Apostle Paul. So though your narrow-minded, self-righteous attitude is irritating to me, I can live with it, for God has a way of dealing with Pharisees in his own time and way...
To be clear- I don't pretend to have all the answers, I just think it's healthy to seek, to question, for that is how we learn... Food for thought...
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