Can Evangelical Colleges and Seminaries Be Truly Academic Institutions?

[farouk]

A:

Why do you suppose that the Bible teaches that organizationally all churches ought to be in one big denomination? In Acts 20, elders of a local congregation were directly responsible to the Lord for what they did.

 

[Aardverk]

I don't believe that to be a true statement. It isn't a lack of understanding or misunderstanding that leads to numerous denominations or so-called "Christian v. Christian" wars. When was the last one of those, anyway? It is willfulness and arrogance, the usurping of God's power and claiming it for their own. It is a choice to ignore what the Bible says, not an inability to understand it.

If there were no difficulty in understanding, there would not be the interesting debates that we see here. What, for example, is the purpose of including 'The Song of Solomon' in The Bible?

A very simple example of a Christian v Christian war is in Northern Ireland. 3,530 killed and 47,540 injured may not be a very big war but that is more casualties than some of the more famous wars in history - and it is still fizzling.

Not at all. In fact, they are very similar. Commentaries from the early church indicate the scholars then had an equal understanding and interpretation of the Bible as we do today. God's word is unchanging, and its truth is unwavering. If we were getting a radically different interpretation now than they were then, it would call into question the veracity of God and His word. We don't see the variations you are supposing.

It was the level of knowledge that I was high-lighting. We know now that some things are not literally true, they didn't then. Appropriately to this exchange, the Quirinius census was in 7 AD not 0 AD - which is a useful example of differing levels of knowledge between then and now when interpreting any ancient documents.

If you were right in saying that our interpretation has not changed in 1700 years, I would be a bit worried about the lack of care being taken. Don't take my word for it, I would ask you to read the Peter Enns article that Grazer posted only yesterday. I think it would be far more interesting and on-topic if you were to challenge his assertion. He is far more au fait with current theological practice than I am but maybe you have more reliable information than he has.

This will explain a lot of the cultural and sociopolitical aspects of Quirinius' rule and the decree by Caesar Augustus. Don't pay so much attention to the article itself as to its footnotes.

Unfortunately you did not insert any link. If you have one, I would truly be grateful for it. I can only find Biblical references to people having to go to their birthplace (even 'birthplace' has been interpreted several ways!). That would be a crazy (impossible) system in a nation that had already been subjected to diaspora.

 

[Grazer]

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/petere...evangelical-leaders-stop-defending-the-bible/

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