Back in the day

As I look back to Biblical days, church (temple) was totally different. Back then a town would have only one copy of the Law/Torah and it would be kept at the Temple. But the Jews in that town knew the Law, most of them had it memorized so when the Rabbi would cite certain passages, they knew the subject matter. It was also very conversational. People were able to discuss with one another their thoughts and share their opinions on scripture. If someone did not understand, there was always someone to come along side and fill them in on the issue or help explain it to make it clear to them. They were able to analyze, debate, argue, hear one another out in a very community-like environment. God's word was something you studied together, it was a way to gain better understanding by looking at different perspectives and hearing people out.

These days pastors study alone all week and preach on Sunday their interpretation, their exegesis of Scripture, without really allowing the congregation to share their thoughts, present their questions, there is no community-like environment where Scripture can be discussed in a socratic form, meaning it can't be analyzed as a group, we are by default forced to hear one side, one perspective. Anyone, pastor or Christian that says "I just preach the Bible exactly how it is, I don't give a biased opinion" is lying to you. The very fact that they are reading the Bible from the NIV, King James, New Living translation is proof that they are reading it from a biased perspective. Anything translated is going to be partial, because the translator is taking the original language the Bible was written in and breaking down the words the way they seem right to them. Therefore it can be summarized as this: God has spoken, the rest is commentary. Our commentaries, at best, can only give us a perspective, they can not give us a black and white conclusion. But what is happening in churches across America, is people become members to a certain church and subscribe to its doctrine, believing it to be the objective viewpoint, the right way to look at scripture. And so you have civil wars between Christians. You have Baptists criticizing Pentecostals for being overly dramatic in their spirituality, Presbyterians arguing that you don't have to be fully submerged to be baptized, that sprinkling water is legitimate, and United Pentecostals telling you that you have to wear a suit to church and so forth. Doctrine becomes our artillery, and we are ready to fire off our lines of arguments, segregating ourselves so much from other Christians, becoming islands, not bridging the gap, but raising the draw bridge and building deep moats around our spiritual fortresses. Our focus is about being right, not about being the hands and feet of God. We don't invite people to have a relationship with God, we tell them how they should have a relationship with God. They have questions, and we are assured that we have THE ANSWERS, when in reality we simply have comments, that may provide insight, but are surely not absolute in nature. If we want people to have a relationship with God, we have to stop acting like nosey parents and let People "date" God without "parental supervision". Sure, Hey may take them out dancing, and He may step on their toes, and crowd their feet, or promenade so gracefully. But it's His dance with His date, we have to let Him lead it.