[Mariah, this post is largely for you]
On Tuesday during lunch, I read 1 Timothy. The whole book.
A few weeks ago I read The Year of Living Biblically (One man's attempt to follow the bible as literally as possible), by A. J. Jacobs. It's an awesome book, by the way. You absolutely should read it! I don't care if you're religious or not; this book will have both sides of the Aethiest/Believers arguments saying, "See? I told you so!"
Anyway, so I read this book by A.J. Jacobs. It was great, but he asks some hard questions to which I don't have any real answers. Mainly, "Where in the Bible does it say that Jesus abolished all the 'old' laws?" The answer? Well, like I said - if you were paying attention... "Pay Attention!" - I don't really have any clear ones.
Certainly, Jesus became THE sacrifice, so I suppose the laws regarding offerings/sacrifices are no longer exactly applicable. But what about the rest? Hmm? HHMMM??
Right. It seems we chose to just "lump them in there" because they're either kinda weird, or totally inconvenient... or kinda weird AND totally inconvenient.
So back to my first statement. I read 1 Timothy. The whole book. Don't know what it says? Well, don't be a lazy ass... pick it up and read it!
In short though, it's all about rules - specifically rules for the church. And (as you may have guessed) Paul writes them in a letter to Timothy. This should be wildly clear since - if you know your books of the Bible - Timothy is post-Jesus, but they definitely apply. In other words... no excuses people. We're totally screwed here, as there's no "easy out" for these babies. These laws aren't "lump-able"!
Actually, when reading them, they make a lot of sense. Furthermore - still with me Mariah? - they tell the church how to function, both inside the church, as well as with the outsiders.
(Ok, a bit of explaining the Mariah thing here. On Memorial Day, we were having a discussion about how many churches no longer seem to teach how we're to respond to other religions, or even what our "jobs" are as believers. Sure, they take offering, and perhaps have a "Global Missions" week/month... but the Bible has some pretty explicit declarations about our duties as the Church. Once again, don't be lazy... read the book.)
So 1 Timothy gives some very important (while rather logical) instructions. I think it's about time we do at least attempt to live according to the rules God put in place for us. I'm one who wholly defends the "spirit of the law" concept. (I have some serious issues with our judicial system and how the spirit simply gets ignored) However, in this case, I think the letter of the law applies too.
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2 comments:
based upon your post, i don't have a clear concept of what stood out to you in timothy as contrary to what you've experienced in the church (except for maybe how women adorn themselves! :), but i was glad for the admonition to read it, nonetheless. i'd be curious to hear what you learned in your reading. you sparked my interest on the topic of the law, and i can only point to a couple of scriptures that may offer further understanding as you search to know God's heart for you and the church. first, Jesus said in Matthew 5;17 that He did not come to abolish the law, but to fulfill it. which, according to rob bell, was a common phrases among rabbis. a teacher of the law would say, "you abolish the law," when a student misinterpreted the scripture application, and conversly, "you fulfill the law" when they properly interpreted it. So, based upon Jesus' statment, He's saying that His life and His teaching are the REAL and PROPER interpretation of the life-application that the current teachers were arguing about in that day. But I digress... A couple of other scriptures stood out--Acts 15 talks about Gentile conversion and the "laws" that they should be required to keep. Galatians 4:23-25 talks about the law. Rom. 13:10 says that love fulfills the law. Galatians 5:18 says "but if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law." which begs the question--are YOU led by the Spirit? Anyway, those are just a couple of scriptures that I hope blessed you in your quest. Love you!
I love that you are investigating the questions that most people leave up to other people to tell them! I was still following and was even giving a few hmmm's and awws as i read :) I am some what familiar with 1 timothy but i'll read it tonight so we can have some good discussions on sat. So do you think that you have a better grasp on what God is calling us to do?
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