Quote:
Originally Posted by Evang.Benincasa
There isn’t scripture for anyone to make anything up. It would be putting words in God’s mouth. That is the whole issue about adding or subtracting. Hence the book of the Revelation has its dire warning against adding or taking away from its important information. We aren’t allowed to formulate our own personal religion. But shaving or growing a beard because your group likes it that way, without blaming it all on God, then who is to call foul?
|
EB, it is very seldom so simple. As we are all aware, there are many who restrain qualified men from leadership, simply because they have facial hair. This crosses a line IMO.
In the Old Testament there was a situation where the brazen serpent was used to heal. It is even confirmed in the Bible to be a type of Jesus. I don’t really LIKE the idea of a brazen serpent being a type of Jesus, but it was.
The brazen serpent was even placed in the ark of the covenant to memorialize the miracle of God healing the Israelites from the fiery serpents. So far so good. But the Israelites made an idol out of the brazen serpent. They carried it too far. They began burning incense to it and named it Nehushtan.
King Ahaz destroyed the brazen serpent because the Israelites began to worship it. What was a gift from God was misused by them.
Pastors are a gift from God. We would do well to allow them to minister and hold them accountable to the word of God. If we idolize them (for example esteem their words as equal or even superior to God’s words) we are doing in essence what the Israelites did with the brazen serpent. Worshiping the creature more than the Creator. It cannot end well.
IMHO of course.