What is Your Baseline?

[dizzyde]

Originally Posted by Edward Anglin

If we can't discuss issues from the standpoint of scripture, what's the use? Everything else is just somebody's opinion, and you know what they say about those.

Is our new baseline the manual? Tradition? Preference?

What is your baseline?

This is becoming more and more of an issue with me. And the inconsistencies are HUGE. Especially since it is very clear to me that most of the times, the variations that are seen clearly lead back to personal preference.

I am not totally opposed (so far) to a pastor setting up a code of "standards" for his particular church, as long as it is made clear that these are guidelines and not scriptural mandates (in the instances where they are not.)

However, it is becoming harder for me to swallow this concept when I see so many times that the guidelins that different pastors put forth tie in closely with what their interests and likes are. That speaks to personality, not God led convictions.

Case in point: we had a speaker at our church last week who, for the most part I didn't hate... His background is in psychology, and I like to hear those ideas intersecting scripture. BUT, he spent an inordinate amount of time talking about online activity (facebook, forums, twitter, etc.) one of the nights.

I understand clearly the dangers of these pursuits, that is one of the reasons that I limit my time on the computer on nights and weekends, so that I can spend time cultivating my "real" life. His take on it though was basically that it is all bad and we should spend our times with our families and God. Great concept, except we all have different lives, and different circumstances.

The biggest sticking point for me was that he is several generations ahead of me and it obviously wasn't his idea of a good time. That doesn't really jive with me, and when you are supposed to be spending time as a minister leading me in spiritual matters, I'm not really interested in hearing your personal opinions...

That is just one instance of what I am talking about, and I am more and more coming to the point in my walk with God that if you cannot show me the principle in scripture or at the very least, the idea leading your principle in scripture, I don't really have that much interest in what you are saying.

Blast away!