For my daily reading I have been doing Romans. Now the approach to reading I have been using as of late is a little different than the usual Baptist method of looking at like 3 verses at a time and going, ok what lesson can I learn from what the words that are written here. Not that I think that God doesn't communicate in that way, I think He does, but I also think that I have missed a lot by being that focused. Instead I have been reading(or atleast trying to read) everything that seems contiguous, everything that goes together. Which brings us to the reading in Romans that I have been doing.
And now I understand more what Paul was saying, not just what it looks like he was saying. I think before I had always picked up on the secondary meaning while missing the primary one. I think a lot of this comes from missing the "therefores" in it. As example always before I thought that what he was trying to say in the end of chapter 1 is that homosexuality is bad. Now, the thing is not that he isn't saying that. Infact that is why he brings it up, because it is so obiviously wrong to his readers that they find it revolting. That isn't the point though, his point is in chapter 2, the section in chapter 1 is just to set up what is going to happen. His real point is that we are all jacked up pretty bad, and you by saying how evil the they are for doing that are doing something just as bad, so stop thinking how great you are and be thankful that Christ has saved you from that. That is what the whole first part of the book is about, how Christ came to save us from the junk we have brought upon ourselves. I think that is why we often use the "Roman Road" to bring people to Christ, it lays out what Christ has done for us so simply with just a few verses. But now that we are grown up a bit in our faith shouldn't we read it more completely? Why don't you try doing the same thing and commenting what you think. You know, even though we use these passages to speak to unbelievers, Paul was writing this to a well established church, reminding them that everyone is a wreck, whether they look it or not.
I do a small group study on Monday nights with Bill, Luke, and Michael and right now we are going through Blue Like Jazz. In this past weeks reading there is this part where one of the girls talks about before she was a Christian and how she thought that if the church was a person, then it probably wouldn't like her. You know even though I am a Christian and am in a caring church sometimes I think that if everyone knew some of the things I have done, and the church was a person, it wouldn't like me either. Even now you are probably going, "oh my, I wonder what he has done". And do you want to know how I know that? Because if you had written the same thing, I would have thought just the same. But I think you probably have somethings in your life you could say the same about. But I think we are all scared about this because we don't follow what Paul says, we don't remember what Christ has done for us.
That sometimes makes me want to be a Catholic. I think there would be something wonderfully relieving about every week going in and telling the priest what you had done, so that he wouldn't think you were something that you weren't. But that isn't very practical right now, nor maybe the best reason for switching. I don't know, that was a bit of a rabbit trail.
So what do you think about that? If you are a Christian what do you think about how we handle our sin? If you aren't then how do you view the church? I also would love to hear about what anyone gets from Romans, or anyother place like that. I have some others that will come up.
And now I understand more what Paul was saying, not just what it looks like he was saying. I think before I had always picked up on the secondary meaning while missing the primary one. I think a lot of this comes from missing the "therefores" in it. As example always before I thought that what he was trying to say in the end of chapter 1 is that homosexuality is bad. Now, the thing is not that he isn't saying that. Infact that is why he brings it up, because it is so obiviously wrong to his readers that they find it revolting. That isn't the point though, his point is in chapter 2, the section in chapter 1 is just to set up what is going to happen. His real point is that we are all jacked up pretty bad, and you by saying how evil the they are for doing that are doing something just as bad, so stop thinking how great you are and be thankful that Christ has saved you from that. That is what the whole first part of the book is about, how Christ came to save us from the junk we have brought upon ourselves. I think that is why we often use the "Roman Road" to bring people to Christ, it lays out what Christ has done for us so simply with just a few verses. But now that we are grown up a bit in our faith shouldn't we read it more completely? Why don't you try doing the same thing and commenting what you think. You know, even though we use these passages to speak to unbelievers, Paul was writing this to a well established church, reminding them that everyone is a wreck, whether they look it or not.
I do a small group study on Monday nights with Bill, Luke, and Michael and right now we are going through Blue Like Jazz. In this past weeks reading there is this part where one of the girls talks about before she was a Christian and how she thought that if the church was a person, then it probably wouldn't like her. You know even though I am a Christian and am in a caring church sometimes I think that if everyone knew some of the things I have done, and the church was a person, it wouldn't like me either. Even now you are probably going, "oh my, I wonder what he has done". And do you want to know how I know that? Because if you had written the same thing, I would have thought just the same. But I think you probably have somethings in your life you could say the same about. But I think we are all scared about this because we don't follow what Paul says, we don't remember what Christ has done for us.
That sometimes makes me want to be a Catholic. I think there would be something wonderfully relieving about every week going in and telling the priest what you had done, so that he wouldn't think you were something that you weren't. But that isn't very practical right now, nor maybe the best reason for switching. I don't know, that was a bit of a rabbit trail.
So what do you think about that? If you are a Christian what do you think about how we handle our sin? If you aren't then how do you view the church? I also would love to hear about what anyone gets from Romans, or anyother place like that. I have some others that will come up.
1 comment:
We talked about this very thing at church tonight.
We came to the conclusion (well, something of an open-ended conclusion, if such a thing exists) that while we do confess our sins to God and ask for forgiveness, it is rarely apparent to others what we are going through, mostly due to the fact that we keep it that way. I'm afraid that this results in the nonbeliever thinking that we are self-righteous and believe that we're perfect.
I feel like we go to church on Sunday wearing an mask that shouts, "Look at me - I have no struggles, problems, or sin in my life, and I have all the answers, too. I'm pretty much the poster boy for Christian living!" It aggravates me to be so counterfeit with myself and others, yet I wear the mask all the time. Maybe that's a part human nature that we have to find a way around.
Romans is one of my favorite books. It's ironic that it was written to the church, but we use it quite a bit to reach the unchurched and lead them to Christ. I really appreciate the points it makes about the law, sin, and life through the Spirit. Chapter 12 verses 9-21 is also always a hearty challenge.
I could go on, but I've already said quite a bit.
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