October 21, 2013
Open Door Policy
When it comes to weddings, many churches place restrictions
on their facilities, such as not allowing dancing, or alcohol consumption on
the premises during receptions. It’s interesting to me where some churches draw
the line. I just read that a local Episcopal Church is partnering with other
groups and organizations for space in their facility. One of their partners is the
newly crafted Community Spirit Church. According to the newspaper report this
new addition to the religious landscape describe themselves as a,
‘theologically open-minded congregation’ who takes their faith and the Bible
seriously, however, they do not take the Bible literally. It’s almost funny…if
it weren’t so sad. While most churches work hard at keeping new age influences
out of their buildings, others throw open the doors and invite them in.
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Gail;
-----I am sure this fatuousness begins with abusing Paul’s command to Timothy, “Have nothing to do with stupid, senseless controversies; you know that they breed quarrels.” (II Tim 2:23). We then become so careful to avoid controversy that we let everything from silly fools to outright deceivers have their piece of say amongst us. Of course, maybe Paul wrote it literally to Timothy, but was only kidding when he told the Colossians, “See to it that no one makes a prey of you by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the universe, and not according to Christ.” (Col 2:8) Now, if we were actually going to see to that, and someone really was trying to make a prey of us, I do presume there would be at least some controversy, maybe more. When deceit and idiocy are substantive, there must be controversy. But when these are silly, insubstantial, meaningless notions, they are not worth the trouble controversy can cause.
-----I appreciate the Episcopal Church’s respect for the Bible enough to take it seriously, and for their unwillingness to take it all literally. But if their respect for the Word of God might rise to the level of actual humility, they would have to take the Bible literarily where it is literal. Communication uses every mental framework available: humor, sarcasm, sobriety, allegory, analogy, metaphor, technicality, implication, and yes, literalness. To understand what the communicator is communicating the reader must read with the same frame of mind the communicator wrote. And if that is literal, then so be it. The Bible is communication. It is literal in many places, allegorical in others, extremely technical sometimes, and is rife with metaphor, as are we all.
-----But when you throw upon the gaff of taking none of the Bible literally the error of an open mind, you no longer have a path upon which to walk. It is like being lost in the desert, blind. Your mind is what you think with. Other peoples’ minds are what they think with. To expect you to receive openly someone else’s thinking is the same as expecting you to swallow the mouthful of dinner they’ve chewed up. You neither know what they put into their mouth nor what of their own phlegm they‘ve chewed into it. In fact, the thought of such is ghastly. Yet we get harangued for not doing the same with other folks chewed up ideas by this “open mind” idiocy.
-----Proverbs tells us to guard our hearts diligently. What we need are active minds with open eyes and ears. We must process all of the information we take in, that is, chew it for ourselves. Otherwise, foolishness becomes an infestation, and churches begin approving Satan’s craftiness.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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