"Not-So-Astute Observation"

 "Not-So-Astute Observation"

By:  Pastor Jack Schneider

“All Scripture is God-breathed, useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness…able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.”  [2 Tim.3:16,15, NIV]

Blew my mind the other day when I read the following comment by a supposed Christian pastor here in Dallas: “I cannot say exactly what we believe except that experience is a higher authority than Scripture.  I do not believe the Bible is the Word of God…” [Pastor Danielle Shroyer, Journey Church]

Say what??  Oh, my!  I wish I could tell you this person is one lone twisted voice in a sea of Biblical orthodoxy, but that’s not the case.  More and more we’re finding human experience and reason as the foundation for faith, not the written, living Word of God.  In fact, says the world, the Bible is but one of many collections of myths, rituals and stories of religion, and all have value.  It doesn’t really matter what you believe, we’re told, so long as you’re sincere.

Oh, really?  Paul encountered this numerous times in his ministry, having traveled across a cosmopolitan landscape and numerous seaports of the wisest mankind had to offer.  Listen to what he had to say… 

“God shows His anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who push the truth away from themselves.  For the truth about God is known to them instinctively.  God has put this knowledge in their hearts.  From the time the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky and all that God made.  They can clearly see His invisible qualities -- His eternal power and divine nature.  So they have no excuse whatsoever for not knowing God.  Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship Him as God or even give Him thanks.  And they began to think up foolish ideas of what He was like.  The result was that their minds became dark and confused.  Claiming to be wise, they became utter fools instead.  Instead of believing what they knew was the truth about God, they deliberately chose to believe lies.  So they worshiped the things God made but not the Creator Himself, who is to be praised forever.” [Rom.1:18-22,25, NLT]

In 1943 Thomas J. Waters, Chairman of the Board for IBM, made this sincere, not-so-astute observation, “There is a world market for about five computers.”  His failure as a business prognosticator pales, however, in comparison to the social convictions of Cordell Hull, U.S. Secretary of State, who stated emphatically in 1933, “Mistreatment of Jews in Germany may be considered virtually eliminated.”

  Y’know, you can be mistaken in this life, or you can be mistaken for all eternity..

- Jack