DISCIPLESHIP: The Authority of Scripture

My mind has recently been captured by God's Word and how I have been so wrong in the past about my interpretation of His Word. Several friends have commented on how much I have changed in my interpretations of what I believe Scripture says about certain issues from when I started at Clarion. Some people view this as evidence of me growing and maturing in my faith and others view this as a negative thing of me having been corrupted. These comments have caused me to reflect on a deeper level these changes in myself. Why have I changed?

I think the answer to the question has 2 parts. First is that I have really learned to engage in healthy discussion with people who have differing Biblical interpretations. I used to make fun of the conclusions of a person's argument whom I disagreed without every actually listening to their reasoning to see if they had a valid point. Since I have begun to do this over the last 2 years I have seen that others have very good points that I ignored before without critically thinking about them. Second is that I have learned that really believing in the authority of Scripture means constantly going back and re-examining it. This means being open to correction by the Holy Spirit as I uncover new pieces of Scripture or read something I have never read before.

A crucial distinction must be made when talking about the authority of Scripture. Being faithful to an specific interpretation of a particular Biblical passage is NOT being faithful to the Scriptures. As I have wrestled with the Holy Spirit on Scripture issues that I have struggled with, He constantly brought me back to the fact that I need to be humble in the process and realize that just because God got it right doesn't mean I will interpret it right. Bible scholars have already shown that there have been errors in the translation of the King James Version of the Bible. Some of you may immediately have red flags going up and feel that I have degraded Scripture. The belief that Scripture is inerrant is about the collection of original manuscripts not the modern day English translations.

I have been learning that humility is absolutely key in the process. A humble approach to interpreting Scripture is evidenced by a constant willingness to evaluate differing interpretations and go back to the original text over and over again seeking to understand it better and better. This is why I have have changed many of my Biblical interpretations on certain issues. And I am willing to discuss those issues with anyone who wants to. Even now and for the rest of my life I am willing to constantly re-evaluate my interpretation of Scripture because when I get to Heaven it is likely that I will be right on some things and wrong on others. Humility is absolutely necessary if we profess a belief in the authority of Scripture.

DISCIPLESHIP: What is God's Calling on my life?

Ever since Urbana I have been praying a lot about what the calling of God on my life. In the past year I have experienced tons of growth in my walk with the Lord as I have been seeing a whole new dimension to the Gospel of Jesus that I never saw before. I am speaking of the Kingdom message. This Kingdom message is about righting the wrongs of injustice now on this earth. This is how we bring the Kingdom here. I have often said that I wanted to see God's Kingdom come on our campus and in the world but what have I done for it? I have proclaimed the forgiveness of sins and cared about the eternal resting place of their soul but have neglected the current physical state that people are in. I have remained ignorant of much of the injustice in the world as long as it didn't directly affect my little world. But that has all changed in the last year.

Beginning with MAC training January and February 2006 I began to see the relevance of the Gospel in other cultures and that I need to be informed about other cultures to know how to share the Gospel with them. Then I went on the Cleveland Urban Plunge in March 2006 and learned about the relevance of the Gospel in the inner city and my ignorance of what was going on there. There were Christians down dirty in the trenches of the spiritual battle and physical battles of the inner city and I was just sitting comfortably on the outside ignorant of it. Then I went on Xining Global Project for 6 weeks in the summer of 2006. My eyes were opened wide to the plight of the Christians struggling to see God's Kingdom come in China. I was extremely humbled by how financially rich I was compared to them but also how spiritually rich my Chinese friends were compared to me. This past school year I have been reading More Than Equals with the Community Group Leaders and my eyes have been open to my ignorance of the racial reconciliation issue and how I need to work through these racial issues with my ethnic minority brothers and sisters. Then I went to Urbana at the end of December 2006. I was amazed to see the diversity of God's people represented there and how we sang multi-lingual songs the whole conference.

All this put together God has given me a passion for seeing the Kingdom message of Jesus to actualize in all the world. I care about the injustice of the world and want to educate myself on these issues. I want to go on staff with IV for awhile because I believe changing the campus can change the world. Then I want to go back to school to get my Doctorate in Philosophy and teach at a secular University in the philosophy department because I want to have influence in the classroom showing students how Christianity can stand up to the philosophical criticism. Then I want to go back to school and get my doctorate in Political Science and then to law school. Then I want to become a U.S. Senator. I want a chance to stand up for the Biblical principles in our great country and see God's justice come to all people of the world. In that kind of position I can work toward ending systemic injustice which is at much of the root of injustice in the world. I am always open to how the Spirit moves in my heart and this will take a lifetime to all work out but based on a logical assessment of the passions that God has given me and my interests and my spiritual gifts this is what I think I am called to do. To God be the GLORY!!!