{"id":5571,"date":"2014-05-06T21:08:08","date_gmt":"2014-05-07T01:08:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/peterenns\/?p=5571"},"modified":"2014-05-06T21:08:08","modified_gmt":"2014-05-07T01:08:08","slug":"another-juicy-quote-from-oswald-chambers-we-are-not-asked-to-believe-the-bible","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/peterenns\/2014\/05\/another-juicy-quote-from-oswald-chambers-we-are-not-asked-to-believe-the-bible\/","title":{"rendered":"another juicy quote from Oswald Chambers: “we are not asked to believe the Bible.”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>
\n

\"\"<\/a>Here is another<\/a>\u00a0quote from\u00a0Oswald Chambers<\/a>\u00a0sent to me by my rector, Father Dave Robinson of \u00a0St. Matthew\u2019s Episcopal Church<\/a>. Apparently he seems to have a lot of time on his hands, and if he keeps sending me these things, the vestry will likely require him to start giving 14 minute homilies instead of the regular\u00a012 minute <\/a>kind.<\/p>\n

The title of this reflection is \u201cLiberty and the Standards of Jesus,\u201d\u00a0<\/a>the May 6th reading at My Utmost for His Highest. It is based on Galatians 5:1, \u201d Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free . . . .\u201d (Paragraph divisions are mine.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

A spiritually-minded person will never come to you with the demand\u2014\u201dBelieve this and that\u201d; a spiritually-minded person will demand that you align your life with the standards of Jesus. <\/em><\/p>\n

We are not asked to believe the Bible, but to believe the One whom the Bible reveals (see\u00a0John 5:39-40<\/span><\/a>).\u00a0<\/em>We are called to present liberty for the conscience of others, not to bring them liberty for their thoughts and opinions.<\/em><\/p>\n

And if we ourselves are free with the liberty of Christ, others will be brought into that same liberty\u2014 the liberty that comes from realizing the absolute control and authority of Jesus Christ.<\/em><\/p>\n

Always measure your life solely by the standards of Jesus. Submit yourself to His yoke, and His alone; and always be careful never to place a yoke on others that is not of Jesus Christ. <\/em><\/p>\n

It takes God a long time to get us to stop thinking that unless everyone sees things exactly as we do, they must be wrong. That is never God\u2019s view. There is only one true liberty\u2014 the liberty of Jesus at work in our conscience enabling us to do what is right.<\/em><\/p>\n

Don\u2019t get impatient with others. Remember how God dealt with you\u2014 with patience and with gentleness. But never water down the truth of God. Let it have its way and never apologize for it. Jesus said, \u201cGo . . . and make\u00a0disciples. . .\u201d (Matthew 28:19<\/span><\/a>), not, \u201cMake converts to your own thoughts and opinions.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve never met a Christian, including myself, who is not prone to the problem Chambers diagnoses here.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

In my experience, it is certainly a Protestant\/evangelical tendency to functionally<\/em> equate believing in the Bible and believing in Jesus.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I say \u201cfunctionally\u201d because such a thing would not easily be admitted as a conscious theological assertion\u2013though even there I have to say that I have known many inerrantists who feel that there is not nor can there be any true difference between believing in the Bible and believing in Jesus.<\/p>\n

Chambers is not \u201cagainst the Bible,\u201d but against those who dictate how the Bible must be encountered and articulated. Such a posture invariably gets in the way of encountering \u201cthe One whom the Bible reveals.\u201d<\/p>\n

People have to work out for themselves how they hear the voice of Christ in scripture, which for Chambers is a matter of \u00a0\u201cthe liberty of Jesus at work in our conscience enabling us to do what is right.\u201d<\/p>\n

But I see, too often, Christians in power seeking to bind the conscience of others, \u201cto\u00a0<\/em>bring them<\/strong> liberty for their thoughts and opinions\u201d <\/em>and call that serving God.<\/p>\n

It isn\u2019t.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here is another\u00a0quote from\u00a0Oswald Chambers\u00a0sent to me by my rector, Father Dave Robinson of \u00a0St. Matthew\u2019s Episcopal Church. 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