In Acts 15, as also in Galatians, the argument seems to allow experience to trump Scripture. God had shown acceptance of Gentiles by pouring out the Holy Spirit on them while uncircumcised. If God had accepted them in this way, who are we to impose other requirements upon them? To get a sense of how this argument seemed to many Jewish Christians in the first century, one may usefully compare the topic of homosexuality, in connection with which many today might make a similar argument\u2026<\/p>\n
The biggest news is perhaps that we have chosen our next major topic for the \u201cWhen Christians Disagree\u201d series: \u201cChurch and State\u201d. It was on our list, and seems particularly timely (we\u2019ll probably finish with the topic in early November). We will begin next week. We did not have a chance to discuss what we\u2019d read to prepare, but I\u2019d suggest that, in addition to the Ten Commandments<\/a> and some of the places where Paul and Revelation mention those in authority, we should also read the first amendment <\/a>to the U.S. Constitution, since that is a key component in the distinctive form that debates on this topic take in an American context.<\/p>\n Today in my Sunday School class we finished our introductory topic on the Bible in the \u201cWhen Christians Disagree\u201d series. We looked at the example of circumcision, which in Genesis 17 is quite plainly said to be a permanent and absolute condition of membership in the covenant people, even for those not actually descended from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3382","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/hiscrivener.files.wordpress.com\/2008\/07\/church-state.jpg\")
<\/a>As we turn to various topics on which Christians disagree, there are other factors<\/a> beside the Bible that we\u2019ll need to consider, such as reason, tradition, and experience. The Bible can of course be thought of in different ways: as a source of writings which are authoritative on Christian doctrine and practice, or as a source or writings which allow us to see examples of how the earliest Church worked through issues, themselves making use of Scripture, reason, tradition and experience.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/tracker\/7622297540113836091-3461892234947149466?l=exploringourmatrix.blogspot.com\")