Food for Thought
Galatians 1:6-8
I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you
into the grace of Christ unto another gospel:
Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would
pervert the gospel of Christ.
But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto
you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.
Okay, so I find that today we are so apt to listen and take in every
bit and piece of so called, "Christian" beliefs as truth. We don't even take the
time to investigate. I remember that I was the very same way. I believed that
anyone with the title of Minister, Pastor, Priest, or anyone who claimed to be
able to converse with God on our behalf and relay messages from God, were always
looking out for our best interest. Our well being was a number one priority.
Naïve, yes I know.
As I read through the scriptures myself, and I don't rely on the word of
someone that I barely know, I see the Bible open up to me. Take this passage,
When Jesus was taken up into heaven, he told them to wait for the Holy Ghost.
They were all baptized with the Holy Ghost and this was amazing, there is
absolutely nothing like it. Through time people started to come up with their
own understanding of the word of God. This was very dangerous and this is where
we are as a society right now. We think that the Bible is just a nice book and
interpretation is just left up to you. Take out of it what you want and leave
the rest. You don't know who really wrote it anyways and every story and verse
can't possibly be true in the purest form. Right??
Jesus had been here and gave us the purest form of truth and was crucified by
the same people that he had given all of the miracles to. His own disciples left
him at the first sign of real trouble. None stood with him because it was hard
to hear him and see that there was no fault, he was alone. Jesus was the son of
God and God raised him from the dead. That is the rock of our belief. People
wanted to change the purest form of truth by splitting up, look in 1 Corinthians
1:12, the whole chapter really but specifically this one. The people were
beginning to split into denominations right there. Each believing that what they
believed was the truth full heartedly.
Have you ever wondered why there are so many different churches with all
kinds of different beliefs? I know I have. I have searched the world through
looking for some kind of sign. I was tired of hearing the crap that never did
any good for me. I did everything that the church told me to do. I still wound
up at the bottom with no hope. I was "hopeless" defined. I was lost. Thank God
that he came to seek and to save that which was lost. Thank God that he pulled
me out. Otherwise where would I be now? I got tired of people telling me what to
do and not ever doing it themselves. Or when people would tell me that I had to
earn salvation, earn what God said was free. That just never sat well with me.
It just never made sense.
When we read the Bible we need to ask God what HE is trying to say.
Ask what HE says that it means and stop filtering it through people that
think more about the type of church they are in then actually being the church
as the Bible says. I know I sound crazy for saying to talk to God, but don't we
do it all the time. We want a job we say, " Oh God, please let me get this job."
We are about to crash or we think we are, " Oh GOD!!" We pray all the time,
whether or not we admit it, now either we are crazy, or he is right there. If we
can talk to him about these things, why not ask him about the Bible? He is the
source, right? The worse that can happen is that he would answer you.
We get distracted, we filter and conjure up a mixture of things that really
have no meaning and we want to put a "God" label on them without ever knowing
the pure truth. It is time that we investigate. I know that I don't want some
watered down version, some perverted version. I don't want some guy who looks
like he has it together to be in charge of my eternity. I want the pure
gospel.