“The Church has not usually in practice (whatever it may have claimed to be doing in theory) based its Christology [view of who Christ is] exclusively on the witness of the New Testament” (Professor Maurice Wiles, The Remaking of Christian Doctrine, the Hulsean Lectures, 1973, SCM Press, p. 54).
The challenge to students of Jesus and the Bible is to find out what in fact Scripture does teach about the identity of Jesus. It should not be assumed that “received,” ecclesiastical views are necessarily those of the original disciples.
“It is better to be divided by Truth than to be united in error. It is better to speak the truth that hurts and then heals, than falsehood that comforts and then kills. Let me tell you something, friend, it is not love and it is not friendship if we fail to declare the whole counsel of God. It is better to be hated for telling the truth than to be loved for telling a lie. It is impossible to find anyone in the Bible who was a power for God who did not have enemies and was not hated. It is better to stand alone with the truth than to be wrong with a multitude. It is better to succeed ultimately with the truth than to succeed temporarily with a lie. There is only one Gospel….” (Adrian Rodgers, from a talk delivered at the National Religious Broadcasters Convention, 1996).
0 comments:
Post a Comment