Ruminations

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is fixed and unchanging.  So when a man declares anything to be a gospel issue when it's not, this same man assumes a prerogative that God does not allow to any creature, not even the angels of Heaven (Galatians 1:8).  Why?  Because adding anything to Christ's Gospel, no matter how small, changes, and thus corrupts and poisons the whole thing.  This is what Paul meant in Galatians 5:9, when he said, "A little leaven leavens the whole lump."  Admittedly, the man who does this (adds to the gospel) may not have any malicious intent and may actually believe he is serving God's cause (like Uzzah touching the Ark of the Covenant).  Nonetheless, (like Uzzah) he has committed an extremely serious offense (Galatians 1:8-9).  

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The black wolf is my frequent companion.  Mostly, he just sits in the corner, watching me.  But at times, he comes right up behind me, looking over my shoulder.  I feel his moist, hot breath on my neck.  Sometimes I even hear a hushed growl in my ear that makes me shiver.  That said, I have learned that while the wolf is certainly not my friend, he's not exactly my enemy.

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I have an opaque relationship with the church.  After years of reflection, I believe this stems primarily from the fact that, more often than not, I both go to and leave church services injured in my spirit.  I go looking for relief, just a sliver of hope because I need some kind of balm for my soul.  Instead, I'm more likely to be told in various ways to “try harder,” “do more,” “be better.”  And while I might agree that I should do and be all these things, there is absolutely no hope or relief in such admonitions.  It's like telling a person with a broken leg to jump higher and run faster.  Rather, what I need to hear - in no uncertain terms - is that Christ is for me, that He bled and died for me, that His death avails for me, not potentially but actually.  Period.  This message alone is what strengthens and heals the broken.

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What is liberty of conscience?  Article XVIII of the historic Abstract of Principles* explains it this way:

"God alone is Lord of the conscience; and He hath left it free from the doctrines and commandments of men, which are in anything contrary to His word, or not contained in it.  Civil magistrates being ordained of God, subjection in all lawful things commanded by them ought to be yielded by us in the Lord, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake."

What I find particularly interesting is that the Abstract defines the doctrines and commandments of men as "anything contrary" to God's word "or not contained in it."   In a day when secular ideologies are mingled into the teaching of many churches, often serving as a kind of higher morality or spirituality, i.e., new doctrines and commandments, it's critical we remember Paul's warning in Colossians 2:8, where he says, "Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ."  

*The Abstract of Principles was adopted in 1858 as the doctrinal statement of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky.