In which I confess to being narrow-minded...

"There are two reasons in our day for holding to a strong uncompromising view of Scripture. First and foremost, this is the only way to be faithful to what the Bible teaches about itself, to what Christ teaches about Scripture, and to what the church has consistently held through the ages. This should be reason enough in itself. But today there is a second reason why we should hold to a strong, uncompromising view of Scripture. There are hard days ahead of us — for ourselves and for our spiritual and physical children. And without a strong view of Scripture as a foundation, we will not be ready for the hard days to come. Unless the Bible is without error, not only when it speaks of salvation matters, but also when it speaks of history and the cosmos, we have no foundation for answering questions concerning the existence of the universe and its form and the uniqueness of man. Nor do we have any moral absolutes, or certainty of salvation, and the next generation of Christians will have nothing on which to stand. Our spiritual and physical children will be left with the ground cut out from under them, with no foundation upon which to build their faith or their lives." Francis Schaeffer, The Great Evangelical Disaster

I'm here to confess to you that I am narrow-minded.  If you held a gun to my head and asked me to renounce the above view of scripture, I'd have to let you shoot me.  You see, I don't think the Bible is a good book.  I think it's God's Word, from "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth" in Genesis 1:1 to "The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen." in Revelation 22:21 and every word in between.  I believe it means what it says and says what it means, and that when parables and symbolism are being used, the text itself usually points that out. Because of that, I don't believe we can pick and choose what parts we want to embrace, while explaining away other parts that we don't like. That's why I believe many things that are currently considered to be out of touch, narrow-minded, and culturally irrelevant.

• I believe the Genesis account of creation.
• I believe the definition of marriage as stated in Genesis 2:24 and as stated by Jesus in Mark 10:7-9.
• I believe Jesus is the only way to relationship with Father God and to eternal life, therefore, no matter how sincerely someone follows another god or religion, they will be lost unless they believe on and receive Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.
• I believe that God has called us into a relationship with Him that result in life-changing transformation, that grace is not a license to live however we want, but that grace teaches us to renounce ungodliness. (Take note of the word were in this passage.)

So go ahead and call me narrow-minded. I'm trying to keep to the narrow way deliberately. Label me an old fashioned dinosaur.  But, God forbid, don't you dare call me hard hearted or unloving.  Because the same Word that guided me to the above beliefs also taught me these.

• To not judge a person by outward appearance, (or skin color), but to look at their heart.
• To reach out to the outcasts like Jesus did.  (He scandalously reached out to lepers, women, prostitutes, half-breed Samaritans, sinners of all sorts, the religious and societal outcasts in that day.)
• To care for the poor and the hurting.
• To forgive.
• To treat others the way I want to be treated.

Last spring a blog friend/writer wrote a post on a current cultural hot topic taking a stance that I disagree with theologically.  I, as lovingly as I could, posted a comment with my point a view.  A few weeks later I attended a conference where I heard her speak. Her message was full of truth, full of scripture, and delivered with a sincere and humble heart. After the message, I genuinely, sincerely hugged her and thanked her for her message.  Later that weekend, I ate a meal with her and thoroughly enjoyed our conversation.    Do I still disagree with her stance?  Yes, I do. She knows I do.  Maybe she even thinks I'm narrow-minded.  But, I can pretty much guarantee she knows I genuinely care for her.  I stood for what I believe in a respectful way, which she did in return to me.  That's a rare thing, friends.  This online world is all too often an ugly and spiteful place.  There's a way to stand up for what you believe without being hateful or demeaning in your words or tone.  We can do better.

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