I live in a city filled with Bible studies. They take place
mornings before work, afternoons during lunch, evenings after dinner, and just
about every other throughout the day. They are lead by ordained and
non-ordained pastors, pious men and women trained in regional seminaries, and
otherwise faithful believing Christians that encourage the study of the Holy
Scriptures. There are Bible studies just for men, just for women, just for
seniors, just for “at home” moms, and any other subcategory you can think of.
Oh….and I host an Orthodox Christian Bible study at our Church FOR ANYONE every
week.
You might wonder what Bible study and first grade math have
in common. Well, because there is such a plethora of Bible study options in
Florence, several Orthodox Christian faithful who desire to learn the
Scriptures, attend some of these Bible studies with their friends. Some also
come to the Orthodox Christian Bible study, but not all. If you haven’t
noticed, with more than 30,000 Christian, not every Christian Church interprets
the Scriptures the same, and herein is the parallel.
If your children attended a math class with declared 2+2=5,
you would IMMEDIATELY remove your children for fear they would learn incorrect
math. You may still not see the comparison. What would do if that same math
teacher insisted that 2+2=5, and then further insisted that you as parents were
overreacting by removing your children? Right….you would remove them because
EVERYONE knows 2+2=4, and refuse to allow your children to be influenced by
ignorant math teachers.
It’s possible the reason you still don’t understand the
comparison, is because, well, everyone DOES know that 2+2=4 and NOT 5. You can’t
even imagine otherwise, and when you think of the Bible, you can’t imagine
Churches would teach something wrong. You may even say to yourself, (I’ve
actually heard it) “Well, at least they’re learning the Bible.” So, why not
react to math facts with the same open-mindedness? I suspect it is because you
don’t think there is only ONE interpretation of the Scriptures, so why get so
worked up about it.
The reality is, with over 30,000 denominations of
Christianity, EVERY Church thinks they are correct in their interpretation of
the Scriptures. Let’s face it. There wouldn’t be over 30,000 denominations if
everyone agreed. As Orthodox Christians, we believe other Churches do not teach
the complete truth about Jesus Christ, His Church, His way of life, the Holy
Apostles, Church History OR Doctrine. So why would we trust our children (or
adult family and friends) to a Bible study that is not the complete truth?
Let me offer an example. For more than two years, a man was
attending the Orthodox Christian Bible study in my parish. He almost never
missed a week. I would watch him week after week nodding his head in agreement
with what I taught. One evening, I mentioned to his friend who was a
parishioner of mine, to be “on the lookout for confusion” of his friend. He
wouldn’t be able to continue to balance the truth being taught in my Bible
study and the “truth” he was hearing from his pastor. The very next day, the
friend received a call, “I can’t accept what your Priest is saying. My pastor
says he’s wrong.” And we never saw him again. From the Orthodox Christian
point-of-view of course, the pastor was wrong rather than the Church. It was as
if the pastor was saying, “2+2=5, REALLY….don’t believe that Priest who is
trying to tell you 2+2=4.”
It’s about time we start to insist with equal zeal that our
children (or adult family and friends) learn the truth about Jesus Christ from
the Church. It might not be as clear as 2+2, but it is eternally more
important.
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