“Sound” Advise?

Written by Zhey Chua |Posted on August 5, 2008 | Comments

I cannot help but feel incensed when I happen to read blog posts that disseminate false, ignorant and blasphemous information. What really irritates me more is when they use their blogs as vehicles for promoting their insolent notions.

Take for example one blogger who advised her readers to read the bible in context, she said that it is not right to take the Bible literally because it is loaded with symbolisms. To which she also wrote toward the end of her post the following: “Aim for spirituality and not religiosity. I’m a Jesus follower like most of you, but I don’t think I belong to any Church. Like what Jesus said, I say to you again “Forgive them Father for they know not what they do”. I just can’t help but shake my head in bewilderment… And she did say read the bible in context!

Well, first, she is right about reading the bible in context. I will not dispute that for it is definitely sound advise, but what creates havoc in the whole mess of which is called “her post” is when she claimed that the Bible is loaded with symbolism and that it should not be taken literally. Perhaps she was talking about the parables and the prophecies, but then these take up only a few pages of the Bible and the rest are straightforward, clear and perfectly understandable written words of the Father. I wonder where she got the notion that the Bible must not be taken literally and that it is ridden with symbolisms. If this blogger really reads and takes time to know God’s Word, then she will discover that the Scripture is clear and it does not require one to be a scholar to be able to understand. In 2 Corinthians 1:13, Paul wrote: “For we do not write you anything you cannot read or understand,” and it is so.

Another notable claim in this blogger’s post is when she advised to question “Why”, why are there such and such policies and if these policies are still applicable to this day. I believe she is referring to modernization and how conservative most church policies are. Yes, true, examine your church’s policies and compare them with Scriptures, are they in accordance with God’s Word? If yes, then follow! Abide and forget about modernization. God is a Sovereign and an Omniscient God, He knew that modernization will rise up, He knew even before creation what the world will turn into and He allowed it, so He knew that even to this day, His Laws are still applicable (“Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away…” – Luke 21:33).

The phrase “I don’t think I belong to any church” in itself is a clear announcement of one’s refusal to uphold God’s law, it is written thus: “Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.- Hebrews 10:25″. Do not go to just any church, it is but common sense to find a church that preaches the truth which is the Word of God and for one to determine this Paul advises us to “diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life.”

Like this blogger, most of us claim to be followers of Jesus Christ, but are we really? I wonder up to what extent are we willing to go and risk for Christ. If the answer is not much, then we really have to think twice about spewing off words about “religiosity”, “spirituality” and about being “Jesus followers”.

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Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn “‘a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law–a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’ “Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. – Jesus Christ, Matthew 10:34-38