July 23, 2012 – 3 John and Jude

I don’t understand how people can associate believing in Christ and the New Testament and not believe in the idea of no religion or authority.  We have gone through all the New Testament now (except Revelations) and it is littered throughout warning against people that come in with other teachings.  You have the Gospels, Acts, then almost every letter is talking about a group of Christians that is being influenced by some outside source and is leading them away from God.  If you believe Scripture is divine, if you believe it is God speaking to you, and if you believe it is the only authority you need, how can you ignore that what it warns over and over again is any idea that multiple interpretations of the teachings of Christ is ok.  IT IS NOT OK.  The letters point to an authority that guides the communities so that they will not be led astray.  There is no way that you can interpret the letters to allow for 30,000 plus different Christian denominations and ways of teaching.  This is what it warns against.  Many people can pick out many single verses and take them out of context to try and show their belief is correct, but that is not how the Bible is meant to be read. When you look at all the letters, why they were written, who they were to, what they warned against, there is no doubt that the early Christians understood there was a TRUTH, there was an AUTHORITY to guar that TRUTH and guide believers and that we are to be weary of anyone that tries to diverge from the TRUTH.