Kerfuffle*

Kerfuffle*

March 7, 2024

Recently, I read an essay published on Medium.com — and there are many like it — where God, Jesus, Christians, and the Bible are lambasted mercilessly.

The one issue I want to discuss is about the reliability and accuracy of the Bible.

In several essays, the fact was cited that a half dozen or so Councils convened in early times -after the Apostles and the first Disciples were dead and gone — convened to decide what were the actual truths about Jesus and the accounts in the written record, that is what to encase as their formal doctrines and profession of faith.

They disputed who wrote the New Testament books and letters.

They disputed what the words actually meant.

They disputed just about everything concerning God, Jesus, and the Bible and what all that meant for “true believers.”

They apparently couldn’t agree and retired to their opposing corners.

Their problem was none of them knew what — or actually who — they were talking about. So, using their confusion as a basis for argument was pointless. “Garbage in; garbage out.” Eve today, we are shouting at each other, standing on our pillars of faith, and are acting out like the scorned unbelievers and other heretics.

It has been made way more complicated than resolved.

* — kerfuffle: a disturbance or commotion typically caused by a dispute or conflict (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary)

** — lambaste: 1: to assault violently : BEAT, WHIP 2: to attack verbally : CENSURE (ibid)

Who am I to say “they didn’t know what they were talking about?”

Look. If they knew, they would have come to an agreement. As it was, they continued to separate into denominations, reformed denominations, and so on.

The short answer is that I read, I study, I listen, and I do research to confirm, refine, or correct my conclusions.

The Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 1:13, “Has Christ been divided into factions? Was I, Paul, crucified for you? Were any of you baptized in the name of Paul? Of course not!” -1 Corinthians 1:13–15, NLT).

Strike One!

“Jesus replied, ‘I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.’ ” — John 3:3 (NLT).

Strike Two!

“But when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative — that is, the Holy Spirit — he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you.” — John 14:26 (NLT)

Strike Three! You’re out!

Nobody even reached first base at those conventions, let alone got in scoring position.

My point is that we cannot listen to people regarding God, Jesus, the Bible, or Christianity who haven’t even met the risen Lord. We certainly cannot base our lives on unqualified, untrained, and uncertified people calling themselves EMTs!

Just sayin’.

Finally, here are three more essential pieces to understanding:

1 John:1–4 “We proclaim to you the one who existed from the beginning,whom we have heard and seen. We saw him with our own eyes and touched him with our own hands. He is the Word of life. This one who is life itself was revealed to us, and we have seen him. And now we testify and proclaim to you that he is the one who is eternal life. He was with the Father, and then he was revealed to us. We proclaim to you what we ourselves have actually seen and heard so that you may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We are writing these things so that you may fully share our joy.”

Isaiah 55:8–9 “My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the LORD. And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.”

Ephesians 3:16–19 “I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.”

They left Jesus out. They left God out. They didn’t read the Bible to learn with open minds and hearts. They all seemed to have preconceived notions and arrogantly had no intention to change their minds.

Why should anyone listen to such people? Why do we rely on other mere humans to gain understanding about God, Jesus, and the Bible when Romans 8:38–39 reminds us of this: “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Start talking and listening to Jesus. Read the Bible and ask God to open your understanding of that renewed kind of relationship.

No denominations. No intermediator.

Works for me, and I’m nothing special — not particularly smart, certainly not perfect in any sense of the word, but the Holy Spirit makes me wiser than I could have imagined…

I am still learning…

Meat and potatoes are on the menu — not a pie in the sky…