Public Square

Strong and Courageous

April 5, 2019

In last week’s post about horizontal relationships, we talked about how not to attempt to use the bible as a weapon to get what you want. In this week’s installment, I would like to explore other ways in which we should not attempt to use the bible.

Particularly for those who doubt the reliability of the word of God, looking for every possible loophole in the scriptures in order to attempt to invalidate it. While it is certainly OK to question the meaning of text, especially if you are a seeker, it is not proper to come to the scriptures with your mind already made up that they cannot be true.

The intent of the Bible is twofold. First, it is meant for the believer in Christ to receive Godly wisdom on how one is supposed to live his/her life. The scriptures teach us specifically how to be kingdom people. Second, the scriptures point to the objective truth of the gospel for the true seeker that is being drawn by the Holy Spirit in order to receive salvation. The scriptures were not written so as to be diced and sliced into the form of deconstruction literature.  This approach of liberal dismantling is so crazy as to bring confusion and dismay, rather than bringing understanding to the texts. If a person attempts to deconstruct everything in order to receive a deeper understanding, in the end, they end up seeing … nothing.

In a culture that holds to the notion of the importance of tolerance, there is a great amount of intolerance towards those holding the truth of the scriptures as a guidepost for how to live life. The expectation is for us to keep everything private, not attempt to impose our beliefs on another. But how tolerant is that viewpoint? Tim Keller in his work titled Reason for God  states “Ironically, insisting that religious reasoning be excluded from the public square is itself a controversial sectarian point of view. When you come out into the public square, it is impossible to leave your convictions about ultimate values behind.”  So what our culture is attempting to say is that it is OK for our perception of the value of tolerance to be one sided for our benefit alone, not for your point of view. D.A. Carson describes this as the “intolerance of tolerance.”

As kingdom people, we are constantly reminded that we need to be in the public square and that our voices do need to be heard by a world that, (even though they may not realize it) desperately needs the redemption power of Jesus.

 You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Matt 5:14