Passion and Truth
1 Thessalonians 5:19-21 (New International Version) 19Do not put out the Spirit's fire; 20 do not treat prophecies with contempt. 21Test everything. Hold on to the good. The use of the metaphor of slavery to describe our relationship with God, prompted passionate discussion and, at least for me, a lot of thought. I learned that metaphorical language, if not relevant to the culture, becomes a barrier between people and God. If that's the case, we ought to examine our language. Even "church" can be a barrier--an obstacle people might trip over on the way to Christ. I don't mean The Church as the universal Body of Christ, but church with a small "c," in which we do things in certain ways that must look strange to a person coming in off the street. They might mistake "church" for Christianity and be forgiven for thinking that they have fallen in amongst weird people; people who strangely enough, turn into normal human beings the moment they leave t...