How Will We Be Fed?
Recently, I was asked a lot of questions by a person who believes in "sola scriptura". What was evident from the chatlog was:
-asking questions without waiting for the answer
-refusing to define her terms
-claiming that she had superior knowledge of the topic
-cornering me into a black and white "yes" or "no" answer
-repeating the same question in various ways
-taking control of the questions instead of engaging in dialog
-rephrasing questions that still had the same answer
-demanding that I quote scripture and verse
As a result of not having my answers "received", I started to feel very tense and became defensive, then angry, and then fired up and then I felt like the Spirit was just taking control. It was an awful experience, I started to wonder what I was being threatened with as some of these questions were extremely personal and infringed upon all of my devotional beliefs and experiences. She was in territory that belonged to me. In my boundaries. And I wanted her out. Whenever someone is in my personal life, I interpret it to mean that I'm being threatened. And I'm still on edge wondering if this is the case.
I passed this chatlog to a friend who is a Jesus follower and she was horrified at how "judgmental" the "sola" person was being. All I knew was that I felt scared. This was a person with quite a bit of power over me and my ministry to influence other people's opinions. People on my ministry team started quoting verses about not judging. I learned all about not judging people and how I used to judge judgmental people when I led the "What's So Amazing About Grace" workshops at my church. My number one belligerent student was our pastor. Without his consent to bend, I was making no progress with anyone else in the class. He may have apologized for his own behavior on many occasions, but I don't think he saw how he was blocking other people who look to him for approval. They didn't know that he was apologizing. He failed me. He failed Grace. He failed his congregation. I tried not to fail him. It was hard but I never revealed his cards to the church. I kept them hidden so that his reputation would stay in tact.
But here is a woman dead set on getting to a truth that she can't possibly understand. And her attitude is the kind that sets people off from the church. I look in my heart and know that God needs me to disciple his followers. People who are starving for God find food when they talk to me. I can say that. I'm scared to - but this woman and others like her are pushing me out of the closet to be who they can attack. And I either have to sit on a cross crying all day or worry about the people who have been damaged by her. Jesus said, "Come unto me all ye who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest". I've got ways of taking loads off people's backs that people like her put on. I'm not helping anyone by staying silent.
So, you're probably wondering what she was drilling me about. Well, does it matter? She was trying to label me as a "mystic" because I once used the term to help explain why one of our native American followers sees Mary. I mentioned that he was a mystic and that I knew this because I was one too. But I don't see Mary. I see Jesus. And now that the Aboriginal boy is saved, he sees Jesus too. It takes all kinds in the church. It's a terrifying thing to have people assume that just because you have divine experiences that they must be from the devil. I thought the criteria was supposed to be fruit of the Spirit and the confession that "Christ is Lord"!
Is anyone still interested in Christ - even if you don't go to church?
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Author: gloryenoch
Location: Vancouver British Columbia Canada
Gender: Female
Age: 41
Blog Entries: 1 (archive)
Blog Comments: 0
an online personality who believes in healing, forgiving, teaching, leading, prophecy and gifts of the spirit.......
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, if you are still having contact with this person you have two choices. Stay or go. If you go, no one will blame you. But if you stay, you are going to have to re-wire yourself. The laws of the spirit are not like the laws of physics. There can't be an action and an equal opposite reaction -- offense and defense in other words. If you want to win over this person you will have to let them win.
for tat. Christ is much higher than our arguments. What this means is that if this person says that the scriptural standard is X, then chances are that the real Christ standard is much much higher. That may contradict, but we deal in a few scriptures, Christ is all scripture perfectly joined and fit together, working in harmony and balance. We are out of joint and out of balance.