Obediance

Its bed said recently that the Lord's call for obediance is to often ignored by the Church. This got me to thinking.

When one is commanded to do something that one wants to do, obeying is very easy indeed. Find me on any given Friday night and demand I sip some Bookers and you'll find me quite compliant. Order me to watch a Will and Grace marathon and we'll have a problem.

So it is to often with the Lord.

We all have our favorite verses... be they John 14:6 or 3:16... or something else. Likewise though, do we also have those verses that could perhaps better be described as versus. For they pit our will against God's.

Its in dealing with these Versus that our character is exposed. Will you distort the Word? Will you change God to fit your will? Or will you change yourself for God? If the Bible disagrees with you... who's wrong?

Perhaps this is a little clearer to me... in that one of my favorite verses is a versus for so many modern Christians. See... Modern Christian know things about Christ. They know He was a pacifist. They know He taught that we should "be nice to each other."

In short... They know Jesus was John Lennon.

So of course... They find themselves a bit stumped when they get to Luke. 22:36 comes to mind specificly:

Then said he unto them, But now, he that hath a purse, let him take it, and likewise his scrip: and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one.

Here the fun starts. The Pope himself claimed that Christ wasn't actually talking about a real sword, but a spiritual one. I don't know... perhaps they sell spiritual swords on the steps of the Vatican... along with the Indulgences... I've never actually seen one. Must be nice though. This is an obsurdist view, and totally laughable. Christ is giving practical advice. He is preparing his deciples for a change, for life without His physical presence.

Ah... but Christ rebuked Peter for defending Him when the guards came! But.... Christ said turn the other cheek! But but but...

I've even read some folks claiming that "Luke" made this whole thing up when he wrote the book. Such a claim is comical and yet still sad. We rail against homosexuals for twisting the text of the Bible, and then we do the same thing.

Part of the Versus vs verses issue though relates to ignorance. When one has a good solid understanding of Christianity... these things matter very little... if ever they arrise at all.