Monday 4 February 2019

A Bible and a Whisky Bottle

A Bible and a Whisky Bottle

Harper Lee in her book To Kill a Mockingbird said,
“Sometimes the Bible in the hand of one man is worse than a whisky bottle in the hand of (another)...”Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird.
A man with a whisky bottle in his hand, may be drunk, he may get into a bar brawl he may even cause bodily injury or death. As tragic as they are they in themselves have no eternal consequences.
On the other hand a man with a Bible in his hand who is incorrectly quoting scriptures can lead people away from God and the Salvation Christ Jesus brings. He can cause people to give up on God period. Things that have eternal consequences.
The apostle Paul warns,
“For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.  
They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.” 2Timothy 4:3,4.
As Christians we need to be careful how we use the scriptures. We need to make sure we are using scripture in context. Not cherry picking verses to make them say what we feel they should say.
St. Augustine said,
“If you believe what you like in the gospels, and reject what you don’t like, it is not the gospel you believe, but yourself.” St Augustine.
As believers in Christ Jesus people will see God through the lense of our life, of our words and deeds. As Francis of Assisi said,
“The deeds you do
 may be the only sermon some persons will hear today” 
                                                                   Francis of Assisi.
A grave responsibility sits on the shoulders of those who claim to be followers of Christ Jesus. Our words and deeds have eternal consequences.
People will make up their minds as to what they believe about Christ from what we say and do.”
Are you correctly handling the scriptures?
Are you correctly presenting the Love of Christ in word and in deed?
Please think about it.

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