This weekend's thoughts

I have not posted for a few days because I have been busy over the weekend. But now, to the subject that is rattling around in my head after Church and fellowship time Sunday.

Christmas, and Jesus’ importance. I do not care if December 25th is the actual birthday or if the ancient leaders of the Church attempted to co-opt a pagan holiday. The point is we are honoring the birth of Jesus, and we are standing in awe of God’s gift of our savior. That is the basis for the holiday, whether or not it has become a secular holiday.

On another subject, why do some denominations attempt to subtly undercut Jesus’ authority? My wife and I previously attended a Church that had a pastor that would make disconcerting comments about Jesus, such as “Jesus never claimed to be God”. We were new to Church, but had read the Bible. We could not cite scripture as a retort, but we knew it sounded odd. This weekend we studied a verse that would directly reject such an accusation, John 8:54, Jesus said "If I glorify myself, my glory means nothing. My Father, whom you claim as your God, is the one who glorifies me”. Jesus plainly claims to be the Son of God. And what about John 14:6, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me’”. Here he claims to be our savior. I just do not understand.

For now my thinking is I should not tear down another Church, maybe it is in God’s plan somehow, but I need to guard the Bible’s doctrine closely in what I believe. I do not think I should cause dissention in the wider Church, and bring scorn by the unbelievers for the differences in denominations. However, I can not be led astray by incorrect doctrine, I will ultimately be held responsible for my beliefs, my actions and my life.

I pray that my thinking on this will continue to mature and change as I learn more and come to an even deeper faith.