How do we regard this "present evil age" (Galatians 1:4)? It is probably our different perceptions about it which create the most difficulties in our relationships with each other in our local churches. This is what St Paul is trying to deal with in Romans chapter 14, where he sets out views which many might consider to be dangerously subjective and morally relative. He picks a couple of examples to do with holidays and diet, but he is tracing general principles: "One man's faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables" (14:2). "One man considers one day more sacred than another, another considers every day alike. Each man should be fully convinced in his own mind" (14:5). "But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for him it is unclean" (14:14). "So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the man who does not condemn himself by what he approves. But the man who has doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin" (14:22-23). So two people can be doing the same thing, and one is sinning and the other isn't! St Paul drops me into a place where I feel I'm losing a grip on what I thought objectively certain; he is turning my attention to my own state of faith and conscience. He is also making me aware that we are all at different stages spiritually. Where we are on the Way will determine our point of view - and my views are just from my point now.
Most of us, after some reflection on our personal journey with God so far, can acknowledge how true this is. I am constantly repenting - changing my mind - as God shapes and deepens my faith about His Kingdom. Our collective history teaches us the same thing: 200 years ago, I could own slaves and not sin. Now I cannot. This process will go on: many Christians nowadays still sincerely hold the traditional belief that leadership is male; and they do no wrong in so believing. But the time will eventually arrive when God has changed all our minds on this matter.
What do we hang on to then? A popular answer is the Bible, which is described by words like 'inerrant' and 'infallible'. But this isn't enough, for this great collection of sacred writings itself traces a huge journey across history, and out of its pages we can construct very different views of God, man and the order of our personal and social lives. This had happened in Jesus' day, where different groups of Jews were going off in separate and mutually critical directions, and of course this has gone on in Christian history too. Another answer is Tradition (I always think of Tevye in 'Fiddler on the Roof). This is actually starting to make a little more sense to me these days, because at least traditional churches acknowledge that none of us can live without traditions, and therefore they engage and think about them; whilst in so-called non-traditional fellowships, peculiar ways of doing things remain unquestioned and hence quite tyrannical.
Jesus made this observation to the 'Bible-believing' Jews of His day: "You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life" (John 5:39-40). He made this promise to His disciples: "I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come" (John 16:12-15).
Bill Johnson from Bethel Church, Redding CA, puts it so simply and so well: 'Jesus is perfect theology'.
'The traditional view that leadership is male.' This is a very odd little corner of Protestant theology. The greatest honour is given to the saints in Catholicism, and of course, the greatest saint is Our Lady. No need to worry about whether women are being properly honoured then. And there are several Doctors of the Church who are female as well, such as St Therese of Lisieux and St Teresa of Avila. When you have the right perception of where honour truly lies, you don't need to squabble about who gets which 'job'. As though priesthood were a 'job' for which you could be 'qualified'!
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