“Avoid stupid arguments, long lists of ancestors, quarrels, and fights about the law” Titus 3:9 GNB It is easy to get completely side-tracked and miss the whole point in religion. It is a fascinating subject with a long history. Theologians have said this, that and the other down the ages. And some people love to engage in arguing and counter-arguing just for the pleasure of arguing. It’s like trying on shoes in the shoe shop - you can mess around for hours without ever buying any, but enjoying looking at them, trying them on and smelling the leather. People did it in Bible days too. What Paul was concerned about was that this pointless prattle could delude people into believing that they were doing something useful. “The Greek philosophers spent their time on their fine-spun problems. The Jewish Rabbis spent their time building up imaginary and edifying genealogies for the characters of the Old Testament. The Jewish scribes spent endless hours discussing what could and could not be done on the Sabbath, and what was and was not unclean” (W.Barclay, The Epistles to Timothy and Titus, p283). Some fellowship groups and Bible study groups do just that today - with theological arguments that get nowhere and help nobody. Often they just lead to confusion but enable the people to think that they are being profound, sincere and spiritual. They also provide a huge temptation for some to parade their superior knowledge. Make sure that yours doesn’t fall into this trap - and you don’t have to be a group for it to happen. Concentrate on the deep things, the real things, the true things and the good things. And never let discussion be a substitute for action! PRAYER THOUGHT: Lord, help me not to waste my time on idle discussion and pointless prattle.
Posted on: Tue, 18 Jun 2013 06:14:03 +0000
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