Excellent post, Debbie, but please do reconsider some of your syntax to line up with Biblical language.
For example, you wrote: > The apostles Paul and James (to go back to a previous post) > ultimately believed in the same Good News, but in emphasizing > different things they didn't say the same thing; they said > complementary things. Based upon 1 Cor. 1:10 and Acts 15 and Acts 21, I would say that Paul and James did speak the same thing. They had the same mind and were in unity of speech. In the context of what you are saying above, I agree with you, but at the same time I am concerned that using the syntax of "they didn't say the same thing" cuts across the syntax of Scripture. My concern is that people will use what you are saying to justify actual disagreements that are not complementary. In other words, they will be open to the relativism of our modern educational system which allows people to believe whatever they want. The assumption is that whatever they believe will fit in and be relevant in some way. It does not even have to be something that actually fits somewhere. It is important for us to see how our perspectives, when they are accurate of the truth, actually fit together like a jigsaw puzzle. If they do fit together in complementary fashion, then we see the whole, and we see how we have the same mind and how we do speak the same things. In fact, if someone were to contradict James, Paul would probably speak up for him and justify his teachings. Likewise with James. When Jews in Jerusalem maligned Paul and misrepresented him, James would speak up for him (hence the situation in Acts 21). Debbie wrote: > They certainly don't sound the same; They don't sound the same when taken out of context and put in a different context. They do sound the same when they are fit together in a whole and understood in relationship to one another. Debbie wrote: > We can't use sameness as a necessary > condition of rightness. To me that seems > a scary direction to move in. Excellent point. This distinguishes dogma from analysis. Much of Christianity has missed it in relying upon dogma and using sameness as a condition of rightness. Very excellent point. Peace be with you. David Miller. ---------- "Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer every man." (Colossians 4:6) http://www.InnGlory.org If you do not want to receive posts from this list, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and you will be unsubscribed. If you have a friend who wants to join, tell him to send an e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and he will be subscribed.
