On confusion
Life can be so confusing.
“My sheep hear my voice, and they follow me,” said Christ. His sheep hear his voice; it is one voice. Discerning his voice among the loud shouts of everyone else is the problem, really, and it is this that causes confusion.
Different people have differing interpretations of the Bible; who do we listen to, whose interpretation is correct?
I wonder why it is that sometimes I can not grasp the obvious: when I am getting worried about the differing opinions others hold about the Bible, how is it that instead of going to the Scriptures like I should, I simply go off in search of yet another opinion?
Increase of knowledge is not always good; I don’t want to read my Bible thinking, ‘well, Mrs. Jones says this verse means this, and Mrs. Smith says this verse means something else, and Mrs. Joe Bloggs says both Mrs. Jones and Mrs. Smith are wrong and actually the verse means this.’ I want to read my Bible thinking, ‘ah, it appears that the Bible says this, and this, and this’. I don’t want any of what Mrs. Jones says the Bible says intruding!
I have a duty to obey God; all humans do. I do not have a duty to obey Mrs. Jones, unless I am her subordinate—then I have a duty to obey her up and until she forbids the doing of what God has commanded. To obey God, it helps if I listen to him, and not to Mrs. Jones telling me what he has said. What is the point of me having a Bible if I just take everything from Mrs. Jones?
I have responsibility for my actions, not Mrs. Jones. Ultimately the one who is going to be answering the question of “why?” is me, not Mrs. Jones. I don’t think Adam was helped when he said, “She told me to” to God. Just because Mrs. Jones thinks something is no reason for me to think something.
If I build my opinions on the sand of the opinions of others, I will find myself confused. I have to build on the rock and there is only one rock—Jesus Christ.
To build on that rock, I really need to take the Bible as much ‘as written’ as possible, rather than trying to read my preconceptions into it.
Confusion is solved not by multiplying voices, but by decreasing them.
