by Jonathan Koehler | Mar 29, 2021 | Articles, Mentors Corner
Some time ago, I completed a nearly year-long process of review of a book with another brother. It was his first time to read the book whereas I had read it some 25 years ago. We had agreed to read this book together and interact over our impressions of the content due to a mutual interest in the subject matter. It was an interesting exercise for me to re-read a book I had read so long ago. In my previous reading, I had been impressed by the points made by the author and thought it an accurate, uplifting book. During this current process, however, I was struck by the liberties the author had taken with certain tenets of the faith, his inappropriate application of Christian doctrine, and his inaccurate definition of words used in the Christian life. It became apparent to me how much God had matured my thinking in the intervening years and how He had increased my discernment to the point of providing this new knowledge as a basis for discussion with my brother for his edification. For example, it seems that reasoned discourse between individuals is a somewhat sparse occurrence nowadays. Because “tolerance” has been re-defined to mean “accepting all viewpoints that agree with mine”, “intolerance” re-defined to mean “any viewpoint that either disagrees with mine or proposes the existence of an absolute”, and the elevation of “offending someone” to a crime of near-capital proportions, many people are reluctant to engage in discussion (what in days of yore was termed “argument”) over differing perspectives in order to arrive at a better understanding of a matter. It...
by Justin Bradford | Mar 5, 2021 | Articles, Mentors Corner
Acts13:22 “After He had removed him, He raised up David to be their king, concerning whom He also testified and said, ‘I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My heart, who will do all My will.’ 1Kings 15:5 “Because David did what was right in the sight of the LORD, and had not turned aside from anything that He commanded him all the days of his life, except in the case of Uriah the Hittite.” What made David a man after God’s own heart? David was a man just like any other. He too is included in “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” 2 Samuel 2:27 states that the thing David had done was evil in the sight of the Lord. So again, I ask myself what made David a man after God’s own heart? While attempting to answer this question I found it helpful to compare and contrast David to Saul. In 1 Samuel 15 Saul is confronted by the prophet Samuel because he did not utterly destroy the Amalekites like God commanded him. Similarly, David is confronted by the prophet Nathan after committing adultery, failing to cover it up and then ultimately having Uriah killed. Saul’s first two interactions with the prophet Samuel after his sin with the Amalekites go as follows. In 1Samuel 15:13, Samuel came to Saul, and Saul said to him, “Blessed are you of the LORD! I have carried out the command of the LORD.” And then in 1Samuel 15:20 Saul then said to Samuel, “I did obey the voice of the LORD, and...
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