Best of the week entry 1

Goes to Eric Carpenter for his post Is Not Knowing Good Enough?

Is not knowing good enough for us? In unimportant areas of life I suppose it is. For example, I don't know if my shoes always match my pants. This doesn't matter because it is of little importance.

However, the church gathering is of utmost importance. We see many exhortations in scripture as to how the church is to function. We are told that we should gather together to edify one another. We are instructed in many things to do and not do. We are given the example of the early church to show us practices that are acceptable.

I hope your conclusion on this issue is that not knowing is not acceptable. The flip side to that is that knowing is acceptable. When we engage in activities that the early church took part in and were approved, we can know that they are approved for us as well.

I appreciate that Eric, as a pastor in a traditional church, is taking the time to try to think past the traditions of the church and start looking at what Scripture reveals about how Christians are to live in fellowship and community with one another. It is easy to just go with the default and it is troubling to see what God has really said. That is the key to the whole prescriptive vs. descriptive argument, when you see something in Scripture that contradicts your traditions or preferences you just dismiss it as descriptive or cultural. I am enjoying reading along and thinking along with Eric as he asks the tough questions.