Post by Admin on Jun 20, 2019 6:39:44 GMT
Tonight’s discussion picks up with Paul describing how some of the Church’s leaders were creating and enforcing requirements that had nothing to do with spiritual life, and in fact he calls it a doctrine of demons. Before we read Chapter 4, we read a short passage from Acts 20:28-31, in which Paul predicted false leadership when he was departing after years preaching in Ephesus. Our general feeling was that Paul was a good student of human nature and realized that leaders setting up structures of righteous regulations was simply likely to occur.
Our discussion dived into the implied non-doctrinal rules Paul rejects and yet the need for some standards or structure to provide unity in the congregation. We considered at length the NAC experience in the past of strict prohibitions against certain activities, like seeing a movie or being friends with people outside church, and the distant behavior of church leaders. Somehow, we need to balance the human requirement of a framework and direction against the inclination of some to create dictatorships on personal preferences. After more discussion on the development of belief in the need for personal responsibility, we more or less concurred that testing any rules or administrations using Jesus’ love commandments (love God, love our neighbor, show God’s love to each other) will help us distinguish doctrinal standards versus human preferences. We also spent some time acknowledging that the changes in the church, loosening of restrictions, is part of an evolution of our faith, and not a criticism of the past; the past is the foundation of the present.
Most of Chapter 4 is encouragement for Timothy in how to counteract the misleading leadership. Top of Paul’s list was a step that we all supported: he had to walk the talk, live what he preached. Many of us have observed that when someone has official authority bestowed on him or her, he gains respect only as long as his actions show he or she deserves it. Likewise, we have seen situations in which someone younger or newer to a job or lesser in seniority demonstrates competence and good judgement and loyalty so powerfully that he or she earns respect and support even without the official authority. Paul is setting up Timothy with the tools he needs to eventually overtake the false leaders, and that starts with living the doctrine he preaches. His other two job duties: teach/preach and read scripture publicly. We particularly liked that Paul doesn’t tell Timothy to beat up the congregation with scripture; he tells him to read publicly, letting the scripture do the work.
Our discussion dived into the implied non-doctrinal rules Paul rejects and yet the need for some standards or structure to provide unity in the congregation. We considered at length the NAC experience in the past of strict prohibitions against certain activities, like seeing a movie or being friends with people outside church, and the distant behavior of church leaders. Somehow, we need to balance the human requirement of a framework and direction against the inclination of some to create dictatorships on personal preferences. After more discussion on the development of belief in the need for personal responsibility, we more or less concurred that testing any rules or administrations using Jesus’ love commandments (love God, love our neighbor, show God’s love to each other) will help us distinguish doctrinal standards versus human preferences. We also spent some time acknowledging that the changes in the church, loosening of restrictions, is part of an evolution of our faith, and not a criticism of the past; the past is the foundation of the present.
Most of Chapter 4 is encouragement for Timothy in how to counteract the misleading leadership. Top of Paul’s list was a step that we all supported: he had to walk the talk, live what he preached. Many of us have observed that when someone has official authority bestowed on him or her, he gains respect only as long as his actions show he or she deserves it. Likewise, we have seen situations in which someone younger or newer to a job or lesser in seniority demonstrates competence and good judgement and loyalty so powerfully that he or she earns respect and support even without the official authority. Paul is setting up Timothy with the tools he needs to eventually overtake the false leaders, and that starts with living the doctrine he preaches. His other two job duties: teach/preach and read scripture publicly. We particularly liked that Paul doesn’t tell Timothy to beat up the congregation with scripture; he tells him to read publicly, letting the scripture do the work.