Walking in Balance

I am a critic of certain denominations, and I have major concerns with where the Catholic Church and Ecumenical Eastern Orthodox councils are headed. I believe Protestantism is the return to Biblical Christianity that the Early Church of the Apostles preached. That being said I think it is unwise to discard everything about those offshoot churches and cut to pieces those who though in throngs of error and even heresy, did contribute thoughts that we beneficial. It is evident that throughout the history of the church that many men, clergy and laity were expressing new thoughts and trying to grasp an answer the proverbial question, "what does it mean to be a Christian?" For some it meant austerity and suffering (Matthew 16:24, Luke 9:23), even self imposed suffering (asceticism, Colossians 2:20-23, ESV), others it was freedom from institutionalism (Huguenots, Hussites, Mennonites), more a return to heart of Gospel and spreading it (Evangelicalism), many a return to the accuracy of Scripture (Baptists, Anabaptists, Puritans), and for others the moving of the Spirit of God (Charismatic, Pentecostalism, Southern Baptist).

I believe the answers lie in two places: Scripture and the Spirit of God, "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work," (2 Timothy 3:16-17),
and ""And this is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom, but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words." (1 Corinthians 2:13). But I do not disregard commentaries and insights, wither Catholic or Protestant, Eastern Orthodox or Evangelical. We can learn much from other views, but they must always be tested by the Holy Bible (so you need to know it well, technology helps for looking up, but memorization is better), and the Holy Spirit (particularly the Discerning of Spirits, 1 Corinthians 12:10). The Apostle Paul urges us to, "but test everything that is said. Hold on to what is good. Abstain from all appearance of evil." (1 Thessalonians 5:21-22). This is a good rule to live by when you read extra biblical books, commentaries, and texts. From it no doubt came the adages, "don't throw the baby out with bath water," and "eat the meat, spit out the bones." The problem is some brothers and sisters are no mature enough, they read some Scripture, but then delve into commentaries, and the reasonings of men who can be right, but can often be very wrong.

There are nuggets in the plain of extra biblical works. St. Benedict of Nursia coined a good thing, "Lectio Divina" which is practice of reading the Holy Scriptures and letting the Lord speak to you through them. St. Francis of Assisi revived missions, and sought to evangelize Muslims. St. Augustine of Hippo came up with an easy way to refute astrology and his notes on how children are born in sin are valid. St. Jerome's Selected writings contain how we know the Apostle Peter was crucified upside down, and the Apostle Paul beheaded. The problem however, is that these men and more have a few contributions, while they also introduced major heresies, Purgatory (St. Augustine, refutation of this teaching in  Hebrews 9:27, John 3:18), Self Abasement and Corporal Punishment (St. Benedict, refutation of this behavior in John 13:34-35, Ephesians 5:29), austere asceticism (St. Francis, refutation of this behavior and teaching in Colossians 2:20-23), and tainted documents (St. Jerome, refutation of this behavior in 1 Timothy 4:2-3). It takes someone with depth of Scripture and Spirit of God to sift through their writings and get some of the gold among the dead bones.

The real source of where we should seek Wisdom, knowledge and understanding if Christ Jesus (). In Him is storehouses of all answers, "so that they may know the mystery of God, namely Christ.in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." (Colossians 2:2-3). While there is nothing that prohibits us from reading and gleaming from brothers and sisters throughout the ages, we need to be careful not to bite their "forbidden fruit" and only take from the "Tree of Life" if it can be found anywhere in their works. This is the dilemma, and as disciples of Christ we need to be careful. We do not have to boycott all other books by believers who had bad beliefs, but we must be careful of serpents in their sentences at same time. First know Scripture and be taught by God's Spirit, then you can read other sources and scholars, and decided if what they say is skeletons (Matthew 23:27) or is scaffolding (1 Thessalonians 5:21) you can use for sharing the Gospel and refuting lies (applied apologetics).