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a way with words

Several years ago I offended two fellow believers by laughing when they said Jesus was a peaceful person. I asked them what was polite or peaceful about calling people stupid, or a cemetery, or a hypocrite, or a poisonous snake, ESPECIALLY when those people were the respected rulers of the day?  I often wonder if people who go by the name Christian a) actually read the Bible  or b) think about what it's actually saying. Our church has been doing a "read through the Bible in 3 years" study, and today's passage had God telling Israel because of their violations of his law that he would smear their own feast "feces" in their face.  EWwww.

But it also reminded me of our trip this weekend. If I lived in a country where it was wrong to disagree with the leaders of the day, where it was illegal to own a copy of the Bible, and to dare believe anything different amounted to either torture or death, what would I do?  The Valdensians (also called Waldensians as it translates from Italian/French to English) would poke holes in their bread to hide their small copies of the Scripture, get down on their hands and knees to crawl through damp caves in order to meet and worship God, and send people to a "college" for 3-6 months. The only thing they studied was their assigned book of the Bible, memorizing it word for word. Their job upon graduation was to recite it daily so as not to forget. Whenever a raid resulted in all the Bibles being destroyed, each member would then gather and write down the words to their assigned book, in essence writing a Bible from memory. One of the tour guides we had at one of the spots (who was of Catholic/Lutheran origin, creating an interesting conversation) made the comment "If they had just kept to themselves instead of trying to evangelize people a lot of their persecution would have never happened."  (In other words, they brought it on themselves.)  We were flabbergasted. She clearly was missing many points.

As we visited the Waldensian church this past Sunday (the main building is still the original from the 1800s), we were saddened at how watered-down the Scriptures were, and contemplated as we left what their ancestors would think today of their descendents. Today's passage (linked above) made me think of that church, and so many others like it in America today.  I hope I never see the type of persecution they faced. But as I see so many fellow believers compromising on clear-cut teachings of the Word, I wonder what is to become of our nation. Potentially coming before the Supreme Court this year is whether or not a Christian pastor has the right to pray in Jesus name or use Scripture in his prayer when praying before a government body such as a city council or legislative assembly. How can we pray without recognizing the One who gives us the very right to speak to an Almighty God?  Maybe I'm over-reaching parallels, but that doesn't seem too different than taking a holy vessel and using it in an unholy way. I fear for many Christian leaders "formality feces" is coming.

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