Lucy,
With regard to my first cautionary point you advocate a model of salvation
wherein God offers salvation and man chooses to accept or no. This issue
is, of course, quite complicated and I can not, of course, pronounce the
answer. Also, the topic has been discussed often and documents exist that
represent a far better investigation then anything I could ever achieve
(for example, the cannons of Dordt). I will just say that the 50/50 model
(IMHO, or maybe I should say IMNSHO) ignores the sin nature of man and
leaves room for the saved to boast, not in Christ but in themselves.
With regard to my second cautionary point you respond with a caution of
your own concerning our becoming bible worshipers, which was, I think, the
gist of your original post. I agree, and the cartoon you describe is all
too accurate a description of how we (or at least, I) interact with each
other, both within the church and within secular society. I would like to
add to "inspired" the word authoritative, lest we be in danger of taking
the bible lightly and thereby be in position to jettison the pieces that we
don't like (for we, or at least I, do that all too much already).
As an aside, I am uncomfortable with the wording of the statement: "The
Bible is a witness to the two thousand year history of our religion and the
earlier religion from which it sprang." I don't think the last part of
this accurately portrays the relationship between Christianity and the old
testament. It is, of course, the same God who is worshiped and Christ is
the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy and I think it appropriate to say
something like "The covenant made to Abraham is extended also to us through
Christ, we are grafted in."
With regard to my question of how do we stand firm in a Christ like fashion
and how do we portray our stance to our youth. I think the key is that the
Gospel be the center and focus of our stance. As such we are to be humble,
open to correction (by God, especially through our church leadership),
studious of the bible, and in prayer. If we are standing firm in Christ
and try to portray, in an honest fashion, the trials and the joys of that
stance to our youth then perhaps that is enough.
In Christ,
Joel
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