Re-published, revised from a 10/17/2010 article. Original notebook entry circa 1998.
A teacher gathers his students around a fancy chronometer watch that indicates everything about time that 21st century man needs to know in order to live a full life. He has removed carefully the crystal in the front and is showing the face with all the many different hands.
What time is it? he asks the young people. Everyone gives the right time in unison.
How about now ? removing the tenth of second hand. Still the same answer.
Then, the teacher removes the second hand and the students can still give him the correct time within a minute.
Now he removes the minute hand, leaving only the hour hand. Can we still tell the time?
Yes, of course, respond the students. It is sufficient to indicate the
hour.
I know this might sounds trite, but have you noticed that when someone asks for the time, the question always is: what time is it ? The French are even more to the point; they say : What hour is it ? As do the Spanish speaking people.
Have you ever heard someone ask: what minute or what second is it since we live in a world in which our lives depends of decisions made with the help of computers capable of functionning at the speed of a nanosecond ?!
According to the Bible, who created time, separating the night and the sun, the moon and the rotation of the earth in 24 hours from which we get the time zones each of which measuring one hour?
How could our ancestors live simply with the help of a solar dial or an hour glass or later with a clock indicating only hours and minutes?
Now let us think about Jesus when he criticized the pharisees for focusing their attention and judgment on small unimportant details that they elevated at a level that God himself did not require, when at the same time neglecting the more important commands.
Nowadays as always, there exist in some churches and denominations persons who make splitting hairs a pastime, concentrating their attention on isolated, obscure (at least to our limited understanding since we see only through a glass darkly), difficult to explain bible verses in order to validate their viewpoint or to justify a false doctrine.
This Pharisaical attitude leads me to think about a watch with the tenth of a second hand, or the minute hand that are obviously practical, but are not really essential when it comes to know what hour of the day or night it is.
Would we be totally mistaken if we compared the hour hand to the great essential body of teaching from the Bible nobody could understand the existence or revelation of God through His Word. After all, what is an hour of our time measured against the eternal nature of our Creator whose existence is outside of time? Without these doctrines nobody could understand the existence, the nature and character of God, the prophecies, salvation and the forgiveness of sin, His covenant, promises to Israel and the Church, His will, instructions and commands that he gave us for the benefit of mankind?
The others isolated and few verses are undoubtedly a part of the biblical canon of the inerrant Scriptures ,but when we use them to divide the brothers and poison the Christian discourse, we are entering into a dangerous territory. Paul warns about the danger of being sectarian in I Corinthiens.
The question remains a valid one: What time is it in the church today? Is it the primitive church with its martyrs that some believers like to dream about as the perfect church, the time of Augustine, Martin Luther's time? do we live in the era of Calvin, of the Wesley brothers, of Charles Spurgeon or any other great man of God, even a founder of a denomination or do we live according to God's time? Granted, these men were powerful instruments in the hand of God and in the propagation of the Gospel, but they are not the ones on whom, neither are their thoughts on which our salvation depends.
The Bible is always the up to date and eternal word of God. What does God say of his salvation, the greatest manifestation of his love for mankind: "As God's fellow workers we urge you not to receive God's grace in vain. For he says: "In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you. I tell you, now is the time of God's favor, now is the day of salvation.” II Corinthians 6:2.
Again in Hebrews 4:7-11, Paul declares: Therefore God again set a certain day, calling it Today, when a
long time later he spoke through David, as was said before: "Today,
if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts."For if Joshua had
given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day. There
remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters
God's rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his. Let us,
therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by
following their example of disobedience.”
Jean-Louis.
I know this might sounds trite, but have you noticed that when someone asks for the time, the question always is: what time is it ? The French are even more to the point; they say : What hour is it ? As do the Spanish speaking people.
Have you ever heard someone ask: what minute or what second is it since we live in a world in which our lives depends of decisions made with the help of computers capable of functionning at the speed of a nanosecond ?!
According to the Bible, who created time, separating the night and the sun, the moon and the rotation of the earth in 24 hours from which we get the time zones each of which measuring one hour?
How could our ancestors live simply with the help of a solar dial or an hour glass or later with a clock indicating only hours and minutes?
Now let us think about Jesus when he criticized the pharisees for focusing their attention and judgment on small unimportant details that they elevated at a level that God himself did not require, when at the same time neglecting the more important commands.
Nowadays as always, there exist in some churches and denominations persons who make splitting hairs a pastime, concentrating their attention on isolated, obscure (at least to our limited understanding since we see only through a glass darkly), difficult to explain bible verses in order to validate their viewpoint or to justify a false doctrine.
This Pharisaical attitude leads me to think about a watch with the tenth of a second hand, or the minute hand that are obviously practical, but are not really essential when it comes to know what hour of the day or night it is.
Would we be totally mistaken if we compared the hour hand to the great essential body of teaching from the Bible nobody could understand the existence or revelation of God through His Word. After all, what is an hour of our time measured against the eternal nature of our Creator whose existence is outside of time? Without these doctrines nobody could understand the existence, the nature and character of God, the prophecies, salvation and the forgiveness of sin, His covenant, promises to Israel and the Church, His will, instructions and commands that he gave us for the benefit of mankind?
The others isolated and few verses are undoubtedly a part of the biblical canon of the inerrant Scriptures ,but when we use them to divide the brothers and poison the Christian discourse, we are entering into a dangerous territory. Paul warns about the danger of being sectarian in I Corinthiens.
The question remains a valid one: What time is it in the church today? Is it the primitive church with its martyrs that some believers like to dream about as the perfect church, the time of Augustine, Martin Luther's time? do we live in the era of Calvin, of the Wesley brothers, of Charles Spurgeon or any other great man of God, even a founder of a denomination or do we live according to God's time? Granted, these men were powerful instruments in the hand of God and in the propagation of the Gospel, but they are not the ones on whom, neither are their thoughts on which our salvation depends.
The Bible is always the up to date and eternal word of God. What does God say of his salvation, the greatest manifestation of his love for mankind: "As God's fellow workers we urge you not to receive God's grace in vain. For he says: "In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you. I tell you, now is the time of God's favor, now is the day of salvation.” II Corinthians 6:2.
Let us live in the eternal present of God. Let us
beware of becoming slaves of a time imposed by man and believe that we are
going to miss the rewards of the frantic modern life if we do not follow the
patterns of a world which does not even know where it is going, neither
knows what hour it is in the time allotted to it by God, the
sovereign Lord and Creator on this earth. Now is the time for us to preach His
Gospel, do His work, to serve Him with gladness, in His own time, empowered by
His Holy Spirit in our heart full of faith, love and joy and gratitude
for his abounding grace and mercy.
Jean-Louis.
