I think you misunderstood me. My clarification on 1.21′s doctrine of Scripture was not my treatment of the canon within the canon. Because the blog speaks for the church, I had to be sure that it was clear where the church stands on contradictions in the Bible. And so I did that right away.

But we will be dealing with the canon within a canon in a separate post all its own.

Later this week, we’ll begin working through the three suggested topics (in the order they were received). Each will get its own post. And I hope that those who suggested them will begin conversations on them.

In terms of my evangelism, I try to start with points of contact. For example, Paul, on Mars Hill spoke about their statue of the unknown god. I try to start with what people are already talking about, and then bring Christ to bear on that situation. The Dutch Reformed Tradition and the Radical Orthodoxy movement are helpful for looking at all of life and culture through the lens of Christ.

So, anyway, be on the lookout for my answer to the canon within the canon.

I think that was a bit of a cop out on the previous post. Regardless of how you feel about contradictions in the Bible (if you are like me and believe they are there and need to be resolved, or if you are like 1.21 and think that they are there but have already been resolved–by the way I assume you use other verses to resolve those conflicts and not just things you make up off the top of your elders heads) there are still those aspect of the Bible that hold more and those that hold less importance to your beliefs, theologies, and practices of Christianity. So I am asking, “What verses, stories, and sections” are more important? When you preach the Bible, to someone who has never heard it, where do you start? And unless you start with the earth as a formless void then you have inherently (whether you meant to or not) placed particular importance on certain passages over others?

And yes, Marc, you could in Theory have a canon within your canon, with in the Canon, or even a canon, within a canon, within your canon, within the Canon. You can organize the scriptures into whatever fashion you want, from most important to least important, from longest to shortest, from easiest to understand to hardest to comprehend. In fact the Councils that met in the early church who formalized the Canon had to make some of those very decisions. So Marc I’ll ask you this, do you know Why Hebrews comes after Philemon? Or Why Romans comes before first Thessalonians? Because, a lot of thought and energy, by humans, was put into those decisions; and whether you believe that “Bible is the Word of God, Inspired, Infallible, and Inerrant,” or some variation on that, it is important as Christians to understand OUR history, and how the Bible was pieced together is a crucial part of that.

So, Gene, when you evangelize, where do you start? And what do you try to cover in the first 5 minutes? Because unless you are 10 times better then John Moschitta, you can’t do the whole Bible in one conversation.

Peace,
–Liberal Minded Reader

We’ll definitely get to your topic. In the meantime, I should say that the elders of 1.21 Church are persuaded that the Bible is the Word of God, Inspired, Infallible, and Inerrant. We do not believe that there ARE contradictions in it. This is not because we are unaware of tensions within the Bible, or that we don’t know the passages to which you would point as contradictions. Instead, we believe that any apparent contradictions can be resolved satisfactorally.

1.21 regards our doctrine of Scripture as a “closed hand” issue (one we’ll go to the mat over). We can field questions about the Bible, of course. But as this is a blog under the auspices of the church, our doctrinal stance needs to be clearly articulated.

While I think the topics of sex outside of marriage, and drinking Alcohol would be great and interesting topics to discuss–especially given our differing opinions and back grounds (another interesting one would be the role of Women in the church); I have a different topic we should discuss first.

“What is our canon within the Canon?”

You said “first we must be biblical…” But the bible is a very long and complex collection of stories, writings, letters, laws, poems, songs, genealogies, prophecies, sayings, revelations, oracles, Gospels, and so on. When we read scripture we naturally gravitate towards certain passages and away from others. We develop a subset of verses and stories which hold more importance then others, and in turn affect how we read those other verses. The Bible is God’s word to us, written down by human beings; and all human texts are inherently ambiguous, and subject to interpretation. This means that we are forced to read the Bible as such and not as exact law. So I ask which verses, stories, and books of the Bible are the most important? Which one should we turn to first? And which ones can we regard as irrelevant or outdated? And when the Bible contradicts itself (which is does frequently) how do we resolve such conflicts? How do we glean the right answers from scripture, not just the answers we like? Does every Christians have to read AND UNDERSTAND the whole Bible from “In the beginning when God created…” to “…the grace of the Lord Jesus be with all the saints. Amen” to be able to gain answers and insight from it? Or are we allowed to just read the cliff notes of some sections? And if so, which pericopes?

I know that is a lot of questions for one topic, so I shall simplify:

“What is our canon within the Canon?”

–Liberal minded reader

I look around my campus here at NCSA, and i frequently see women, extremely passive/feminine boys, and homosexuals. Why are the arts leaving out the masculine men? I don’t believe God gave a command that the arts be led by women, so why is this so?

Legalism runs rampant.

Hopefully God will soften their hearts.

Hmm…how about you write a post on something simple like the sovereignty of God in all things and how it relates to human responsibility…