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Actually, I didn't think you were so much trying to express that thought in pejorative terms, as that you did anyway whether from perjudice, preconception about the terms in use, or mis-statement, and I didn't expect it was a mis-statement. Sorry. In terms of the question raised about what the deep things of God are, bear in mind that what you think of as "easy to understand, such as the fact that Jesus Christ died and rose again" has been far from easy to understand, and a source of great controversy and endless violence and persecution. It is in fact a good example of what Daniel and Job and Paul would have considered the "deep things of God" (revealed by the Spirit through the foolishness of preaching, God's wisdom versus the wisdom of the world, in 1 Cor 1-2). Difficulty of understanding is not necessarily pertinent to whether a doctrine is important or not, or binding or not, or followed or not. As an example, I would suggest that the qualifications of elders put forward by Paul in 1 Timothy and Titus are much easier to understand and appreciate in a rational way than the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. It's not hard at all to understand what kind of man is being described there. The qualifications of elders make a lot of sense. Does that mean that various churches and denominations adhere to that description or even the New Testament idea of elders as the leaders of the local church? The difficulty there has little to do with what is easy or hard to understand, and has much to do with whether people do or don't want to really embrace God's idea for the churches, rather than their own or an accepted cultural perspective. Being able to understand something is often far different than being willing to be constrained by it or follow it. Kevin wrote: God designed the Word so that it would have something to offer to everyone. There are plenty of truths in the Bible for people of every intellect to grasp, from the young in the faith to the old in the faith. Whatever truths we glean, they should be put to use to either change our character or increase our faith in God or the Word. They are not just to be put on the shelf as a trophy. Yea, verily. Not to say though that there are different truths for different people, I know you don't mean that, but that each of us should seek God's truth and implement it in our lives, whatever intellectual or educational or emotional level we may be on. None of us will understand everything, all of us can understand some things (sometimes more than we really want to).
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