Take the central theme “you are saved by faith, not of works.” Is that a boulder or a stone? Depends. Behind that central theme there are a lot of scriptures that a person could use to support the idea. The more scriptures the bigger the boulder. This is a pretty big boulder.
Yet there are scriptures that would modify that point such as “without works faith is dead.” That scripture itself is a central theme and I consider it to be a stone.
Because they appear to be in opposition to each other…
There were many fights in the church depending on whether you were standing on that boulder or the other particular stone. Yet at the upper most reaches of the river, where it begins, is a rock. It is that Rock, that was split (remember Moses striking the rock), and out gushes life giving water. Eventually all the love and grace, that is the water of the river, will wear down those stones and boulders. They will become part of the flow. No man will be able to stand on them for they will be moving in love and grace.
Where does this river full of life, substance and people end? In a lush valley we call The Promised Land.
Sounds like a happy ending to a good story that maybe had a rocky beginning! As long as we don’t pick up the rocks and throw them at each other, we should be ok. Always keeping in mind we stand on the solid rock, which is Christ alone. He is the rock of our salvation. Out of him ( the rock) flows life giving water, love and grace. Ahh! The Promised land. Seems so close, but yet so far sometimes doesn’t it? What a relief when we finally get there.
That was my comment above Joe. I was on Ruths page when I wrote this. we were doing face book and I forgot to sign off her page.
Gee Doug, on the internet you two look the same…
Ha Ha….. very funny!
Actually Ruth is much better looking than me, even on the internet! lol
…… 57 minutes, but who’s counting.
Oh, I don’t know Doug… You are quicker than most and prettier than some. I see that cute little face of yours in a lot of places. Round and yellow and such a big smile. Hmmm… my mistake, that is a smiley face.
Ruth is the smiley face. In fact, that is her nic name †smileyâ€. I wonder why? I have allot of catching up to do to look like that little jaundiced button head! lol People used to say about me that if I smiled my face would crack, cause it wasn’t used to bending in that direction. It’s a little more plyable now. I’ve been doing it more often. I’m not sure if that’s Ruth or Jesus or happy guys like you ,Joe, rubbing off on me. Maybe a combination. It’s a good thing though.