Sometimes in Christian circles, you hear the phrase "a seared conscience" and it is used as the result of ignoring God's word and disobeying. The concept is that if you ignore God enough, you lose the ability to hear him, you become insensitive. That may be true. But the actual scripture that this phrase comes from has a rather different lesson:
1 Tim 4:1-54:1 The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. 2 Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. 3 They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth. 4 For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, 5 because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer.
So those with a seared conscience, are they ignoring godly boundaries? No, they are creating a stricter morality. How can being stricter sear the conscience?
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3 comments:
I don't remember how I found your blog but I've read quite a few back posts and I can readily identify with most of it. We have been 'churchless' for the better part of a year now. However, we are not neglecting "assembling together". My husband and I meet regularly with other believers...not in any formal service...not at any specific time. No soloists, no sermon with six points that all begin with the letter P, etc. My blog has a lot to do with stuff we've learned and challenged since we've 'flunked out' as you put it. By the way...I don't think you flunked out...I think the organized church did. Take heart....there is life after the big adjustment!!! Start praying big-time for some like-minded believers to materialize within your community. If you feel like it, drop by my blog....http://allthingsnerak.blogspot.com Another blog I've read from someone in the process is http://leaving-church.blogspot.com. Also, if you haven't read Jacobsen's book The Naked Church, or Jake Colsen's (pseudonym) So, You Don't Want to Go To Church Anymore....READ THEM. They are SOOOOO good!
I am a homeschooling mom, too. Four of our kids are young men...almost 17 up to 22, and I've got a 6-yr-old girl.
hey-
i was on steve mcveys website and noticed you comment and that no one ever responded to it. (the one where you asked the question about the long passages with the do's and don't). there is a passage like that at the end of ephesians ch. 4. if you just read that one passage aside from the rest of the book, it can sound like a list of rules you must follow. but, if you read the beginning of the book, paul just got finished tell you who you are in Christ...your identity. then, verse 25 starts with a 'therefore'. i think he is saying, 'now that you know who you are, you will act like this'. actions come out of our rest in Christ. so, its all about the context. ..hope that helped a little.
As I read that, I see the stricter boundaries as the result of a seared conscience. The strict boundaries are the teachings of things from from deceiving spirits. The strict boundaries don't appear to be the things that seared their conscience, but rather, the result of having their consciences seared and then following the teachings of demons.
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