The Religion Of The Bible - 1537 Words

As I pastor Elements Church in one of the poorest communities in our country, I often find myself overlooking things like â€Å"explaining atonement† or â€Å"affirming the centrality of the Scripture† in order to do very real, down to earth ministry. I am so often faced with helping people to do things like find food and shelter, that I simply forget to concentrate on the teaching that I believe is essential in order to grow people in the faith. I mention this because one of the things that has helped us to teach in order to grow has been the Covenant Affirmations. One affirmation, the centrality of the Scripture, has been at the core of our ministry at Elements. We have always stood upon the belief that the Bible is the ultimate source on†¦show more content†¦It also humbles me somewhat as I fully believe and understand that it is through the Word of God that our faith is â€Å"enkindled.† We have to do a better job of making this a priority instead of allowing the work of the ministry to take up all of our time together. The Covenant’s affirmation of the centrality of the Scripture is grounded in the statement, â€Å"Where is it written?† (Covenant Affirmations: This We Believe, 4). This is a bold statement that lives in the very real tension of properly dividing the Word of God, something we, as a church, will always have to deal with. The Covenant’s approach in rightly dividing the Word of God works very well when applied to atonement. Any view on atonement is tied to how one views the work of Jesus Christ on the cross. The work of Christ on the cross is linked to what happened at the fall of man in the garden. The events of the fall of man at the garden lead to the redemptive reconciliation story of man and God. Everything is linked together somehow. If everything is interwoven as was said in class, and I believe it is, then as I look at atonement it is plainly a matter of reconciliation. I’ve never really understood why, but somehow the question of who is reconciled to whom was a big issue, one which P. P. Waldenstrom felt a strong need to respond to.