{{2016_11_24_t1.jpg}}
{{2016_11_24_t2.jpg}}
{{2016_11_24_t3.jpg}}
[[http://www.jesusnetwork.eu/de/doku.php/jn_de_2016_11_24|Deutsche Version]] [[Start|| Wiki Start]]
[[topics_collection_viii|| Topics Collection viii ]]
======Firmly Established ...======
Thursday, Nov 24, 2016. Christian faith is an invitation to life. It is an invitation
to freely come. We live in a world where many possibilities exist, you can follow
different religions, different beliefs, different ideologies. From the right to the
left of the political spectrum we are offered ideas of redemption. In this framework,
the New Testament letters provide advice and help ...
{{2016_11_24.jpg }}
**Rooted firmly in Christ ...**
Often, when people come to faith, they come on their particular background and
with the habits and ideas which they have grown up with. Living with Christ Jesus
changes life - we are suddenly connected to a source of freedom and love. But we
still need to learn, and we can get off the way.
6 Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him,
7 rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.
8 See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.
(from Colossians 2)
People can get off in various directions. That is possible even under a Christian
headline or with a Christian church. Here, Paul writes about it in a New Testament
framework, talking to the early churches. But of course it can happen to everyone,
even to larger groups or whole unions of churches. History with the different church
bodies and schools of theology, with the reformation, the evangelical and pentecostal
churches and with the modern discussions show that our situation has evolved, but
that some main features and key challenges remain the same.
{{ 2016_11_24_2.jpg}}
**The role of the Christian community ...**
The role of the Christian community is to give an environment where things can be
discussed and corrected. That is what Paul is doing here. He is formulating warnings
and he is addressing lines of thought and lines of development where some
particular church is going into the wrong direction.
Also today, we need this kind of discussion in a Christian spirit. Of course, we have
this discussion. We have it on various topics in the Christian community - with
different ideas and different path taken by reformed and Lutheran churches, by
different evangelical churches.
It is Christ who unites us. We are his body. It is him who is our center, nothing
else. Even if we go wrong in some area, he will help us. It is his love, truth
and compassion, which we need. It is his peace, which we need. It is good that Christ
is the head, not some elected person of a particular church, not some particular
council who might twist decisions and wording for political reasons. What we can do
is to discover God, the creator, in father, son and holy spirit. He will transform
our heart and heal our mind, step by step. This is the real adventure ... true life!
(Roland Potthast)
[[http://www.jesusnetwork.eu/en/doku.php/topics_collection_viii|... more texts]]