BobRyan said:
I think they also refused to allow themselves to SEE that Christ's argument was clear and convincing. Even though the Pharisees saw the perfection of Christ's argument immediately!
Matthew 13:15: For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing,
and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.
They shut them themselves, it wasn't done to them.
BobRyan said:
It seems like "human nature" says that we don't want to drop the issue of pride and simply objectively read the text!
That's one thing I like about you, Bob. Even though we disagree on what different passages mean, you are willing to look at what it says, and not simply close your eyes. (I think you just cross them a little bit...:wavey
BobRyan said:
So if you know that "Being a human" this is going to be your instictive reaction to "new truth" or truth that does not conform to your traditional view of the text - -how do you fght it?
You simply have to accept that the more you learn, the more you don't know.
One example of this was on something that I had been preaching that was poor translation in the KJV. However, I had to go to church and apologize, because it was good translation, but the English words had changed meaning over the years.
When I realized that "lost" and "unsaved" were not the same thing, I had to do some eating of crow. But, it tasted good! God had opened my eyes to understanding some difficult passages, and I was able to share it with my Greek teacher, who now makes the distinction when he preaches.
Crow isn't always bad.