Acts 20:28-38
I can see where the church hierarchy gets it's desire to maintain purity in the church and resist change if only from this one reading. The hints of problems are right here in this reading. Savage wolves will come among you leaves little doubt as to the problems the church would have.
Before Jesus died for us on the cross, the Apostles argued about who would be first among them in heaven. This might be a glimpse of things to come. While Jesus knew what they were discussing and gave them the perfect response (if you want to be first, be the servant of all), the seeds were laid for trouble. Perhaps not in a malicious way, the faithful wanted to keep things as the were when Jesus was alive. There is a human tendency it seems to want things to remain the same and be like the good 'ol days.
So perhaps the churches problems started with wanting it to be 'like the good ol days', it quickly moved to followers who were distorters of the truth. To heresy among followers and eventually (over hundreds of years now) to a complete distortion of the message where the crusades and the inquisition become rational ideas to address real concerns. In that case the wolves among you is actually a wolf within. It seems a wolf within has been one of the biggest problems for the church over it's entire history.
In wanting to protect the Church, seemingly at all costs, sometimes the Church itself has been sacrificed. There may have been a relinquishing of the message and ideals of Jesus for the sake of purity and maintaining the church. In reality, in following this approach, nothing of value is saved and what would remain becomes a hollow shell. What has become of the church, it's moral authority and the message of Jesus because of the cover ups of pedophilia and sexual abuses in the church? Where has that left the moral authority and message of the church?
It seems ironic that the attachment to tradition and fear of change, itself a means of a wolf among the church, has lead to a further decay of exactly what the Holy Spirit has been trying to guide the church through. That is, a movement to a cohesiveness of God's message that is reconciled and reflective of the message He gives us in his natural world. Yet, the church has resisted over the centuries almost all attempts that the sciences have made to expand the mystery of God's creation. I say that because it is a truth that the more we actually know, the wider the mystery of creation becomes. The grander God becomes because of the beauty and complexity of His creation.
This is a very broad overview of the wolves that have attacked the church, more from within than from without. Perhaps it is the ideal time to stop and simply pray for the Church, pray for all of us. We pray to listen well to you, Lord God, King of the Universe.
Before Jesus died for us on the cross, the Apostles argued about who would be first among them in heaven. This might be a glimpse of things to come. While Jesus knew what they were discussing and gave them the perfect response (if you want to be first, be the servant of all), the seeds were laid for trouble. Perhaps not in a malicious way, the faithful wanted to keep things as the were when Jesus was alive. There is a human tendency it seems to want things to remain the same and be like the good 'ol days.
So perhaps the churches problems started with wanting it to be 'like the good ol days', it quickly moved to followers who were distorters of the truth. To heresy among followers and eventually (over hundreds of years now) to a complete distortion of the message where the crusades and the inquisition become rational ideas to address real concerns. In that case the wolves among you is actually a wolf within. It seems a wolf within has been one of the biggest problems for the church over it's entire history.
In wanting to protect the Church, seemingly at all costs, sometimes the Church itself has been sacrificed. There may have been a relinquishing of the message and ideals of Jesus for the sake of purity and maintaining the church. In reality, in following this approach, nothing of value is saved and what would remain becomes a hollow shell. What has become of the church, it's moral authority and the message of Jesus because of the cover ups of pedophilia and sexual abuses in the church? Where has that left the moral authority and message of the church?
It seems ironic that the attachment to tradition and fear of change, itself a means of a wolf among the church, has lead to a further decay of exactly what the Holy Spirit has been trying to guide the church through. That is, a movement to a cohesiveness of God's message that is reconciled and reflective of the message He gives us in his natural world. Yet, the church has resisted over the centuries almost all attempts that the sciences have made to expand the mystery of God's creation. I say that because it is a truth that the more we actually know, the wider the mystery of creation becomes. The grander God becomes because of the beauty and complexity of His creation.
This is a very broad overview of the wolves that have attacked the church, more from within than from without. Perhaps it is the ideal time to stop and simply pray for the Church, pray for all of us. We pray to listen well to you, Lord God, King of the Universe.
Keep watch over yourselves and over all the flock, of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God that he obtained with the blood of his own Son. I know that after I have gone, savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Some even from your own group will come distorting the truth in order to entice the disciples to follow them. Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to warn everyone with tears. And now I commend you to God and to the message of his grace, a message that is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all who are sanctified. I coveted no one’s silver or gold or clothing. You know for yourselves that I worked with my own hands to support myself and my companions. In all this I have given you an example that by such work we must support the weak, remembering the words of the Lord Jesus, for he himself said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” ’
When he had finished speaking, he knelt down with them all and prayed. There was much weeping among them all; they embraced Paul and kissed him, grieving especially because of what he had said, that they would not see him again. Then they brought him to the ship.
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