Vey well stated. Some people get entrenched in trying to prove others like yourself and many others on this site wrong. You use facts and scripture in a gentle Christlike manner to explain your thoughts and beliefs.
I happen to agree with your views on the Deity of Christ, and many others here agree with you as well. Blessings to you Emily, I appreciate kind attitude you have in explaining yourself!
Thank you
@BobVance
I find that certain people like
@Wrangler are called to be Judges. That is their job God gives them to focus on. Like the Principal of the school who checks on classrooms, and doesn't care why students or teachers are off schedule or not following the rules or curricula. It is the teachers' job to reach the students and communicate in ways thar make sense. But the Principal only guards if the school is orderly and follows protocols.
Some people have the job of only voting yes or no, either completely consistent or flunk.
No amount of justifying or explaining the context or situation is going to pass when the Principal pops in and just checks on what is going on and what it looks like.
The strictest most uniform rules, in order to streamline the process and make sure everyone is on the same page.
This is good for when you already have your act together and can pass final inspection.
But the black and white, yes or no, approach can be disastrous when you are dealing with accommodating students of different learning styles, rates and process or growth, who aren't at a place they can adjust and meet uniform agreed standards. The yes or no approach would mean a higher dropout rate, and more people with no chance of ever getting to the level of juggling how they need to learn and understand while appeasing the Principal who needs to see their answers match the Book to the Letter.
The role of the Judge is best for helping keep other Judges in line and on the same page. But arguing with Teachers who have their reasons for reaching different audiences and learning styles is wasting the Time and Talents of the Judges.
If all their job is to check the list, yes or no, you are either meeting universal uniform standards, or you are varying from the checklist and you flunk. There is no sense in arguing with the Judge. They will not change their mind.
That role is different.
We can support such people to apply their calling in the best way and proper purpose God uses them for.
When Jesus argued with Pharisees in the Temple, that involved rebukes by the Letter of the Law to keep them in line by holding them to account to their own words.
But when Jesus was teaching fishers and farmers who were illiterate in the Bible, then parables based on their experiences were used to teach them about the Kingdom of God.
Principals who don't want teachers straying from the established textbook may not have time for lengthy explanations of what does any of this have to do with the Bible. Especially if the context sounds completely contradictory.
I think if we can pinpoint which roles are used for which purposes, we can make more sense of why people talk and share in different ways. Some people cannot handle the diversity of approaches I have found ways to reconcile and work with. They fear such people are "teaching wrong and misleading people off track."
We do have to check each other and keep each other in line.
I think it will get easier as we go.
But right now, not all students are like the Pharisees in the Temple who Jesus can hold to Scriptures.
The Teachers need to align and work with Principals acting as Judges so we don't divide among ourselves.
But we do not need to explain to Judges all the work and ways "behind the scenes" it takes to communicate with others. Maybe that isn't their job. They just want to remind Teachers the end goal is to be perfectly united, on very clear standards.
If we all stick to our jobs, we can get the work done. The Judges may seem unfair, but they are called to police for a reason. There cannot be chaos or confusion in the schools by introducing things not on the Books.
So Teachers face the same challenges as Jesus did, being able to stick to Scriptures when communicating with Pharisees and Judges, while also recognizing when students need different parables, explanations or exercises to grasp the same concepts.
We don't need to argue or judge people just because our roles are different, and may change depending what audience or purpose God is using us for.
We need to support each other as Christians to do our jobs and serve the purpose God calls us to do. No matter what that may look like.
How can we help each other to be more effective and reach the right audience who needs that approach?