For most, Christianity is an inherited religion, replete with assumptions that are rarely put to the test. Among them are frequently things like these:
- The contents of the Bible are all settled as per God’s wishes, and are accurately translated.
- Any ancient extrabiblical works should be handled with great care, if handled at all.
- We are now living, more or less, in the same spiritual context as were those in New Testament times.
- God is still running the church as he did in New Testament times.
- My church is probably the best one.
- The Holy Spirit helps us internally to understand the Bible correctly. If we were wrong about something, God would have told us.
- The preacher is God’s chosen leader, and God gives him/her the words to preach to us.
Perhaps these assumptions are good ones. Or perhaps they are bad ones. But a people who do not vet them for themselves are apt never to know whether they are good or bad.
QUESTION: Did God mean for us to do our own thinking and investigating, or are we just supposed to blindly accept the way things are framed for us at church?
