wmfinck wrote:The bottom line is this: what does Scripture encourage, and what does Scripture forbid?
I would say that the bottom line is to obey or disobey the Word and that it's the spirit of the Law, not the letter of the Law; the latter being the tool of the Pharisees to interpret what they thought was forbidden. The spirit of the Law goes to the heart of the principle of what we are to obey.
We should emulate our Saviour.
Amen, He is our example. "For what sort of report, if doing wrong and being beaten you will submit? But if doing good and suffering you submit, this is a benefit before Yahweh. Indeed, for this you have been called, because Christ also had suffered on your behalf, leaving behind for you an example in order that you would follow in His footsteps" I Peter 2:20-21.
But the moment we try to forbid something that Scripture does not forbid, we attempt to make ourselves as God. Instead, we must keep ourselves from idols in that respect as well, because we are not God.
The flip side of that thought is that if we try to encourage something that Scripture does not encourage, we likewise are playing God. Conversely, the pleasures of our carnal nature are much more easier to sell than the things we know are adversarial to our five senses.
Puritanism is rooted in Pharisaism.
I've heard this repeated a few times recently and I think you need to explain what you mean. There were two basic colonies in the 1600's that founded America: Plymouth Rock and Jamestown. The first was Christian in character and the latter was commercial. Some have made the analogy of these two being between the Kingdom of God vs. Babylon. To make the accusation that these Christians were rooted in Pharisaism would suggest their roots were in Babylon. If this were true, then one would have difficulty asserting that America was ever founded by the hand of God and dash many prophecies concerning this land.
The Scripture does not forbid wine, but it does discourage drunkenness.
"Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright" Prov. 23:31. This is like the sign that reads 'Don't even think about parking here'; so you can park there as long as you don't think about it lol. Conversely, Scripture does encourage sobriety: " But we being of day should be sober, putting on a breastplate of faith and love, and a helmet: an expectation of deliverance" I Thes. 5:8.
The Scripture does not forbid Rock music, but it does forbid blasphemy.
This is probably a matter of semantics, as "Rock" is not talking about pebbles and boulders, but rather the motion in the backseat of a '57 Chevy. Rock music is probably painted with a much too wide brush, sucking into it's vortex genres that really don't belong there. If it were simply a moral question, then Rock music per se belongs in the ash heap of history.
The Scripture does not forbid birthday celebrations, but it does encourage brotherhood.
"There shall not be found in thee one who purges his son or his daughter with fire, one who uses divination, who deals with omens, and augury, 11 a sorcerer employing incantation, one who has in him a divining spirit, and
observer of signs, questioning the dead" Deut. 18:10 LXX. The KJV says "an observer of times." Either way, it is not difficult to qualify birth dates as traditions of observations; the principle and spirit of the Law is self evident and does paint what is forbidden with a wide brush.
There are a lot of personal choices, and we are not God, so we should not rule over one another's faith.
I wouldn't think to rule over you or anybody else in this forum. However, God gives us direction in helping a brother who is preoccupied with proclivities that have nothing to do with faith lol. I would consider anybody correcting me in my faults to be a favor (if they were right, lol). The eternal problem is always how we tell someone they are wrong; every believer thinks they know Christ and how He would judge a situation, but we don't always have the tone, inflection or attitude He had in correcting His disciples and thus resort to the righteousness of self.
We praise Yahweh for the fellowship which we have, whenever we have an opportunity to partake of it.
"And we should consider one another, in regard to stimulation of love and of good deeds, not forsaking the gathering of ourselves together, as is a habit with some, but encouraging, and by so much more as you see the day approaching" Heb. 10:24-25. God bless.
Mark