Queen's Road Cell

I had encouraged us to consider what we heard in the sermon on 24/5/20: "Love the sinner, but hate the sin". This idea is quite commonly heard in public discourse. Christians use it, for instance, in speaking about homosexuality. But the truth of this statement needs some qualification. We mentioned in our discussion that the context of the use of the phrase is important. It has been noted that if we emphasize on "loving sinner s " there is a risk of viewing people with a morally superior attitude (they are "sinners" defined by their sin). So those who hold this view would say that we are never commanded to "love sinners" in the Bible and that this way of viewing people as objects of our love is inappropriate. It has also been noted that in practice it is not easy to love people while hating their sin. I think these observations are not incorrect, but that they are not fundamental considerations in approaching this idea. Certainly the phra...

We started by talking about the use of the phrase 'rhema word'. I noted that this is often used in more charismatic circles as something distinct from the 'logos word' in a way analogous to 'kairos' and chronos'. 'Rhema' and 'kairos' emphasize the immediacy of God's communication and direction in our lives, as opposed to a more constant, general revelation of His Word and will.'Rhema' therefore refers to a particular revelation of the Spirit through teaching or Scripture to us. It is the word of God made 'living and active' (Heb 4:12) for our time of need. So Josh shared also how the Lord used familiar passages (Mt 11:28, Is 40:31) to speak to him in fresh, powerful ways. Whatever we call it, we all need to have God speak to us in special ways. We then asked what it means to say "Judge not, that you not be judged" (Mt 7:1). The context of the verse makes it clear that Jesus is not prohibiting all judgement, for...

Selwyn shared how many times in the distant and recent past, he had received impressions and even words from the Lord that had subsequently been shown to be true. And quite a few of us there also felt that we had similar experiences. So we said that, while these experiences can be an outcome of a close walk with God as we commune with Him, they can also serve as spiritual gifts of encouragement and prophecy to our brothers and sisters in Christ if the message or impression is directed for them. However, we need to check those impressions against what Scripture teaches, and we also should check them with wise fellow Christians. We expect that the same Spirit will teach all of us and confirm impressions that He gives to one of us. Eugene asked a question as to how we balance the injunction to take the log out of our eyes before we remove the speck from a brother's (Matt 7:4-5) while obeying the many many NT commands to care for Christian brothers and sisters. We talked about what...