FISHBONES FOR THE TEACHER

On our recent trip to Israel our group stopped by a restaurant on the Sea of Galilee. The fish we were served at this restaurant surprised all of us. They were the Talapia from the waters of the sea. When we were served about 50 of these fish what a sight it was. They were whole fish, eyeballs and all. As we ate them it was obvious that they were quite bony so we had to eat them carefully.
When I was in college in the early 60's I had a Bible teacher who taught us a course in First and Second Corinthians. One of his favorite statements was "I don't need any fishbones for the teacher." What he meant by that was he didn't want any questions that would cause deviations from the course outline and he wanted to finish the study before the semester ended.
We were all young students and at that point we probably could not have come up with too many serious "fishbones" that he could not have handled speedily and thoroughly. However, it has been over 40 years since I was in that class and I have had many hours to study and to contemplate various topics and life experiences. I think I have entertained a few questions during this time that transcend some sort of pat answer that could be given in the name of religion that does not satisfy the needs of modern day man. The pat answers are not sufficient in my mind because they do indicate a serious lack of addressing the needs of men's souls.
So let's look at some of the questions. Some of them are questions that young people have asked over and over while being taught through the years. Did I give pat answers that did not address specific needs? Probably so. For that I ask forgiveness and I apologize when I did not introduce a loving Saviour to them but a church doctrine.
So here are the fishbones.....

1. Is drinking beer a sin?
2. Is dancing a sin?
3. Does a Christian have to attend every church service to remain a Christian?
4. What is the age of accountability?
5. Is God interested in each one of us no matter what our problems or needs?
6. When does a fetus become a human being?
7. Who is my brother in Christ?
8. Are there Christians in all belief systems?
9. Is there any perfect church anywhere on earth?
10. Is it possible to determine who is a conservative Christian and who is a liberal Christian?
If so which one is saved and which one is not saved or are both saved?
11. Does Christ save me from sin or does the church?
12. Which sins are unforgivable besides the blaspheming of the Holy Spirit?
13. Are there church's that think it is wrong for a woman to attend services without a hat
and are there church's who think it is OK for a woman to go to church without a hat?
14. Are there churches that think Sunday school is wrong?
15. Are there churches that have Sunday school?
16. Are there churches that use one container for the fruit of the vine in the Lord's Supper?
17. Are there churches that have multiple containers for the juice in the Lord's Supper?
18 Are there churches that commune every Sunday? Or Saturday?
19. Are there churches that commune less often?
20. Are there churches that believe monies cannot be taken out of the treasury to support
orphans homes?
21 Are there churches that believe monies can be taken out of the church treasury to support
orphans homes?
22. Are there churches that believe that Christ will come back to earth and reign for 1,000
years.
23. Are there churches that believe that Christ will not come back to earth and reign a 1,000
years.
24. Are there churches that believe in spiritual gifts?
25. Are there churches that do not believe in spiritual gifts?
26. Are there churches that believe that the Holy Spirit is simply the Word?
27. Are there churches that believe that the Holy Spirit is a person?
28. Are there churches that have praise teams?
29. Are there churches that do not have praise teams?
30. Are there churches that raise their hands in praise to God?
31. Are there churches that do not raise their hands to praise God?
32. Are there churches that use instruments in worship?
33. Are there churches that do not use instruments in worship?
34. Are there churches that frown on women wearing slacks to church?
35. Are there churches that do not frown on women wearing slacks to church?
36. Are there churches that believe in paying the preacher out of the church treasury?
37. Are there churches that do not believe in paying the preacher out of the church treasury?
38. Are there churches that baptize believers immediately?
39 Are there churches that wait awhile to baptize believers?
40. Among all these churches is it possible that there might be someone attending their services
regularly who might not agree with everything they do?
41. Is it possible that even a member of another denomination might be going to one of these
churches and considering themselves to be a member of one of these churches and not
agreeing with everything they are teaching?
42. Is it possible that there might be some folks attending their services and having opinions
differing from them and yet they have been accepted into their fellowship?
43. Is it possible that in any one of a number of these churches that there are folks that are
sinners who have been accepted into the fellowship?
44. Are any of the folks in the above churches lost because of their conservatism or liberalism?
45. Does not Paul teach that among churches there will be differing opinions in Romans 14 and
15?
46 Is salvation individual or collective?
47. If so are there saved people in all belief systems?
48. Who decides if a person is saved or lost?
49. Are there any sinless Christians?
50.Is covetousness and idolatry and drunkenness and foul mouthed abuse of others as bad as
fornication?
51. Which of the following sins listed in the Bible is a worse sin than others? If a Christian
commits one of these sins and repents what is the result? (fornication, wickedness,
covetousness, maliciousness, envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity, whispering,
backbiting, hating God, deceitful, pride, boasting, evil, dishonesty with parents,
covenant breakers, without natural affection, unmerciful, uncleanness, inordinate
affection, anger, wrath, blasphemy, filthy communication, lying, brawling, foolishness,
disobedience, lust, pleasures, hate, adultery, rioting, drunkenness, wantonness, strife,
theft, false testimony, evil thoughts, wickedness, an evil eye, witchcraft, sedition,
heresies, bitterness, clamour, hypocrisy, a lack of love)
52. Why are churches so selective in punishing those who commit a few of these sins and are
not consistent throughout? I believe Jesus would say something like this "let him cast
the first stone".
53. Are there any totally correct, sinless, perfectly orthodox, conservative churches anywhere
in this world.
54. Who is not a sinner?
55. Who forgives sins?
56. And what does poor in spirit mean?
57. Does God give a repentant sinner the right to judge another repentant sinner?
58. Does God forgive the unforgiving?
59. There are over 6 billion people in the world. There are over 300 million people in the
United States. Does a belief system that has less than 10 million people have the right to
judge all the rest to perdition?
60. Who did Paul preach?
61. What is the one thing that saves a person from sin?
62. If one is a believer in Jesus Christ and does not meet the prerequisites of some belief system
is he lost?
63. Can Jesus forgive sins from heaven as He did when He was on earth?
64. What significance did Jesus give the greatest commandment and the one second to it?
65. Thousands are dying today in hospitals and die each day. If they believe in Jesus and do
not comply with a system of belief are they lost?
66. Do you think that all men and women who have died on the battlefields and clung to their
Saviour at death were lost because they did not comply with the intricacies of a belief
system?
67. Do you teach your children that everybody in the third world countries who have never
heard of Jesus Christ go to perdition?
68. Can you perfectly live out the requirements of your belief system?
69. Since you can't what saves you?
70. Is it the Grace of God?
71 If God's Grace can save you when you cannot perfectly perform then why would you
limit God's Grace to others who cannot perfectly perform?
72. Do you pride yourself in being conservative yet allow yourself certain privileges daily to
live life as you see fit?
73. If you give men the right of forgiveness and the freedom to worship God then would that
do any harm to your belief system? If not then what motive do you have in condemning
them?
74. If God honors your belief system with its imperfections then what makes you believe that
He will not honor others with their imperfections?
75. If God instructs you to love your enemies then what is wrong with loving other believers in
Christ?
76. If churches in the New Testament were not exactly like other churches then what makes
you believe they can be exactly alike today?
77. Is it possible that there are some churches that are churches not of Christ who may have
things fairly doctrinally correct but have lost the Spirit of Christ and the disposition of
Christ?

There are probably more fishbones but this is enough. Fact is human beings will never have all the answers. That is where Grace comes in. We see in a mirror darkly. All we can do is put our faith and trust in God; lean not on our own understandings,; never think we have all the answers to all our problems and others; pray, pray, pray for forgiveness and the help of God; believe with all our heart the promises of God; keep our eyes on Jesus; don't compare ourselves with others nor look to ourselves as being the model for others; permit others a like access to God's Grace as we permit ourselves; refuse to believe that we go to a perfect church; give others the right to be imperfect as we are imperfect; stop categorizing people and sins and look at people as being God's creation; quit branding folks because we think we have more insight into God's Word than they; and look to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.