I write in response to the letter written by Howard Booth published in which he attempts to expound on Biblical history and the teachings of Jesus (“Church sign goes against Jesus’ teachings,” July 7).

In his first point, Booth says a church sign is incorrect to attribute creation to Jesus, because Jesus was born many generations after the Old Testament patriarchs. How is it that this self-proclaimed Bible scholar missed Jesus’s own words, “Before Abraham was I am”? How did he miss the clear teaching of Paul that “by Him all things were created”? It appears to me that it is Booth himself, not the church pastor, who is “woefully uninformed about what is in the Bible.”

That said though, the church could avoid the controversy by saying “God made Adam and Eve.”

In his second point, he calls the message that God made Adam and Eve, not “Adam and Steve,” a “message of exclusion and condemnation.” He goes on to say that contradicts the “essential message of Jesus,” which he understands to be the acceptance of all people.

Those who have actually read the Bible, though, understand His essential message to be the need of all people, because of their sin, to be redeemed, and His own mission on earth to be the redeemer they need, laying down His own life on their behalf.

Jesus never hesitated to point out sin or call sinners to repent. There is nothing inconsistent between that and loving our neighbors. Parents discipline their children for wrongdoing not to exclude and condemn, but because they love them. Rebuking, admonishing, and correcting are sometimes necessary to help those we love lead happier, healthier and more productive lives.

 

Roger Sproul
Augusta