So tonight we read through chapter 2 of Colossians.
Tonight was interesting. It was all good as usual, but something caught my eye, we discussed it a bit. I'd love to get your take on it.
In Colossian 2, we read:
See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.
I'd wondered exactly what the "elemental spiritual forces of this world" was. Growing up, anything that joined the words "spiritual" and "world" always centered around some sort of demon stuff. According to a footnote in BibleGateway, the forces were the same thing as principles. So, exactly what were the "elemental spiritual principles and human tradition that hollow philosophy and deceptive philosophy depended on?
I thought maybe it was demonic influence. That was just because, as mentioned earlier, anything with "spiritual" and "worldly" meant 'bad'. Daddy brought up a suggestion that the word "elemental' meant basic, so that, as a child, we were taught some rituals meant to keep us focused on Christ. Such as,
- Bow your head when you pray.
- Fold your hands.
- Raise your hands.
- Wave your hands.
- Close your eyes when you pray.
- Stand for scripture reading.
- Say the blessing.
- Partake in the Lord's Supper every Sunday
- Say your prayers at bedtime.
- Kneel beside your bed when you pray.
And so the list goes. Now, by themselves, they're not bad. If participating in these rituals help us, as children, keep our eyes on God, then fine. But there comes a time when we need to put childish things away, and really know the Gospel from the inside out. There comes a time when rituals become just that... rituals and traditions. We do certain things because our parents did them, and their parents before. Paul is beseeching the folks at Colossi to not be deceived through smooth talking religious folks that might sound good, but really aren't sharing the gospel.
It came to me, that in order for me to not be deceived by the ramblings of religious people, I need to know what the gospel is, Who the gospel is, and bounce everything I hear or read concerning Christ, off of Christ. Read and listen through the Holy Spirit filter. I may listen to what others say, but, I won't believe it until the Holy Spirit reassures me that truth is being spoken, or cautions me that error is being spoken.
So, this is my take on it. Any thoughts? (I'll post the video after I upload it to YouTube)
