New Testament vision
Christianity.org.nz is a collection point for Christian resources that reflect a true New Testament vision. Items include original content, republished content (with credits), and links to other websites of value. Please feel free to submit content.
Background to the New Testament vision
My understanding of the New Testament vision, was born right from the earliest days of being a Christian. Having grown up in completely non-Christian circles, and having refused to go to Bible in Schools as a child, plus also been saved in a rather sudden manner, I came into Christianity knowing next to nothing about any aspect of it. All I knew was that the Christian God that I had rejected was true, that he had revealed himself to me in a way that I couldn’t question, and that I was now aware of a spiritual life inside me that felt precious and immensely peaceful, though small and needing to grow. The food of this spiritual life was God’s word, and every time I read it I felt its love, its warmth and its strength filling me up and nourishing my soul. In those early days, still reeling with surprise at the truth, I didn’t really know any doctrine at all. I didn’t know what the connection was between Jesus and God, and if you’d asked me if God created the Universe I would have intuitively said yes, but it would have been a new thought. In the two years that followed I typically read the bible for 2-3 hours a day, not religiously, but just soaking it up with the enjoyment of its effect on my spirit and running with the light and inspiration it was imparting to my mind. My point in sharing this is to explain that my perceptions of Christianity flowed out of God’s word, not out of contemporary Christian culture. So what developed over those foundational years was an understanding of the New Testament vision. In other words, a deep sense of the spirit and intent of the ministry of Jesus and other New Testament teaching.
In the following ten years though I struggled immensely with how to apply the vision in my own life, as well as with trying to understanding where contemporary Christianity did and didn’t fit into this vision. I felt so grieved with the luke-warmness of Christian culture at times that I could barely interact with it, while at the same time I was often bogged down in my own personal weaknesses. Sometimes I felt like Christian culture was holding me back and other times I felt like I was the worst, most luke-warm Christian of all. Thankfully over time God has led the way through to a bit more maturity and at least enough clarity to start “falling forward”; by which I mean the process of starting to stumble forward in service to God, not exactly knowing the best way or where the journey will lead. While being past feeling any bitterness towards mainstream Christian culture, I nevertheless remain deeply grieved by a lot of what is taught or practiced in it. Much as I would love to have a totally “positive” message, I know that some of what is on this site will end up being responses to those aspects of contemporary Christianity which could be said to have a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof (II Tim 3:5).
- John