(1) There's a whole lot of talking going on in Timothy's situation, and much of it seems to be coming from false teachers. What sort of ''talking" is Paul condemning in this section?
(2) Paul gives two examples of 'chatters' and 'talk' spreading like 'cancer': Hymenaeus and Philetus. How can such 'talk' stir up heresy in a church? How about among Christian friends?
(3) By their 'empty-talk' about resurrection, Hymenaeus and Philetus upset the faith of some. Our generation LOVES 'conversation', especially religious ones. What are some examples of conversations we should avoid? Are their times to argue? If so, when do we stop the argument?
(4) Verse 19 pictures a seal written on a foundation. What purpose does this serve in the first-century?
(5) How does the illustration in 2:20-21 relate to the immediate context? (Hint: Think 'useful' vs 'useless').
1. I am sure we know that false teachers make things sound good. They discuss a life style in which we can take our actions and be satisfied with how we live, even when the life style is condemed in the Bible. I am not talking about just homosexuality as a life style, more in part the act of our sinful lifes and how we search to find peace that allows us to continue to live in such a way. So, we have false teachers that make that possible, giving false hope.
ReplyDelete2. Like I said in class. It really does distroy a friendship. I was in high school and I never delt with drama. Actually, I was a loner, walking from class to class saying hi to people but never having a friend in which I am happy to see during the 10 min of rest. Going down to school, I meet a guy, in fact we had very similar lives, our parents acted the same, we believes in most things, but drama crepted in. I did not know what to do, I saw him as a guy who had drama and got any girl he wanted to like him. So, knowing that I had a little bet more difficulty in that I wanted to follow how he acted, I ended up getting involved with drama and soon the group of friends we had talked about each other behind everyones back. It really hurt many of us, very deeply, he was a brother to me, for some reason trying to get close to each other but for some reason never able to make a connection. I never truely understood what it meant that the tounge is like a two edged sword until I was in the middle of hurtful talking coming for all sides including me.
3. We should avoid drama, talking about other people, and of course we know that. However, it is always tempting to talk about our lives and in doing so talk about other people who we interact with each day. Arguing, I believe, can become dangerous if we do not spend the time to listen to another person, we truely do not always listen to each other because in the back of our minds we have something we want to say and we concentrate on saying those words. That is why we interupt or fight, or yell so what we have to say comes out.
Talk and be so harsh, in interpersonal communication there is a communication called irreversable communication, of course just by reading the title we know what it means, but it talks about how when we talk and it hurts someone else we can not even reverse what we have said, once said. So, even in a sociolgy stand point they know that words can be detramental to a friendship, because it is in our nature to speak with out rationalizing what we are going to say.
Thanks for your comments, Cameron! To respond:
ReplyDelete1. Your first point reminds me of 2 Timothy 4:3- "...wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires..."
2. I know what you mean! Gossip is destructive.
3. I agree. And in Timothy's situation, he is not only dealing relationally with people involved in the church community, he is dealing with false-teachers whose teaching has the potential to 'spread as cancer'.