And thus do they pervert and distort the Scriptures, making them the guide to slavish details of the daily life and an authority in things nonspiritual instead of appealing to the
sacred writings as the repository of the moral wisdom, religious inspiration, and the spiritual
teaching of the God - knowing men of
other generations.»
As she continues to read, we hear about Paul's incarceration and persecution, about how Jesus is «the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation,» about watching out for all those false
teachings that circulated through the trade routes, about how we ought to stop judging each
other over differences of opinion regarding religious festivals and food (I blush a little at this point and resolved to make peace with some rather opinionated friends before the next
sacred meal), about how we should clothe ourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, and love, about how we must forgive one another, about how the things that once separated Jew from Greek and slave from free are broken down at the foot of the cross, about how we should sing more hymns.