Recently, I had an interesting lesson from my dad, our church pastor and Bible scholar, about a passage in scripture that many have heard and many could recite the lesson that has been preached about this passage from pulpits across the nation. The funny thing was the lesson I've been taught, after chatting with my dad, seems to miss the mark. You see its the letter to the church at Laodicea in Revelation 3. The hallmark verse is verse sixteen which says, "So, because you are lukewarm - neighter hot nor cold - I am about to spit you out of my mouth."
The lesson on this often heard is that God would prefer you be on fire for him or not be into him at all instead of being "lukewarm." That God is more pleased with you not picking him than strattling the fence in the middle, but a map of the area of Laodicea and knowledge of the area's natural resources presents a very different message.
You see the city just above Laodicea, Hierapolis, is known for its hot springs and the area just below Laodicea, Colosse, is known for its cold water. The hot water was relaxing and the cold water was refreshing, but by the time they made it to Laodicea they were lukewarm, offering neither relaxation or refreshment. In fact, the travel down from Hierapolis amongst an array of earthen minerals left the water with a unsavory smell and taste. This geographical knowledge would lend me to draw the conclusion that God is instead saying its better to be useful to the Kingdom and serve a purpose than to be useless, lukewarm and stinky.
We all know that context guides toward meaning and in this case we see that truth emerge amongst the theories. Its important to seek out the contextual and background information in order to fully get the point. If you ask me, the geographical explanation sounds more like the God I know, than the one preached from pastoral perches everywhere.
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