The "Old Paths" for New Testament Christians?

"Ask for the old paths!"  Stop it already!!!  I realize I'm stepping on toes here, but I have thought about this for years.  Let me come right out of the gate and just say, the "old paths", whatever they are, whatever you may define them to be, whatever men in history  you may associate with it, they are not for us.  Why do men yell about the old paths so much? Men talk of the old paths, the same way men harp on the old time religion, and the ol' timers.  Some talk about how it used to be 100 years ago, as if they have some real inkling other then grand stories and romanticized nonsense.  Some focus the idea more on scriptural implications.  This ideology is so big in the Fundamentalist, hardcore, militant Independent Baptist ranks today. The glorious Old paths!  Old paths ministries, Old Paths Baptist church,  "We walk the old paths here!"  What does it all mean?

Jeremiah 6:16 says Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where [is] the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk [therein].  This is the only time it shows up in the Bible.  It's amazing how men will focus so much on what God focused so little on isn't it. "We should ask for the old paths... " is inevitably followed by what the preacher says he thinks the "old paths" are!  And it usually has the ring of all the things the preacher stands for.  And if it is a pastoral authority control freak preacher, you already have a monster on your hands.

I used to prescribe to this notion myself when i was a Fundamentalist successionist.  The old paths!  It was a neat idea.  Many preachers love that Jeremiah 6:16 is in the Bible.  It is a good springboard for rabbit trails and hobby horses.  People?  Why are we messing around in law and prophets so much?  Why are we wanting to allude to some mystical old paths, some mystical realm that only exist in the preachers minds.  Whether you preachers keep trying to get your young preacher boys to be like Hudson Taylor, George Whitfield, Sam Jones, or Lester Roloff, or you are using the prophets as good examples of public ministry, you guys need to understand what age you are in TODAY!  You are using his word too loosely.  You are no longer teaching our young men to be individuals with a book.  But you  are pushing them to follow traditions of men, claim the same callings of men, follow the same commissions of men and to practice preaching styles that are not fitted for NT men.

Welcome to Silent Platform~ An Introduction

Have you ever sat in church and just looked around at the happenings and said, "Oh my God, what is going on here?" Have you listened to the words being preached and thought to yourself, “What?” Have you ever sat in church and had one of those moments where it just sounded way off coming from men preaching even out of the same beloved AV that you read?  Have you ever just had those "red flags" of caution do fly-bys in your mind when you heard men handle the word of God deceitfully and you just knew that the pendulum of balance had gone way far to one side?

Well, Silent Platform is where I talk about all of those things, and strain the things that men have made gnats! In decency and order, and with a Biblical perspective, nothing is off limits.  I will delve into any subject matter at the express purpose to in fact see what the Book says about it. Having said that, I am no authority, and I do not have it all figured out.  I respect and reverence the word, I do not have it mastered nor my doctrine foolproof!  

I just cannot maintain the ridiculous Baptist-successionist, driven dribble and the positional theology anymore.  I have seen a curve, a slant, a transition from a literal approach to the book, to sort of play on words, manufactured Christianity where many phrases are used to support supposed doctrines, that tend to private interpretations and traditions. We have gone from sound doctrine, to systematic theology now to positional theology.  We have all become very selective haven’t we?

A preacher once said to me, “If you take 50 Baptist preachers, lock them in a room for 24 hours, there would be blood coming out from under the door within 24 minutes!”  If you knew the men that I have known, which I’m sure my target audience does, then you know this is very descriptive and accurate of many Baptist societies and men today.