We know that God is truth and He cannot lie nor contradict His written word. So when we consider the things we hear and the things we read and believe, we must ask ourselves as to where does this line of thinking, this belief we have, whatever it might be, as to where is comes from. Is it of God or somewhere else and if somewhere else then from whom?
We know that Satan is the father of all lies.
John 8:44 You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.
Satan's intent is to destroy God's children, we Christians.
1Peter 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.
Satan wants to destroy us. So how does he accomplish this? He simply tries to get us to believe in his lies. Lies can be serious, that is believing in them, because they can potentially cause you to drift away from Christ.
1Timothy 4:1 Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons,
Doctrines of demons! This is where False teachings come from. They come from Satan, from demons.
2Tim 4:3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers;
4 and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.
There are a great many False Doctrines/Teachings out there in Christianity so be on guard. Study the Word with an open heart and mind and be willing to be wrong in what you believe so that God can reveal His truth to you with His written word guided by the Holy Spirit. Be wise, be discerning.
1John 4:1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
I am sorry Walter. Your post is like an open door to me!
You ask a question, answer it yourself and tell us to look for the guidance of God to find the truth as there are many false prophets...
If you state that there are so many false teachings in christianity, then mention one for starters. We then can all, according to your guidances, look for the untruth in it and come up with our ideas and discoveries.
Thanks Walter. Great post. I agree with both you and PJ. God has given us His Word. Let's go to that first, so that we will know what is right and what is wrong. And when we hear something, let's go BACK to the Word again and verify for ourselves. Great post.
"There are a great many False Doctrines/Teachings out there in Christianity so be on guard. Study the Word with an open heart and mind and be willing to be wrong in what you believe so that God can reveal His truth to you with His written word guided by the Holy Spirit. Be wise, be discerning.
1John 4:1-'Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.'" Good stuff. Sound, wise advice. Thanks again.
false teaches are more than from satan. They are able to use a few scripture truths to mislead us. satan used all bible verses to combat Christ... But the truth was not in Satan. The bible is just words unless god gives it life in us,
Satan proves this view here.He used the word to start a false teaching.
PJ, i really have a new appreciation for your point of view, even if it is that the word of God is straight forward, its still your point of view. the opposition that you face seems to say that the word is dead, they are just words, but with the holy spirit they come to life in a person... and naturally with the corruption of lucifer or the flesh it can render death to a person.
what i have learned is that for a person who has ALL faith and trust in the holy spirit OR someone who does not question, by nature the word is straight forward. but for someone with a tumultuous mind (always thinking, questioning) it would take a different approach. it really seems like the splitting of hairs, because people are just different by nature, but yet, the fact that we all want everyone to think the way we do (to a point) makes us all the same! lol. i probably went off topic... *shrugs*
false comes from the word fallacy, which is for all intents and purposes, is a lie. lucifer is the father of lies, so by simple deduction false teachings come from lucifer aka the father of lies.
now what i see on this post is delving into the methods by which the false teachings are propagated. they originate from lucifer, but because we are all different, they would manifest in different ways. who is to say really? can we rectify the problem once it is highlighted? to say we can (imo) is to say we can quantify and fix the human condition.
nyanda:purpleangel:
p.s most of what i wrote are observations... it's just part of my learning curve.
Well, on false teachings, I would say first that no one has a perfect theology.
Calvin said that the best theologian was probably only 70% correct.
That being said, I think that flat out false teachings come from two places.
1. Pride.
they are not content to listen to their elders in church, or Christians throughout church history. They want to have everyone at their feet being students while they are the eternal teacher.
Gnostics are a great example of this, as well as Joseph Smith, the Mormon con, and Charles Taze russell, and Judge Rutherford, who started the Jehovah's witnesses.
2. Taking an idea too far.
A theologian will teach an idea to students, and go only so far with it, as Scripture allows, and then a student will take the idea and run with it, until it is a false teaching.
3. Ignoring church history, and all the Christians who went before us.
This is a big one! We have two thousand years of insight upon insight and reflection upon reflection, and all these people are the body of Christ, who we are SUPPOSED to listen to.
Here is an important sentence to remember:
"Church history should not rule our interpretation of Scripture, but it should GUIDE our interpretation of Scripture.
4. Not knowing, or refusing to use the rules of interpretation.
Believe it or not, some Christians refuse to use the rules of interpretation! Fundamentalists, will interpret Revelation through Daniel and not the other way around.
The rule of faith is: Unclear verses must be interpreted in light of the clear verses.
Example: you have three verses in the New Testament that seem at first glance to imply that you can lose your salvation.
The problem is, you have 50 that say that you can NOT.
If you demand that you can lose your salvation, then you have made the Bible contradict itself.
I have yet to find one person who will change their beliefs after I have shown them they are breaking this rule.
So, we are STILL fallen creatures, but God has given us plenty of support to help us stay away from false teachings, but the question is, will we USE these things?
First, I think we have to believe that the Word IS God, and trust in the words of scripture and test it against the things we hear. But it we dont' believe, I feel that opens the door for all the other stuff that's going on. Nyanda, I don't think we'll ever be able to quantify or fix the human condition, but we know OUR GOD can. That person however would have to have the humility necessary to receive and allow the Holy Spirit to step in and change the false perception. (Hope you get me here...)
What you said also Nyanda "but for someone with a tumultuous mind (always thinking, questioning) it would take a different approach." That's a good point because often it's all that extra thinking and questioning that leads to other things like trying to disprove the word of God because many of us want proof, something tangible about the word we can see, grasp on to, yet scirpture tells us in many words to just receive it, and believe it. Trust it and walk in it.
Romans 15:4. For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that the perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.
I have this passage to give me a hope and a reason to keep coming back to the Word of God, for instruction, and encouragement and re-enforcement from the past that is the hope for my future, and is the truth, our truth in God. Each of you have good points here, and Walter, thanks for the post even though I didn't directly answer you.
