Right now, all over the place, I'm seeing many
places were problems pop up when discernment
takes a "backseat" (to "love", to "relationships",
to "socializing").
hold of me. (Yes, I know I'll be skipping
around, but this is the way my mind is working today.
Biblically - there is a difference between those
who follow a false religion and those who follow
a "heretical offshoot" (my term) of real Christianity.
Biblically, they are treated differently. The lost
are lost. The warnings to false teachers are very
bold and very firm and very dire.
whole lump. How much leaven to we let into our
churches before we stand up and say, "enough"?What would happen if a call to discernment
were met with solidarity, to simply know
those who follow false teachers?
Simply because we cannot understand something
does not mean it is not true. We can no more
understand the Trinity then we can understand the
incarnation of Christ or how God created the
universe out of nothing
to give disaster relief? (no)Is it when we visit the blog of a follower of
a false teacher? (no)
My son, preserve sound judgment and discernment,
do not let them out of your sight;
false teachers?
Is it when we "praise god" (their god or
our God) with them?
Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere
in them, because if you do, you will save both
yourself and your hearers.
with the followers of false teachings that
we don't want to condemn their teaching
to their face?
Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled
around your waist...
that it just doesn't matter what the person
we rub shoulders with others, even
followers of false teachings, as long as
they call themselves a Christian?
Nobody seems to care.
And those who do care are shouted down.
Can you imagine what (I'm speaking as an American woman) American Christianity would be like if those who stood up and said, "ENOUGH!" were encouraged?
Can you imagine the strength we would have, if a call to discernment were met with solidarity against those who follow false teachers.
Can you imagine the message for the Gospel that we would send, if we all stood firm together?
Atlantic
Good post. I'm reminded of chapter 4 in GK Chesterton’s The Ball and the Cross. A Catholic has challenged a militant atheist to a duel (the atheist is very pleased to be taken so seriously), but they have some difficulty being allowed to duel in modern England. In their attempts to find a place to duel freely, they begin to develop a camaraderie, so much that they are tempted to stop duelling. But they are interrupted by a Tolstoy-type pacifist, who tells them, "I must and will stop this shocking crime....It is against all modern ideas. It is against the principle of love. How you, sir, who pretend
to be a Christian..."
Both the Catholic and the atheist refuse to listen to him, and one of them put it’s this way "But then he came, and my soul said to me: 'Give up fighting, and you will become like That. Give up vows and dogmas, and fixed things, and you may grow like That. You may learn, also, that fog of false philosophy. You may grow fond of that mire of crawling, cowardly morals, and you may come to think a blow bad, because it hurts, and not because it humiliates. You may come to think murder wrong, because it is violent, and not because it is unjust. Oh, you blasphemer of the good, an hour ago I almost loved you! But do not fear for me now. I have heard the word Love pronounced in his intonation; and I know exactly what it means. On guard!"
Ellen
Atlantic - thank you.
(In my house we have a reasonable alternative to a duel. It's called "paintball") 😉