Should believers tolerate opening the door to false prophets for the sake of dialogue? It’s one thing when a person gets on a one on one dialogue. It’s another when we bring in someone who is false in an audience where we endanger and expose a believer who is not grounded in the Word of God.
So, if a Reformed believer believes the “elect” will get saved regardless of the circumstance, is it then proper and prudent for us to expose ourselves to false doctrine? After all, God already knows who will accept and reject Him. This to me seems to be a very flawed and indifferent point of view that does not consider the ramifications of being complicit to the promulgation of a damning doctrine. This is far from being Christian according to 2 John 10-11, “ If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house nor greet him; 11 for he who greets him shares in his evil deeds.“
In this matter, it is clear an old man who claims to be a believer in Jesus Christ, could hold to reformed theology and can easily toss passages in Scripture that strongly advises and warns against welcoming false prophets. Knowledge coupled with literal age does not always equal godly wisdom.
I sowed two batches of sunflowers a week apart. The first batch which I expected to be mature happens to grow at an inconsistent rate. Some grew much taller and some look to be stuck in the seedling stage. I water these plants every single day almost at the same time without fail but some are stunted.
My second batch however surpassed the first in development. They all seem to be almost closer in stalk thickness and height.
How come the first batch is stunted? There are two factors. It could be the soil quality or sun exposure. We all have a grasp on what plants need to thrive and it so happens the humongous tree from the neighbor’s backyard blocks most of the sunlight to get to the plants. This batch only gets partial sun during sunrise while the second batch gets exposure to the sun almost all day.
Exposure to the Son, Jesus Christ determines a person’s spiritual maturity. If a person reads material that is not Scripture even though it is spiritual in nature, we can be deceived in thinking we are closer to God. However, the only sure words that give life is God’s Word. If you find yourself reading more of Spurgeon or C.S. Lewis, you stifle the Holy Spirit’s personal insight that He gives to you. You only get partial exposure. I don’t mean new revelations but insights that clarify and are in accordance to Scripture. We can all learn from other people but aren’t you curious of what profound and personal insight that the Holy Spirit will teach and show you?
God’s Word is authoritative. People’s modern writings are not. By now you’re probably thinking what I’m writing does not make sense but when it comes down to it, all I am saying is this… You can take someone else’s insight but don’t feed on it entirely. Don’t depend heavily on someone else’s theology. Form your own by delving into the Word of God and cling to it. Start by clinging to His promises. Only then will you take full exposure from the Son and direct and constant exposure to the Son’s Words leads to spiritual maturity.
“But whoever drinks from the water that I will give him will never get thirsty again–ever! In fact, the water I will give him will become a well of water springing up within him for eternal life.”
John 4:14
got it!
This was a reaction to some egregious comments I’ve read from your missing post with rationale that is rather headscratching coming from a professing believer, and to be clear, it’s not your comment. When people react with righteous indignation, it calls us to stand firm in our convictions. What helps is knowing with absolute certainty what’s written and only then will we not waiver even though some people “feel” it’s “unchristian.”
I stood my little patch of ground, while trying to be polite. No Christian I know who believes in sovereign grace also believes this releases us from responsibility to preach the Gospel diligently and lovingly. The person in question is using the doctrine of grace unbiblically. I’ve heard of people doing this but this is my first experience. You did well with this post but I pray you know this isn’t what I believe because it isn’t what Jesus told us to do. He said to preach the Gospel to every creature – which means the whole Gospel, including repentance, calling people to repent and believe, which this well-known debater didn’t do.
🌾🌻🍒
The sad thing really is people hold to a set of theology and identify themselves as reformed. When an influential proponent of the same theology makes a grave error (Dr. J. W), people who hold to the same identification gets dragged down in the process. The same can be said about people who claim to be Christians who truly are not when their erroneous modes of thinking and behavior tarnishes the entire body of genuine believers. It makes people think whether the entire body of reformers really reason and think the same way, after all, that is why people identify themselves to that particular theology, so it is safer not to slap ourselves with labels other than Christian since asserting the distinction becomes counterproductive.
“The person in question is using the doctrine of grace unbiblically.”
Your exposé shows me we are on the same side so no clarification is needed on your part. However it truly is mindboggling how people pick and choose which Scripture to heed to and some even go as far as saying it was only applicable during that time in regards to the context. If that were truly the case, then it would be quite pointless for people to look to Scripture for modern-day life application since people can just easily dismiss anyone who correctly applies the principle. We are to scrutinize how the person uses Scripture to defend their stance in a way that its intended principle is not contorted in any way and I don’t think that’s what happened.
Caeli, it’s shameful what some people say about His Word and whether it is “relevant”. His Word is eternal, and we are His servants. Understanding for life can be grasped from everything in it.
Matthew 13:52
Then He said to them, “Therefore every scribe instructed concerning the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out of his treasure things new and old.”