Jeremiah 31:33-34 (NASB) – “But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” delares the Lord, “I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying ‘Know the Lord,’ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares the Lord, “for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”

Matthew 15:7-9 (NASB) – “You hypocrites, rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you: ‘This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men’”

John 16:13a (NASB) – “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth;…..”

Philippians 3:15 (NASB) - ”Let us therefore, as many as are perfect, have this attitude; and if in anything you have a different attitude, God will reveal that also to you;”

2 Timothy 2:15 (NASB) – “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.”

Why do you react to certain words, phrases, or people the way you do? When you hear someone say that they have received a “revelation”, what is the first thing that comes to mind? Do you immediately feel that “Sola Scriptura” is being attacked?  When you hear the word church or pastor, what image is first in your thoughts? Do you see buildings and quasi-CEO’s? If someone says to you that they just believe that they need to have enough faith that God will answer their prayer for healing or a new job and it will happen, do you react negatively? If someone speaks of the “gifts of the Spirit”, do you start to think of those that you believe have ceased? Do you start to see people “swinging from chandeliers”? (As if that has actually ever happened! But the cessasionist and partial-cessasionist will describe a belief in the continuing of the “sign-gifts”, an unbiblical category by the way, in this manner.)

How would you know that your reaction is being prompted by the Spirit of God in you versus being induced by the teachings of others?

Recently, I challenged a brother-in-Christ, an author, concerning an endorsement that he received for his book from someone who’s very name in conservative circles is synonymous with “false teaching”. At first, he was very defensive. Even downright evasive, so I thought. However, in the final e-mail exchange he offered a very humbling, even downright shame enducing challenge to me. He said, “Feel free to email me your question and I’ll answer as I have time. But before you write out your question, please give me the list of books by brother (name deleted for privacy sake) that you read from cover to cover.”

To tell the truth, I passed this off as just this author making an excuse to avoid dealing with what appeared to me to be a serious issue. I even reasoned that he was just another book seller who would use any marketing tool, including using an endorsement from one of the more popular “heretics” to sell his book. I even told this person that I had read all of his books (to that point) and that I didn’t see that as automatic basis upon which to disagree with him. Content is supposed to drive disagreement.  However, later on I reflected on his point. Why did I disagree with this endorser? In fact, if content was supposed to drive disagreement, then why hadn’t I embibed more of the content of this other person’s works. The answer was, because I was told not to.

That’s right, some other well meaning Christian (probably some so-called apologist who considers themself a “guardian of God’s truth)  had already told me that this person’s books and materials should be avoided and were a complete waste of my time. Since this person was in the “Word of Faith” camp, appeared on TBN and, of course, associated with other popular “false teachers”, buying their books or listening to their teachings, was only giving support to the “devil”.

So when I approached this Christian author about the endorsement, the truth was, I had no more actual evidence about the person that I was questioning him about than what was told to me by someone else. It was worse than a secondhand witness because I don’t know where that Christian got their information to tell me.

So what’s the point of me sharing this experience? The point is that when we are dealing with another believer in an area of concern, we need to remember that this person is indwelt by the Spirit of the Most High! This is someone in whom the very Creator of the universe dwells! Therefore, we must keep an open mind and a loving demeanor, even if we believe their error is grave. Perhaps God is using their exposure to teachings that we are not necessarily comfortable with, in order to lead them on the path that He has set for their life. Perhaps we are wrong and simply haven’t done the proper investigation into the matter and are just going off of secondhand information.

Let us remember the words of the Apostle Peter in reference to the danger of false teaching amongst believers, “then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation,…” (2 Peter 2:9a, NASB) And if we have any suspicions or questions about a teaching or doctrine , let us take the example of the Bereans who “examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so.”

Hello. My name is Lawrence D. and I’m an Onion-head!

Like an onion, each of us has many layers that cover the source or sources that contribute to the reasons why we believe what we believe. Many of us would decry such a claim. We would claim adamantly that we believe in “Sola Scriptura”. We would claim that our position on any theological point is strictly derived from scripture. But is this really the case? I have to say no. You see, there are many, many layers on our minds through which we filter the truth of God’s Holy Word.

Some of those layers include our:

Theology- How we view God, His nature, His attributes, His relationship to us as Creator, etc.

Christology- H0w we view Christ, His nature, His role in the Godhead, His work, His role as Head of the Church, etc.

Pneumatology- How we view the Holy Spirit, His nature, His role in the Godhead His work, His presence, etc.

Ecclesiology- How we view the Church, it’s function, setting, government, etc.

Anthropology- How we view mankind. This includes issues of gender roles, race, etc.

Philosophy- How we view reality.

Epistemology- How we know what we know.

Hermeneutics- How we interpret scripture. This is shaped by everything mentioned. (Including our next category)

And lest we forget that most dangerous of all layers, that which blinds mens’ eyes, stops their ears and eventually damns their souls,

TRADITION/RELIGION!

This layer is the thickest of all. It is the most tenaciously defended. It is the most cherished. It is that in which we most invest our time, energy and money to preserve. And sadly, it is that layer which we are least likely to recognize in ourselves. It is the layer which is most like pride and most likely to contribute to pride. Pride is the carbon monoxide poison of sins. When it is in you, you can’t see it, taste it or smell it. And without the proper detector (Thank you Lord for brothers like Lionel and DTG!) it will kill your testimony and anyone who crosses your path. And if God is not merciful to you to awaken you out of your stupor, it will kill your very soul!

To be frank, revealed truth is the only thing that will bring about clarity on any of these issues. We must have our minds/hearts opened by God in order to receive His revelation. We must humble ourselves and realize that our own intellect is only able to get us so far in knowing the things of God. But if we are to come to know God Himself, it will take a supernatural work of the Holy Spirit.

Revealed truth is both sorrowful and joyful at the same time. Revealed truth both traps you and frees you. It wounds you and heals you. It knocks you down and it sets you straight up on your feet. It scares you and gives you courage you never had before. It can be both ugly and beautiful at the same time. It’s like the sun, you can’t stand to look at it for too long but at the same time you can’t see anything else without it. There’s a funny thing about revealed truth. It not only reveals that thus far you’ve been wrong but it also reveals the reasons why.

Allow me to make a few suggestions:

1. Don’t be afraid to question both your beliefs and the practices that result from them. You may find that they have no biblical support whatsoever and should therefore not be held over another believers’ head or contentiously debated. Yes, you could be an onion-head too!

2. In questioning your beliefs, pray and ask God to be merciful unto you and to show you your error.

3. When you receive God’s truth, be prepared to be labeled and rejected by the “religious establishment”. Be prepared to be accused of vile things, such as being a false teacher, a heretic, or a rebel.

4.  Be prepared to stand alone in the things God will show you.

5. Keep it in mind the next time you are trying to convince someone who appears to be in opposition to the truth of God’s word, that that person has many layers that has led them to that belief. Remember that you too were once blind in many areas, including the one you are now debating with them over.

Again, in the end only the powerful work of the Holy Spirit upon the mind will peel back the layers that prevent us from having the truth revealed to us. This weakness in us serves to promote God’s glory.

Let us pray that the mercy of God will bring about the revelation of His Son to each of us and to those with whom we come in to contact.

Matthew 11:25-27 (emphasis mine, also see Luke 10:21-22)  “At that time Jesus said, ‘I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have REVEALED them to infants. Yes, Father, for this way was well-pleasing in Your sight. All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to REVEAL Him.’”

Luke 24:13-16;30-32 “And behold, two of them were going that very day to a village named Emmaus, which was about seven miles from Jerusalem. And they were talking with each other about all these things which had taken place. While they were talking and discussing, Jesus Himself approached and began traveling with them. BUT THEIR EYES WERE PREVENTED FROM RECOGNIZING HIM…..When He had reclined at the table with them, He took the bread and blessed it, and breaking it, He began giving it to them. THEN THEIR EYES WERE OPENED AND THEY RECOGNIZED HIM; and He vanished from their sight.”

Don’t worry, this isn’t another attempt to beat Arminians over the head with the Sovereignty of God in salvation. If anything, I could spend paragraphs and cite hundreds of examples of the need for Calvinist to put into practice their professed beliefs. Rather, this post is to advertise the solution to a problem that seems to escape well meaning believers (that’s us) at times.

I have come to notice a trend in our day. Whether it be in the area of evangelism, preaching, or apologetics, many well meaning Christians have forgotten one major thing, IT TAKES A SUPERNATURAL WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IN ORDER FOR ANY MAN OR WOMAN TO COME TO THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE TRUTH, INCLUDING YOU AND I!

Take a personal survey of the latest or most popular evangelism method. Or how about the last sermon you heard on false converts. Or how about the last apologetic discussion you heard on the existence of God. How much emphasis was put on dependence in the Holy Spirit to take the method or information and apply it to the heart of the one who needed it? Can you confidently say that the “4-step method” of evangelism, the “exegesis/exposition” of the text, or the logical argument, were not themselves the feature star of each presentation? Wasn’t the attitude more in the line of ”trust me this method works” or “faithful, accurate preaching is only sure fire way to ensure the church is pure” or “trust me, the atheists have no answer for this”?

Or what about the last theological debate you had with another Christian? How much were your emotions affected by the discussion? Was there any moment where you had distain for your brother or sister? Was there any moment where you judged them in your heart as possibly being unsaved? Was there a moment where the Spirit said to end the discussion but you had to get in another point? And once the discussion was over, did you mine your bible for prooftexts to use as belittling weapons against that person the next time the subject came up?

Now, while I definitely love the zeal of anyone who goes out and evangelizes (with just about any method) and I love exegetical/expositional sermons, and my personality just fits right into apologetics, (which sometimes leads to very unbecoming confrontations with other believers) none of these bear any fruit without the Spirit. How do I know? Well, it should seem obvious that since each of these is employed by us as fallible, sinful men and women, on our best day, we can no more be effective at changing the hearts/minds of men than we can at changing the rotation of the sun. But unfortunately it is not so obvious.  Even the apostle Paul had to remind the Corinthians, “So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth. (I Corinthians 3:7)”

Sometime ago, I wrote an article entitled,  ”Is my Ipod causing me to sin?”. But it wasn’t my Ipod. It was pride. It was arrogance. It was having a suspicious and judgmental heart. It was not recognizing that the Spirit was at work in me to come to the knowledge of the truth. It was folly. You see, the only thing that helped me to see that Albert Mohler, Matt Slick, John MacArthur, Paul Washer, etc. were wrong in the areas with which I disagreed with them, was the kindness of God giving me revelation. And guess what!? I yet have many blind spots! So therefore, my grace and mercy for these men should have been as vast as that that I desire and expect from Our Lord Jesus. Because again, it takes REVELATION and ILLUMINATION to make Christ and the things of Christ known to any of us.

So the next time you’re involved in a potentially contentious discussion with another believer or the next time you hear another believer (yes even a famous theologian or apologist) say something that you know to be wrong, instead of reacting with contempt, take a moment and ask God to be merciful to us all and open our eyes.

Some of you reading this may be put off by the title. Because you have read things that I’ve written before or maybe you’ve even spoken to me over the phone, you may consider me a pretty smart fellow and are wondering what could possibly be over my head. Well, thanks for the vote of confidence but this one really has me stumped. What could this massive conundrum be? It is simply this:

WHY ARE THOSE WHO CLAIM TO BELIEVE IN THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD SEEIMINGLY GIVING UP THAT BELIEF SINCE BARACK OBAMA HAS BEEN VOTED INTO THE PRESIDENCY OF THE UNITED STATES?!

One thing that is leading me to this observation is the apparent abandonment of Christian parameters of speech and behavior towards the man by some professing Christians. If you search the “conservative Christian” blogs and websites you may notice that the subject matter of most of the publications, including podcast, is President Barack Obama. Even if not for the entire program, many do not fail to mention his inauguration nor how they feel his policies will “transform the very fabric of our society”.  You may also notice that 99.9999999999999% of the statements about him are negative. Not just about the man’s policies but about the man himself. You may hear descriptions of President Obama like, “weak”, “godless”, “ignorant”, “feminized”, and even “stupid”! I even heard one commentator describe his wife Michelle Obama, our new First Lady, as a bull dog.

You may also, like me, notice that people are trying really hard to make sure that you know that President Obama is not a real Christian. You may also notice that neither Presidents Bill Clinton nor George W. Bush received this much attention from these same people. So what’s going on here?

Now don’t get me wrong. I didn’t vote for President Obama and for several reasons. One, I don’t agree with his stance on abortion. Two, for all his talk of “change” he never said what he would change things to or how. Three, I wanted a third party candidate to make a good showing so that ,maybe we can eventually move away from the two party system where the winner being from one of them is a forgone conclusion. 

And let’s fact it, all of these individuals have a right to their opinion. They even have a right to express it. But biblically, if they are professing Christians, I don’t believe they are right to do so. Why? Here’s a couple of texts of scripture that governs our speech AT ALL TIMES: (By the way, yes I’m guilty of violating these texts)

Ephesians 4:29 (NASB) “Let no unwholesome word proceed from you mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification, according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear.

Colossians 4:5-6 (NASB) “Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunity. Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how to respond to each person.”

In both cases grace is enjoined. Since grace is undeserved or unmerited favor, then there seems to be no way around adhering to the imperitives of these verses. Even when the person being spoken about is found to be utterly dispicable, as these people find President Barack Obama to be, the Christian’s speech should not be affected.

But back to the “Sovereignty of God” issue. Most of the “conservative Christian” crowd are Calvinists. If anybody insist upon the sovereignty of God in everything, it’s the Calvinist. But lately I’ve been hearing the sovereignty of God being trumped by the fear of Obama. Those who are for Obama are accused of not only worshipping the man but also of being caught up in Obamamania. Well, I’m going to accuse those who are against Obama of being caught up in Obamahysteria! I’ve heard words like “frightened”, “fearful”, “devastated”. And phrases like, “he’s going to destroy America”, “God must be judging us”, “America no longer looks like the place I grew up in” and other such foolishness.

Now my only conclusion is that these same people have forgotten that God is sovereign. The same God that put Pharoah, Cyrus, Darius, Xerxes, Herod, Pilate, Ceasar, Nero, and even Hitler in power, is the same God that put Washington, Lincoln, Roosevelt, Kennedy, Reagan, Bush 1, Clinton, Bush 2 and yes, even Obama in the office of the presidency. The very same sovereign God. All for His own purpose and His own glory. Just because the election didn’t go your way doesn’t mean that God has abandoned you. 

So relax Christian. God is still on the throne. 

Or maybe whatever point you were trying to make with all that needless negativity just went over my head…….I guess?!

By observation and experience, I have noticed that people (including myself) usually have one or both of two responses to challenges as to what they believe. Either they reject the challenges outright as foolishness or they regurgitate the arguments with which they have been taught to respond, but both without real thought. But the more I read and study, the more I realize that most people (again, including myself) need to explore a third option, reexamination.

In the rejection and regurgitation processes we fail to realize that we may be as unsophisticated in the knowledge of what we believe as the person offering the challenge. We may know as little as they, concerning how we arrived at our conclusions. The definitions of the words that we use to defend our position my be as undetached from their meanings as our challenger’s ”facts” are from reality. Therefore, in the minds of the knowledgeable, we actually end up being perceived as either paranoid, shallow thinkers (place in your mind the “Christian” most often depicted by Hollywood) or as complete non-thinkers (What the “New Atheists” would like to convince the world that we are). Either way, we give a less than stellar representation of our cause when we appear so robotic. A cause, by the way, which should be the cause given to us by Christ.

So the question remains, why aren’t we more eager and willing to reexamine what we say we believe? Why aren’t we more enthusiastic to stand firm on the foundation of study which we have done ourselves? Why are we so dismissive of  the idea that we ourselves are able, with proper time and effort, to arrive at solid, defensible conclusions concerning what we say is the truth? It seems to me that, at least in our own minds, it rids our opposer of the opportunity to accuse us of being mindless drones. It may be true that we come to the same conclusions. It may be true that we would use the same argumentation and site the same scriptures. But at least it would be with the inward assurance that it was from our own exploration of and reflection on, the issues.

There is one thing, admittedly, that I love to say when I am accused of “following men” or “repeating the party line”. Whether the subject is Calvinism or Eschatology, I take great pleasure to inform the one raising the accusation that I’ve never read anything by John Calvin, John Owen, Martin Luther or any other “reformer”, that is, that wasn’t being quoted by someone else. And I don’t own any of their literary works. I’m also, very, very, very unfamiliar with the “historic creeds”. I don’t think I’ve ever read or researched any one of them. And don’t even get me started on the so-called “early church fathers”. (By the way, didn’t Christ tell us not to call any man on earth “father”) Talk about a group of scattered thoughts. These men are almost as varied in the annunciation of their beliefs as the denominational landscape of the modern day Christian religion. Therefore, whatever positions are affirmed by these men or in these creeds, I can’t be accused of mindlessly following or “standing on the shoulders” of any of them. I’m not saying that the study of these “great men” or of these creeds is a waste. I’m not saying that they shouldn’t be consulted. But I am saying that I can’t be accused of xerox copying them. Which, let’s face it, is the standard in evangelicalism these days.

This “xeroxing” mentality is partly to blame for the rejection/regurgitation tendency. I mean who is Bro. Lawrence D. in comparison to John Calvin? But this is not all. There are also several other reasons why reexamination is often not pursued.

The first may be called the “apostaphobia”. So often, reexamination is met with the fear that because one is reexamining their faith, that one must also be prepared to abandon that faith. This is a fear that is mostly founded in sensationalism. We are all familiar with the so-called “former Christian” ( i.e. Bart Erhman, Dan Barker, etc.), individuals who upon reexamining Christianity, subsequently decided to abandon their “faith”. Not only are there just as many “non-believers” who have went through this process of reexamining Atheism or another religious belief system only to come out a “Christian”, but it should be clear that apostasy does not necessarily follow reexamination. Most people actually become further hardened in their beliefs. At least in my experience. I mean can’t we at least all agree that it takes a supernatural work of the Holy Spirit on the heart of any man in order for them to come to Christ? But this reality doesn’t stop men in the pulpits across this nation from warning you not to read “The Shack” (a fiction novel by the way), the Purpose Driven Life, or to utilize “The Message Bible”. Sorry friends, but if we’re going to promote the powerful work of the Holy Spirit in the lives of God’s people, then we can’t have a “no don’t read that!” reaction to “fringe” writings. We must, as the Apostles Paul and John did, balance warning against false teaching with a dependency on the Holy Spirit to guard the mind of the believer who is exposed or exposes themselves to it.

Another reason may be called “label-phobia”. We don’t mind labels that we choose for ourselves. (which may be why Christians are always trying to come up with new labels). But we despise being labeled by others. For instance, right now I am a monergist. I believe that the bible teaches monergism. But you may cause me to sin by calling me a Calvinist. I despise this label. John Calvin did not write the bible! He’s not mentioned in it by name! He is not one of ”The Twelve”! He is the wrong J.C.! He is…Uh oh, sorry I was back in a COGIC pulpit for a minute there. Moving right along, lol! 

And because of this fear of being labeled by others, reexamination is often not done because it opens us up to some of the most hurtful labeling. Names like heretic, rebel, lone-ranger Christian, the afore mentioned apostate, cult member, or the worst for me, man follower. (There are some members of my family who would accuse me of blindly following Pastor John E. Coleman. If only they knew, right PJ?!) Either way, Christians are often very hesistant to buck the status quo. There really is no genuine encouragement in the Body for one to be “fully persuaded” in his/her own mind. So we end up with a group of what I call “RoboChristians”. (Go to the “search” box if you want to read my article on this.)

One more reason that I would like to mention is the fear of saying “I don’t know”. (Notice how all my reasons center around some kind of fear?) This particular fear may be the result of pride. It may actually reflect true ignorance. And worse of all, it may signal an inauthentic relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. So many, many people know about the Lord. So few, actually know Him. They hide behind “conservative” theologians. They learn the facts. They learn the arguments. They learn “what would Jesus do”? They learn how He would vote. They learn where He would and would not go for entertainment. They learn what He would wear. They learn where He would go to college. They learn how he feels about sports. But sadly, they never learn Christ! As I’ve written before, so many sermons today are calling for Christians to “examine” themselves. Sadly, many really just need to examine Christ FOR themselves.

All I really want to get across in any of this (and I hope that in dialogue more of this can be explored) is that the next time someone tells you there is no God, or they say that it’s all based in Astrology or Greek mythology, that there are no miracles or they ask you how you know that the bible is the word of God or that Jesus ever actually lived, don’t just reject the challenge offhand. Try not to regurgitate someone else’s reflections and answers. And please don’t be afraid to just say, I don’t know. Don’t just know the “what” but the “who, when, where, why and how” of your belief.

Simply put, it’s time to reexamine.

In my last post on this subject I tried to both define and provide examples of the effects of this malady I call “Lazy Extremism”. One example that I didn’t necessarily hit on was the problem of accepting words without definitions. We tend to hear people use words, and use them ourselves, so often that the usage becomes the definition for us. But is this a sound way to approach our biblical faithfulness. Hardly!

The problem is exasperated by the issue of tradition. I’ve found that when most people are pressed to define what they mean when they use a certain word they are usually at a loss for words. Pardon the pun. For example…

A few weeks ago a co-worker of mine, who is a nominal Christian at best (and that by her own admission, not my judgment) approached me about some of her family members (Oneness Pentecostals) whom she felt were hypocrites. I pressed her on what she meant by that label. We all know the charge that the world levels against the church so it was important to me to decipher whether or not she knew of what she spoke. As is the normal case with those who level that charge, to her it meant that they didn’t practice what they preached. In her opinion, they were hard on and judgmental towards all unwed mothers except their own daughter. This she considered hypocrisy. But in the case of proclaiming that which is right in one’s own home while being unable to effect the choices of one’s children, the charge of hypocrisy would seem to be patently unfair. But here’s the greater problem…

The aspect of not practicing what one preaches is actually a secondary definition to what a hypocrite is. We know in the original Greek that it meant a “mask wearer” to denote actors who would wear large masks in order to destort their voices so that they could play more than one character in the same play. But how does that translate into the way that Christ (the terms most prolific user) used it against the Pharisees? Well, Christ knew that despite the Pharisees true heart condition, they wanted everyone around them to THINK that they were truly God’s men. The Pharisees themselves knew that their motives were power, influence and money, but the only way to gain either was to convince others that they were sincere worshippers.

You see sisters and brothers this is the essence of the hypocrite. It is one who while knowing the truth of their own motives, speaks and lives in such a manner as to convey otherwise to those over whom they desire impact. In order for the charge of hypocrisy to be labeled on someone for not practicing what they preached, it would have to be an expectation of perfection for all who dared to declare anything as right or wrong. And needless to say, none of us are perfect; even in the areas where we are certain of what is right or wrong. Therefore, it can not be the expectation of the one who declares, for example, “thou shalt not lie” to have never lied him/herself.

But what about other words that we hear and use where we aren’t certain of the definition? I mean, what is the church? What is scripture? What is worship? What is leadership? What is accountability? What is membership? What is love? (Baby don’t hurt me, don’t hurt me, no more. I couldn’t help it. LOL!!!)

But seriously, in a time when the true believer is almost unidentifiable and Christianity is ”just another religion”,  it seems to be imperative that we work really hard at articulating our hope and beliefs in clarity, against the backdrop of post-modernism. No longer can we attack the kaleidoscope of “new-age” religious thoughts while utilizing traditional versus biblical definitions. If we are going to be faithful in the defense of our Master and Lord’s holy word, then we must do so in a way that would seperate us from the rest. We can’t afford to be lazy extremists!

(Author’s note: I have decided to dispense with trying to frame every article under the title “Agonizing Over” or “Being Honest About”, hence the plain title of this post. I believe that the purpose and point of every article on this site has been well established at this point and so the use of those headings is no longer necessary.  By the way, I also want to thank a few brothers for helping with my thinking on this issue because they may not be aware of how much they have helped me. Many thanks to Bro. Lionel Woods, Bro. Derrick Hill, Bro. Leonard Lyles, Bro. Jun Renegado and Bro. Hutch!)

In Ephesians 4:14 we are commanded to “no longer be children, tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftines in deceitful scheming”. This admonishment comes as an expected response to the gifts that have been provided by Christ for His church for both their maturity and protection against false teachers. The problem comes when we fail to “all speak the same things”. What do we do when otherwise reliable teachers happen to differ? What if there is nothing heretical in the teaching that will allow for an easy identification of the one teaching it as a false teacher? What happens when we are tossed to and fro between two doctrines that are otherwise orthodox? As my two brothers Derrick the Gladiator and MSAMU often mention, there are way to many denominations for the Church (visible) to claim to have a unified voice. But what do these things have to do with the title of this post? I’m glad you asked.

I believe that I have been personally guilty of what I’m going to call “Lazy Extremism”. Now first let me define what I mean by that phrase. “Lazy Extremism is: The undiscerning acceptance of any doctrine without thorough investigation into, and necessary reflection upon, its implications. It is coupled with a willingness to defend said doctrine without regard to its impact upon the gospel or upon the person with whom one may be arguing. It is being persuaded by an outside influence even while not being fully persuaded in one’s own mind. It is switching one’s allegiance like a free agent in the major sports leagues. In other words, going with the most personally fulfilling teaching.

What are some of the results of this mindset? Well, it can lead to arguing a point that may have no real point. It can lead to arguing with the goal of just winning the argument. It can lead to arguing while using information or arguments that one has not personally investigated but is repeating because it sounded good when one heard it. You may even end up having arguments where you forget what subject you were even discussing.

Worse still, is that “Lazy Extremism” can lead to holding another true brother-in-the-Lord in contempt. (A violation of Romans 14 I might add) That in and of itself could lead to disunity in the Body. And again, individually it can lead to a lack of authenticity or basically hypocritical behavior. And maybe worse of all, it can lead to judging scripture by a particular system of doctrine, rather than judging all doctrines by scripture, which just so happens to be one of the basic mistakes of all of the cults and false religions. (Thanks again Bro. Lionel! I know this is one of the things you endeavor to avoid.)

I can use my own experience as an example of where I have experienced all of these results while buying into this mindset. For instance, when I began to accept the Doctrines of Grace, or Calvinism, I did so without any direct interaction with anyone and with limited information. I considered myself an intelligent person and the intellectual nature of the arguments appealed directly to my way of thinking. Granted in the beginning I did only make a committment to 4 points. But of course after some more “convincing arguments”, the 5th point became etched in stone also. Eventually I ended up on a like-minded blog where I could simply join the chorus and shout down the infidel. Basically this led to not really being challenged at all. You know, safety in numbers.

Within that experience was the fact that the initial information that I ingested was from a cessasionist perspective. Now it would seem that a lifelong Pentecostal like myself would have had a real struggle letting go of the experiences with the gifts that I had no doubt had. Not all were real but not all were fake either. But I didn’t really struggle at all. It was as if I hadn’t had any experiences at all. After some time past and I heard some more information I began to move again. Next I began to accept and defend the false distinction between, as one known bible expositor puts it, the temporary “sign” gifts and the permanent “speaking and serving” gifts. This I did as a way to sort of hold on to the cessasionist view while still considering myself biblical. But alas, I ended up right back where I started, fully accepting the present operation, in the Body, of all of the spiritual gifts. And only because the Holy Spirit would not allow me to continue to ignore the plain teaching of scripture and the “burning strawmen” that had been put before me.

But the sad thing is that along the way I left a trail of wounded soldiers. Every Arminian became for me a glory stealing, self-saving, sign chasing, biblically illiterate, scripture twisting, idiot. And guess what? It became my goal to identify them as such and then to commence to arguing them out of it. But you want to know what was revealed about myself in the process? That I was a glory stealing, self-righteous, Spirit grieving, unity destroying, scripture ignoring, hindrance to the gospel. It was as though every place I stepped became a hill to die on and a land mine for the “enemy”. And that’s just one example of what happens when we embrace doctrines like we’re playing “Frogger” on the Atari 2600. (I know, I’m old! LOL) It’s an example of what a Christian who suffers from “Lazy Extremism” looks and sounds like. But thank God for His grace!

Bottom line, ladies and gentlemen, we must be very discerning about any doctrine that we may be new to. Rather it be “Lordship Salvation”, “New Covenant Theology”, or “Preterism”, we must subject everything to the scriptures while at the same time asking the Holy Spirit for an understanding. We should be careful not to get into the habit of receiving or rejecting “new things” off-hand. Nothing would be more awful than to be chastened or worse, rejected by Christ, simply because we took someone else’s word for it when it came to a doctrine. Isn’t that what we warn the Mormons and Jehovah Witnesses about? As they say over at the White Horse Inn, “Know what you believe and why you believe it”.

2 Timothy 2:15 reads, “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.”

A zealous person who ignores this clear command will do nothing but fall into “Lazy Extremism”.

Let me know what you think.

Have you, as a believer, ever struggled with certain Doctrines of the Christian faith? Have you ever been confronted by someone with questions about what you believe that took you an hour to explain because there wasn’t “chapter and verse” just plainly stating it? For instance, have you ever wanted to turn to the verse that says “God’s sovereignty is completely compatible with man’s freedom!”? Or how about “The earth was created on January 1, 4000 b.c.”? Or how about my favorite verse ”God is a Trinity, 1 God in 3 Divine persons, not 3 Gods, but 3 co-equal, co-eternal, and co-existing Divine Persons, all sharing the exact same nature and attributes”? You couldn’t find these verses could you? Well, that’s because they aren’t in the bible.

So much of what we as Christians believe is derived from applying “the whole counsel of God”. If we add to that the fact that normally an individual comes to faith in Christ totally ignorant of these things, perhaps we can be a little more patient with those who disagree or are ignorant. Perhaps we can began to trust more on the work of the Holy Spirit through illumination and less on our ability to argue. Perhaps we can also began to understand that the Holy Spirit does not work at the same pace with each individual. Just look at the testimony on my personal page. 

People are often times misjudged by other Christians as not being regenerate because of an inability to discern where that person is in the process. I’ve heard Apologist of every stripe go to I Corinthians 2:14 and use it to declare someone who is struggling to understand and agree with certain doctrines as “possibly unregenerate”. What bologna! I could be wrong but this doesn’t seem to apply to the wide range of things for which it is being used.

Let’s take a closer look at I Corinthians 2 and find out if these are reasonable applications. I’ll start at verse 6:

(NASB) Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away; but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory; the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory; but just as it is written, “Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which have not entered the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love Him.” For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thougths with spiritual words. But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.”

Let’s make a few observations about this passage

1.  The context of the wisdom spoken of in verse 6 doesn’t seem to apply to the wide range of certain doctrines that they are applied to.

2. Verse 7 says that this is a wisdom that is predestined. So even if it did apply to every doctrine that an apologist wants to use it for, even he/she must admit that predestination of all kinds manifest at different times for each of us.

3.  Since the understanding of this wisdom would have prevented the “rulers” from crucifying our Lord, then it seems that it deals with understanding who and how valuable Christ is to man concerning salvation. I dare say that the fullness of this is not grasped by any Christian alive. Christ is infinitely valuable and we are ever increasing in our understanding of that fact!

4. Verse 9 speaks of things that God has prepared for those who love Him. What are these things? Again, it seems to be in the context of the value of Christ. We have a lot in Christ besides salvation. According to II Peter 1:3 we have been granted “everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.” Now does that apply to the difficult doctrines of the faith? Maybe. But in verse 10, Paul says that they have been revealed through the Spirit because “the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God”. How are they revealed? Through the Spirit! Do we control how the Spirit operates in another believers life? God forbid such presumption! It even seems to imply that searching is required. It’s not a case of you telling me and then me responding “Oh, I get it now!”. Remember those Bereans? Was that the case with them? You know, the noble ones who searched the scriptures daily. But I digress….

5. Verse 12 says that we have received the Spirit who is from God, “so that we may know the things freely given to us by God”. This is an important verse because this is what the “natural man” does not accept.

6. The natural man does not accept the free gift of God which is salvation. Why doesn’t he accept them? Because it is foolishness to him. Why is it foolishness? Because it comes through accepting a crucified God/man as Lord and Savior ( I Corinthians 1:18 ) which is being preached (another seemingly foolish endeavor depending on how you read I Corinthians 1:21) in simplicity.

My point here is that this verse or passage of scripture should not be used to beat down anyone who is struggling to understand that which is not explicitly stated in scripture. It definitely should not be used to call into question the salvation of one who is genuinely searching these things out. Every measure of grace, mercy and longsuffering should go into instructing one another in these areas. Why? Because God has extended this same grace, mercy and longsuffering to each and everyone of you reading this. And we yet stand in need of more!

I Peter 3:15 reads: “but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence;”. According to John MacArthur Jr. in the MacArthur Study bible: ‘The English word “apologetics” comes from the Greek word here translated “defense.” Peter is using the word in an informal sense and is insisting that the believer must understand what he believes and why one is a Christian, and then be able to articulate one’s beliefs humbly, thoughtfully, reasonably, and biblically.’

Now let’s say that we accept MacArthur’s explanation on this verse, then what of all the debates that we see in Christian circles today. Are all of these debates really centered around defending why one is a Christian? Is every subject being debated actually vital to the foundation of one’s belief in Christ? I realize that since most of the tenets of Christianity are arrived at systematically, at times we may find it necessary to cover a wide range of subjects. But what I’m basically asking is if the current culture of Apologetics has developed from taking this verse too far. Or, in other words, from not applying it strictly based on its intented purpose?

For instance what about the subject of Eschatology, which is the study of last things? I recently listened to two debates. Both of which were between a Preterist and a Futurist. (If you don’t know what these terms mean, look them up as I don’t have time or space to do either of them justice) Both sets of men professed to be devoted Christians. Both times it seems as though they regarded one another as fellow believers. But neither time did either of them seem to hinge the hope of their salvation on their eschatalogical views. Now don’t get me wrong, I believe that it’s okay for Christians to kick around their different views on other subjects in a debate format. I am even okay with the public being made privy to the conversation. However, since we’ve got their attention, what about mentioning the hope that is in us? What about taking the time to establish the common ground of Christ. I mean Paul even debated with others himself. And he did it publicly. But his aim always seemed to be to establish the truth claims of Christ and the gospel message. Why isn’t that our aim?

Maybe I missed something. Maybe eschatology is pertinent to the gospel. But if it is, then I need someone to show me how. What about you? Do you wonder about other debate subjects that don’t seem to have any impact for the gospel? Do you see any benefit other than believers being equipped to defend their faith? Do you believe that the non-believer can be impacted by vigorous theological debates, either with them or between two Christians? What do you think?