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Monday, May 4, 2009

Sound Theology – same title; different post

How important is truth? And how concerned should we be about those who are either missing it or opposing it?

With The Shack still topping the Christian best seller list, one has to really question the level of discernment within the church these days. Folks seem willing, almost eager, to get their theology more from so-called novels than from the Word of God.

Add to that the popularity of man-centered, self-pleasing teaching from one end, and the “post-modern” gurus on the other, and one has to wonder where the truth is even being taught.

Likewise, more and more churches seem to be setting aside truth for whatever the latest pragmatic crowd pleaser might be. Think that’s overstating it? Check out the entries over at The Museum of Idolatry. It will turn your stomach.

The question is, how much time should we spend on these heretical teachings and those who propagate them? Should we, as some say, just leave them alone? Just focus on our “own thing” and let the others go? Maybe that seems like the “noble” thing to do, but is it the Scriptural thing? I think not.

We are told to “contend for the faith” (Jude 3). The word there means to struggle, to fight for something. We are to fight for the true faith delivered in Scripture. Paul tells Timothy that the Word is useful for correcting and rebuking. How can we do that if we are ignoring those teaching false doctrine.

Furthermore, the simple truth is this: Do we not love one another enough to keep our brothers from error. If one of my brothers is following after a false teaching, do I not have enough concern and compassion for him to warn him of the dangers? We don’t need to spend all of our time chasing after every heretic out there, but at the very least we ought to be vocal about those most well known who continue to creep into our churches through popular novels and TV teachers.

Phil Johnson over at the Pyromaniacs site has offered a wonderful, succinct, post on this subject. I encourage you to read it. And let us commit ourselves to the admonition given to Titus to “teach what accords with sound doctrine” (Titus 2:1). Sound theology does matter, folks. And we need to fight for it.

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