- Joined
- Jul 13, 2015
- Messages
- 14,695
- Location
- Realms of chaos
- Gender
- Male
- Religious Affiliation
- Christian
- Marital Status
- Married
- Acceptance of the Trinity & Nicene Creed
- Yes
"God is doing a new thing, get on board or miss out"
"The Word tells us that life & death are in the power of the tongue and by our words we will be judged"
"I'm bearing witness of the anointing to you. It is pointless if you can't receive that because you haven't received the baptism of the Holy Spirit"
"It's good doctrine! It's anointed too. The fruits bear it out."
"There will always be a cheering section against that which is anointed. All of the good stuff with persecutions... We must be careful not to ally ourselves in the wrong way in our ignorance."
"Most important, we shouldn't speak out in ignorance against what we don't understand."
These are (paraphrased) comments I've read and heard when discussing the "new thing" that God is allegedly doing. What do they all have in common?
They say nothing about why the teaching is good, they use no Scripture to support it (it doesn't even cherrypick a verse or two out of context to "support" the cause), and they use no Scripture to refute those who oppose the teaching. The common theme is that they look to shut down a discussion, to instil fear that maybe we're wrong and we'd better get with the new program, we'd better drink the Kool-Aid or we're going to miss out on God's latest and greatest movement. Maybe worse than that, if we don't get with the new program maybe we don't have the Holy Spirit, maybe we're not even saved. If we dare to speak against the teaching, are we speaking out against God himself? Are we really to "touch not the Lord's anointed"?
Frankly, I say all this is garbage. Scripture calls us to test all things. Scripture tells us to study to show ourselves approved. Scripture doesn't tell us to just do what feels good, or to trust someone else blindly, or to hide away from those who use stern sounding language against us.
Another thing all these types of comment have in common is that going further than the observation that they say nothing about the teaching under discussion, is that they would apply equally well to any number of weird and wonderful belief systems. Don't believe that Mohammed is God's prophet? Well, perhaps the Qu'ran "is good doctrine, it's anointed, the fruits bear it out" - it's not difficult to find Muslims who do a lot of good work. Don't believe in Vishnu? Well, don't speak out in ignorance against what we don't understand. Don't believe that the Flying Spaghetti Monster created the world by waving his noodly appendages? Best not be too vocal about it - life and death are in the power of the tongue and by our words we'll be judged. And FSM theology probably does "resonate in the spirit" of those who call themselves Pastafarians.
The claim that good things are always persecuted is perhaps the most insidious of all. Yes, good things are resisted and persecuted but so are bad things. People might be speaking against something because it's too close to the truth they can't accept, or they might be speaking against something because it's demonstrably untrue. This kind of line is the sort of thing I'd expect from a cult looking to discourage people from listening to those who speak against it.
I find it particularly worrying when such cult-like behaviour appears within a group that calls itself Christian. The Bible tells us to test all things, and the only way to meaningfully test is to use an objective standard. If we don't use an objective standard we might as well be two people on either side of a market stall arguing over whether the bag of sugar really weighs a pound, with the seller saying they think it's good and the buyer saying they think it's underweight, but neither side putting it on a scale to find out for sure. So if a teaching doesn't align with the Bible, throw it out. If the teacher doesn't want to be tested against the Bible, it's probably good to ask why.
"The Word tells us that life & death are in the power of the tongue and by our words we will be judged"
"I'm bearing witness of the anointing to you. It is pointless if you can't receive that because you haven't received the baptism of the Holy Spirit"
"It's good doctrine! It's anointed too. The fruits bear it out."
"There will always be a cheering section against that which is anointed. All of the good stuff with persecutions... We must be careful not to ally ourselves in the wrong way in our ignorance."
"Most important, we shouldn't speak out in ignorance against what we don't understand."
These are (paraphrased) comments I've read and heard when discussing the "new thing" that God is allegedly doing. What do they all have in common?
They say nothing about why the teaching is good, they use no Scripture to support it (it doesn't even cherrypick a verse or two out of context to "support" the cause), and they use no Scripture to refute those who oppose the teaching. The common theme is that they look to shut down a discussion, to instil fear that maybe we're wrong and we'd better get with the new program, we'd better drink the Kool-Aid or we're going to miss out on God's latest and greatest movement. Maybe worse than that, if we don't get with the new program maybe we don't have the Holy Spirit, maybe we're not even saved. If we dare to speak against the teaching, are we speaking out against God himself? Are we really to "touch not the Lord's anointed"?
Frankly, I say all this is garbage. Scripture calls us to test all things. Scripture tells us to study to show ourselves approved. Scripture doesn't tell us to just do what feels good, or to trust someone else blindly, or to hide away from those who use stern sounding language against us.
Another thing all these types of comment have in common is that going further than the observation that they say nothing about the teaching under discussion, is that they would apply equally well to any number of weird and wonderful belief systems. Don't believe that Mohammed is God's prophet? Well, perhaps the Qu'ran "is good doctrine, it's anointed, the fruits bear it out" - it's not difficult to find Muslims who do a lot of good work. Don't believe in Vishnu? Well, don't speak out in ignorance against what we don't understand. Don't believe that the Flying Spaghetti Monster created the world by waving his noodly appendages? Best not be too vocal about it - life and death are in the power of the tongue and by our words we'll be judged. And FSM theology probably does "resonate in the spirit" of those who call themselves Pastafarians.
The claim that good things are always persecuted is perhaps the most insidious of all. Yes, good things are resisted and persecuted but so are bad things. People might be speaking against something because it's too close to the truth they can't accept, or they might be speaking against something because it's demonstrably untrue. This kind of line is the sort of thing I'd expect from a cult looking to discourage people from listening to those who speak against it.
I find it particularly worrying when such cult-like behaviour appears within a group that calls itself Christian. The Bible tells us to test all things, and the only way to meaningfully test is to use an objective standard. If we don't use an objective standard we might as well be two people on either side of a market stall arguing over whether the bag of sugar really weighs a pound, with the seller saying they think it's good and the buyer saying they think it's underweight, but neither side putting it on a scale to find out for sure. So if a teaching doesn't align with the Bible, throw it out. If the teacher doesn't want to be tested against the Bible, it's probably good to ask why.
