False Teachers

I know some people who are atheists - they deny that God exists. I know a couple of agnostics - they think we can't ever really know for sure if God exists. And I know a bunch of people who understand God a lot differently than I do.

In these tolerant days we're supposed to grant that any of these ideas is OK, and all of them have equal validity. But Peter knew better. He said, "But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them –bringing swift destruction on themselves. Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. In their greed these teachers will exploit you with stories they have made up. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping." (2 Peter 2:1-3).

The world tries to silence us in the name of tolerance, and when we speak the truth anyway, we can so quickly seem judgmental and even hateful. We have to be careful to speak for the truth, not against people, or we become repellant.

But Peter's warning is more about listening than speaking. We hear ideas we like. We hear people say, "My religion is between me and God; I don't need a church." We hear people say, "I worship better in nature than in a worship service." We hear these ideas and sometimes we want to adopt them because sometimes we don't want to be in a church, or in a church service, either.

And we hear people say, "A loving God wouldn't send anyone to Hell." That's a heresy called Universalism, that everyone gets into heaven, and we like that idea because the doctrine of election is hard for us.

I need to be careful. I'm scornful of Westboro Baptist Church because, just as Peter warns, they have brought the way of truth into disrepute through their hateful false teachings. But I too carry the name of Christ; I have made myself known as a Christian. As others watch me, do they see some way in which I've compromised? Have I watered down my faith so that it permits me to do something God forbids? Do I set aside the hard teachings because they're too unpleasant?

If I do, then I too am a false teacher.

Being faithful is hard work. It requires me to think critically about what I read and hear, and to be vigilant about what I say and do. I guess it isn't surprising that we're so eager to listen when someone tells us what our itching ears want to hear.