EricScahill.com

Christian Controversy

Debates and disputes within the Christian church are nothing new. Some of these arise just because we are all human and imperfect. The very first 12 disciples argued with each other, and at times had trouble understanding what Jesus was saying. (see Gospel of Mark Ch 9: 31-34 for example).

Scripture itself states quite clearly there will be:

	false teachers and prophets within the church who will introduce heresies ( see 2 Peter 2:1)
	false apostles and brethren (2 Corinthians 11:13 - 26)
	false brethren (see Galatians 2:3-5)

It looks as though the existence of debates and disputes should be expected as a part of ongoing church life. The parable of the wheat and the tares (see Matthew Ch 13: verses 36:42 for its meaning) also confirms that this is going to be the situation in the church as a whole until Christ returns.

Bringing doctrinal differences and false teachings out into the open, so believers can examine their claims to be truth can be uncomfortable, but its necessary.

Keep It Simple

There's a lot to be said for keeping things simple. The basics of the gospel of salvation¹ are simple enough to make it relatively easy to initially become a disciple of Christ. It can be a good deal harder to remain one though, as the parable of the sower illustrates.

The New Testament also contains:

	warnings to believers about 'falling away' from your faith. (Hebrews 6:6, 2 Peter 3:17, 2 Thessalonians 2:3)
	exhortation to remain stedfast in your faith ( Hebrews 3:14)
	instruction on the need to resist the attacks of satanic spiritual forces (1 Peter 5:8)
	examples of believers being lead astray by false brethren (Galatians 1: 6-7)

If you are sitting in church one day, and your pastor, priest, or a visiting speaker brings you some false doctrine in his sermon, how are you going to recognise it as false?

The best defense against falsehood is truth, and the first place to look for that is in the prayerful study of scripture. So its important to your own spiritual health to follow a regular diet of bible reading.      

While parts of the bible are difficult to understand, most of it can be read in just the same way you read anything else. It is a set of 66 separate spiritual books, written with divine inspiration. So if you are a christian the Holy Spirit will help your understanding (^{_{See John 16:13 and 1 Corinthians 2:14).}}

If there is something you don't fully understand, read other bible versions to see how different translators have expressed the same passages. Use your commonsense. If the plain sense of what you are reading is clear, you don't need any other sense.

You can find some general guidelines and principles regarding bible study here. 

On the next page we look at the personal responsibility of a believer.

Click here to continue...  

1 The "gospel" itself is spelt out quite clearly in 1 Corinthians Ch 15, so you can always check for yourself what gospel you should be hearing or preaching when witnessing to others..