Who would have thought that people claiming to be Christians—even pastors—would attack the very notion of truth?
The truth will set you free
The idea that the Christian message should be kept pliable and ambiguous seems especially attractive to young people who are in tune with the culture and in love with the spirit of the age and can’t stand to have authoritative biblical truth applied with precision as a corrective to worldly lifestyles, unholy minds, and ungodly behavior. And the poison of this perspective is being increasingly injected into the evangelical church body.
But that is not authentic Christianity. Not knowing what you believe (especially on a matter as essential to Christianity as the gospel) is by definition a kind of unbelief. Refusing to acknowledge and defend the revealed truth of God is a particularly stubborn and pernicious kind of unbelief. Advocating ambiguity, exalting uncertainty, or otherwise deliberately clouding the truth is a sinful way of nurturing unbelief.
“It is in the very order of things that so it must be. Truth could not be truth in this world if it were not a warring thing, and we should at once suspect that it were not true if error were friends with it. The spotless purity of truth must always be at war with the blackness of heresy and lies.” —C. H. SPURGEON
~ MacArthur, John F. – The Truth War – Kindle
“Church leaders are especially responsible for setting the example. What we desperately need today are “shepherds according to [God’s] heart, who will feed [believers] with knowledge and understanding” (Jeremiah 3: 15; Acts 20: 28–31). But it is every believer’s solemn duty to resist every attack on the truth, to abhor the very thought of falsehood, and not to compromise in any way with the enemy, who is above all a liar and the father of lies (John 8: 44).”
— The Truth War: Fighting for Certainty in an Age of Deception by John F. MacArthur
https://a.co/eH3qzv1
We are instructed to contend earnestly for the faith (Jude 3). Immediately after the apostle urged Timothy to “pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness” (1 Timothy 6:11), he exhorted him to “fight the good fight of faith” (v. 12), and to guard what had been committed to his trust (1 Timothy 6:20).
The love promoted bythe New Testament is not a free-styled, all-embracing, blind acceptance of every wind of doctrine for the sake of conversation. It is, in fact, just the opposite. Biblical love always goes hand in hand with truth. That’s why false doctrines and those who teach them are condemned in no uncertain terms.
Jesus said: Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.
Paul said: If any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed!
Peter said: It has happened to them [false teachers] according to the true proverb, “A DOG RETURNS TO ITS OWN VOMIT,” and, “A sow, after washing, returns to wallowing in the mire.”
John said: If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house, and do not give him a greeting; for the one who gives him a greeting participates in his evil deeds.
Jude said: But these men revile the things which they do not understand; and the things which they know by instinct, like unreasoning animals, by these things they are destroyed.
Adapted from John’s book, The Jesus You Can’t Ignore.
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