It is amazing how there are so many believers who feel that if they say something witty that it somehow becomes the Gospel truth. But, one thing that usually is missing in all of this is biblical support for what they say they believe. I can't tell you the times that I have seen Christians state their opinions as if they are chapter and verse! Unwilling or unable to defend their opinions, they fall on their denominational swords rather than reason from the scriptures. Maybe I am wrong, but I will let you decide. Here are a few comments on certain subjects that are more opinion than truth.
Eternal Security
Opinion: "No! Rather God says, "Son, I love you so much that I'm willing to let you go if that's what you really want, although it breaks my heart to do so. I'll not force you to stay where you don't want to."
Truth: "My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand." John 10: 27-29
Opinion: "I agree that no one or nothing can separate me from God ...... EXCEPT me. I can choose to remove myself from Jesus' hand."
Truth: "For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8: 38-39
Identity
Opinion: "And this is why I do not subscribe to the popular teaching within Evangelicalism of Imputed Righteousness."
Truth: " Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, but also for us. It shall be imputed to us who believe in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification." Romans 4:23-25
Opinion: "So how can we convince someone sin exists in his or her life? The theology of man, the theology of sin. Every true Christian is a sinner saved by grace."
Truth: "How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears,we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is." 1 John 3: 1-2
Christian Living
Opinion: "Work to stay on God's track & He will not only be sure to get you to heaven, but also to portray you as clean to our Heavenly Father."
Truth: "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time." 1 Peter 1:3-5
Opinion: "We are called in order that we might bear everlasting fruit (John 15). To bear fruit (a time consuming process even in the horticulture world) requires that we be continually in communion with our Savior. That requires obedience. That's usually a bad word to most Christians, but it's a very important word. We can talk about how much faith we have, but it's our obedience (or lack thereof) that's a true measure of our faith. And just like Abraham, it's faith on our part that will be credited to us as righteousness (right standing with God)."
Truth: "You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. But by faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the righteousness for which we hope. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love." Galatians 5: 4-6
These are only three subjects, a handful of opinions about them and the scripture verses that they contradict. To the Christian who is more familiar with religion, tradition and experience rather than truth, there opinions can sound like fact. However, having rock solid opinions based on zero information can be dangerous to those who don't take the time to check things against scripture. And the fact that these opinions are repeated ad nauseum is more of a indictment on those saying them then anything else. The Bible says that there is nothing new under the sun. And the growing number of Christians who are more willing to repeat the accepted truth rather than study to find biblical truth is at an epidemic pace. I don't say this to make a judgment about anyones salvation. My point is that the Bible is not difficult to understand if we are willing to be led by the Spirit. There are those that substitute the teachings of men for Biblical truth and end up doing damage to the scriptures they claim to get their opinions from within. Our job is to test what they say up against scripture. We can both be wrong, but we can't both be correct!
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