Growing Through Challenge - Be Careful Who You Follow!

                            GOOD... OR BAD ADVICE?

You might be thinking, “What dumb advice… who wouldn’t use a lot of caution before they became a follower of someone or some belief system?”

Well, not so fast! Let me tell you what got me thinking I should take your and my precious time to discuss this subject.

                                     EXPELLED!

Recently I viewed the movie “EXPELLED! No Intelligence Allowed”. In case you didn’t see the movie, it’s a documentary about how here in the “mostly Christian United States of America” almost no large University will allow a professor in any of their science departments to say (or even write) anything that even mentions the possibility of “Intelligent Design”, as related to how the universe or life might have began. Their professors must be agnostics, atheists… or very, very quiet about any thought that either the universe or any life in the universe might have been caused by a Supreme Being.

Forget that most Americans say they believe in God… that idea cannot even be suggested as a remote possibility in most University science departments, or you’re fired! Several respected PhD. “victims” are interviewed in this documentary.

Even universities which are supported by, and claim a strong Christian heritage, shockingly fall into these ranks. (I know because I helped pay for tuition to one of them. I would no longer be a good candidate for their next fund-raiser.)

Now how, in the name of any good sense, did our “Institutions of Higher Learning” (places where students are taught to explore and be tolerant of new ideas) BECOME SO INTOLERANT?

No matter what you think about the Bible, it is studied in these same university’s Literary Departments as insightful and wise literature. Well, that opened the door for me to at least consider some of the things that the apostle Peter said in urging caution about “False Teachers” in just one chapter of the Bible. He used phrases like the following:

"They secretly introduce destructive heresies”… “In their greed they will exploit you with stories they have made up”… “They despise authority and are bold and arrogant”… “These men are springs without water”… “They mouth empty, boastful words”… “They promise freedom while they themselves are slaves of depravity”… and all this from just one chapter!

If you have a university degree, did you encounter there any individuals where any of the above descriptors seem to ring true? Did you allow any professors to shake your beliefs on some subjects that you perhaps need to revisit?

One more thing… besides the Academic Elite, how about hucksters who will happily lead you down any Dead End Path of your choosing… for a price? Just visit the “Self-Help” section of any large bookstore… you might be amazed at all the multitudes of paths of “Truth” that you may never even have known existed!

As I write this I am looking at a full page ad in a magazine with a man in a suit, looking at me very sternly, pointing at me and saying (in very large letters) “GOD WANTS YOU…” He goes on to tell me that I can “Improve my career and earning power” by paying his institute to become licensed as a “Legally Ordained Minister”.

Yes friend, we’ve got it all here… everything from the intellectual elitist telling me that the idea of a God is not worth even mentioning when considering the origin of the life or the universe… to the huckster who is telling me I need to become an ordained minister.

Can you see why I was thinking about the subject, “Be Careful Who You Follow”?

Please allow me to just give you a little outline I developed to help me (and you, if you choose) think about this important subject:

                          SOMETHING TO CONSIDER

   1) Why are there “False Teachers”? Some may sincerely think they have found some “secret” that bridges the gap between the finite and the INFINITE!

Some are “Ego Driven”… wanting to gather dependent followers… not independent truth seekers. Therefore, they must always have a series of “secret insights” which they gradually dole out and reveal to the “faithful few”.

Some are in it for the money! They are “empire builders” just getting rich off the gullible.

Some are just addicted to the POWER and AUTHORITY of their “Leader Status”. There is something very enticing and almost irresistible about a position of power and authority. I’m sure you have heard the expression “Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely!”

     2) Why do people follow such teachings? Most people have always preferred “answers” rather than “questions”. The more complex our world becomes, the more attractive will be the one who persuasively proclaims “I have the answer… just believe this!”

There is certainly a human attraction to a charismatic personality speaking with persuasion and a sense of authority. Forget if what they say is “truth” or not… some people can just “sway the crowd”.

They have a message that appeals to one of the following:
        a) An escape from real-life, earthly problems and struggles through some transcendent, counterfeit “reality”. In other words, “Don’t confront me with the truth… just tell me something to make me feel good.”
        b) Selfish materialism… this is one of the issues that trouble me about churches which teach a “Health, Wealth and Prosperity” message.
        c) “Theology” that require no help from God and no change from the human tendency toward a self-centered lifestyle.
        d) “Theology” that invites you to forget about making all of the hard, real-life decisions… just let your new spiritual leader make all those decisions for you by telling you what you should and should not, or can and cannot do.

There are others, but this list should help you get your radar turned on and doing some independent questioning and thinking.

     3) Tests for True and False Teaching:
        a) Principle of Exegesis. That is a fancy word which simply means a methodical process of interpretation which uses the whole document… not just the selected parts that fit one’s desired outcome. For example, we hear politicians complain all the time that critics quote them “out of context” instead of taking into account their WHOLE statement, speech, etc. False teachers horribly abuse this basic principle by building an entire belief system on a few obscure passages from the Bible, totally ignoring the context.
        b) Principle of Balance. False teachers often reveal themselves by their tendency to almost always revert to talking about one or two subjects… to the neglect of a well-balanced dogma that covers the intricacies of the whole of life. You are a complicated being! You have Body, Soul, and Spirit… Mind, Emotions, Will… a Physical, Mental, Social, and Spiritual dimension to your life. Any teaching that just seems to “camp out” on one or two areas should at least be suspect… for their lack of balance! When I was a young man, a wise older man warned me that “There are ditches on both sides of the road” … thus emphasizing the need for balance. When sincere learners think they have found a major new truth, there seems to be a tendency to head only in that new direction until they wind up stuck in a ditch… instead of maneuvering between the extremes to stay on the road! Have you ever noticed that the “Truth”, in any facet of life, is usually found on the “Road”, rather than the “Ditches of Extremism” which are found of either side of every issue?
        c) Principle of integrity. Get over the infatuation with your new teacher so you can look with clarity at the whole of their life and teaching. Is there an overall genuineness, honesty, virtue, authenticity, and “rightness” that flows from every aspect of them?
        d) Principle of Congruity. Think of words like, harmony… unity… logic… continuity… reason. If belief in some path asks you to give up a sane, balanced approach to life, be suspect. Truth will not ask you to leave your brain on the coat rack outside!
        e) Principle of Transcendence of the INFINITE. You are free to disagree with me… but I believe that humans are finite; only God is INFINITE. I believe therefore that no matter how much of Him I may come to understand in my temporary, finite form… there will always be infinitely more of Him and His Truth which I have yet to discover!

Therefore, when anyone shows up and starts talking about God and His ways as if they already know it all… I am suspect… and you should be too!