It amazes me at times how Christians can be so naive. Some Christians do not even know what is going on in the culture today. They just stay hidden in their holy huddles and have no interaction with the world.
Some Christians will go to a bookstore and find a book that looks like a Christian book. They will read and accept it as Biblical truth without going to the Bible to back up what the writer is saying. The same thing goes with people in church listening to preachers without testing what he says like the Bereans did in Acts 17. The Bible says the Bereans "received the word with all eagerness," however they also examined "the Scriptures daily to see if these things [that Paul was preaching] were so" (Acts 17:11).
The apostle John in his first epistle said, "Do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world" (1 John 4:1). Yet some Christians do not even do that. They will hear something on Christian radio & television and accept it as a word from God. When a pastor preaches, he can say something contrary to the Word of God and the church will not know it because they did not test the spirits.
Why are some Christians so naive? I think there a few reasons why they are, based on what I have observed. First, Christians are naive because they do not keep up with the culture. Cultural trends change some rapidly than the seasons. Some Christians do not know what is going on in the world around them. So they read the local news but that is as far as they go.
Second, it goes back to treating the pastor as a god. I have been in churches where the pastor is haled as God himself and even gets more respect than God. These churches will take the pastor at his word without knowing what God truly says in his word. Same thing goes for pastors who write books. Some Christians will except what that person has written as a word from God because they are a best selling author and use Bible verse, which are out of context, to back up what they say.
Finally, Christians are not reading the Bible. That is probably the biggest reason right there. My denomination, Baptist, are known as people of the book, but I do not think a lot of Baptists read the Book. When Christians do not read the Bible, they will sub come to the teachings of this world and from false teachers within the church. The Bible is our final authority. The Bible should trump any pastor's teachings. If a preacher says something contrary to the Word of God, then you can take God's word over there word. Many Christians go back to what they learned in Sunday School even though it is may not be faithful to the teachings of Scripture. I am going to take R.C. Sproul a little out of context, he was discussing the end times, when he said, "Stop relying on what you learned in Sunday School, and believe what the Bible says." Good solid teaching will also be reinforced with the Bible.
In addition to not reading the Bible, some Christians do not study the Bible. Like the Bereans, we need to examining the Scriptures and one of the best ways is to study the Bible. The ESV Study Bible is the best study Bible out in the market today. Paul wrote, "Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth" (2 Timothy 2:15). That is what all disciple of Jesus need to do and that is to "rightly handle the word." Studying the Bible will not only equip us but will also allow us to see if what pastors and teachers say is solid teaching or false doctrine.
Recommended Reading:
How To Be Better Bereans
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