Something struck me recently. In John 8 Jesus talks about true disciples abiding in His Word and therefore will be free. I see many professing Christians abiding in many things OTHER than the Word. They clearly aren't free, but entangled in their flesh. Seeing "truth in everything" their minds continue to be warped by the world's wisdom (psychology, philosophy (Neo-Platonic, gnosticism, logic), speculations) instead of being renewed by Scripture. Their divided loyalty between man and God becomes clear, and most often their loyalty to God loses.
1Co 1:21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe.
Col 2:8 See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.
Eph 4:17 Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. 18 They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart.
While on this topic, I'd like to mention again what John MacArthur has noted:
Quote:
The historian Schlatter says, "Everything that had to do with theories about God and the world and the meaning of human life was called `philosophy' at that time, not only in the pagan schools but also in the Jewish schools of the Greek cities." He is saying that the term philosophy was used of every single theory about God and the world in that era. It was the common term. So, anyone who had any new theory about God, or any new theory about the world--its origins, its meaning, and its destiny--was considered a philosopher with a philosophy. Josephus, the historian of that day, has shown that any elaborate system of thought and moral discipline was called a philosophy.
You don't need to be captured by philosophy--you can be complete in Christ. You can throw away human philosophy, all the traditional religions of the world, and all the man-made forms and theories. "For in Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and ye are complete in Him..." (Col. 2:9-10a).
At the Fall of man, we fell into a sad state of incompleteness. An unsaved man is spiritually incomplete because he is totally out of fellowship. He is morally incomplete because he has no standard of conduct. Even if he did, he couldn't live up to it. And he is mentally incomplete because he is incapable of knowing the truth. So man is spiritually, morally, and mentally incomplete.
End quote.
Recently I mentioned how someone holding to these doctrines isn't saved.:
The canon of Scripture includes the Septuagint OT canon (deuterocanonicals, Apocrypha)
Authoritative Tradition
Baptismal regeneration and grace
Necessity of baptism for salvation
Real presence of Christ in the Eucharist (Lord's Supper)
The Mass is a sacrifice
Necessity of the Lord's Supper for salvation
Purgatory and praying for the departed
The communion of saints and saintly intercession
Authority of the Catholic Church
Apostolic Succession
Possibility of falling from grace
The sacrament of penance
Mary was ever virgin
The person I was speaking with agreed and rightly noted that these are Roman Catholic doctrines. But the disagreement suddenly disappeared when a famous name was attached to these doctrines. "Truth in everything". People might throw out damnable doctrine, but not when it comes by way of a famous man. Suddenly its just something that is ignored.
Now THAT is treason toward God.
Gal 1:8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed.
Gal 1:9 As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.
Gal 1:10 For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.
Where is your loyaly and is it divided? Are you willing to give up your favorite "church father" or theologian, professor, conference speaker, pastor, teacher, singer, for the purity of doctrine and sole loyalty to Christ alone?
The person who held to those doctrines above...a person touted by man as a "Church Father" (thus begging the question, what church?): Augustine, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Hippo.
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