Don’t Get Caught Up In Fads And Debates

The God who created the world already knew that mankind would sin and rebel against him and devised a plan whereby we could be saved, at great cost to himself because he loved us.  Our salvation is completely about his love for us, not about our goodness, or even our love for him.  It is part of his long term plan, not a spur of the moment decision on his part.   He is not going to drop us because we failed to live up to his expectations.  We don’t have to earn his love.  Instead, we demonstrate our appreciation for his love by our obedience.   The result will be a closer relationship with God. 

Titus 3:8 advises us to make the effort to obey God.  “This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men.”  The things that he commands will make life here on earth much more satisfactory, as well as earning rewards for eternity. 

We need to be careful to avoid the popular religious fads and arguments, however.     Titus 3:9-11 advises, “But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain.  A man that is an heretic after the first and second admonition reject; Knowing that he that is such is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned of himself.”   Debates over how many angels could dance on the head of a pin, or where Cain got his wife are foolish questions serving only distract from more important matters.  Many times the answers such as where Cain got his wife can be inferred from the scriptures if one bothers to look, while others, such as how many angels can dance on the head of a pin are completely frivolous and without merit. 

Our ancestry has only limited impact on what a person does in life.  A child raised in a godly home can rebel and go into drugs or crime, while a person who was raised by horrible parents can choose to do what is right.  Genetics may control one’s physical characteristics, but he chooses his own attitude, although he is influenced by those around him.  Our ancestry has no relevance to whether we serve God or not. 

Religious debates and disagreements over what the scriptures mean almost invariably result from accepting someone else’s interpretation of scripture rather than from study of the scriptures themselves.  Wasting our time arguing about them prevents us from studying the scriptures for ourselves, and doesn’t really change the other person’s beliefs.   If person insists on clinging to a false belief after being shown what the scriptures say, we should simply walk away, realizing that their unwillingness to accept what the scriptures say indicates they are following someone besides God, putting them in God’s place.   

God does not change his opinion regardless who believes it or who doesn’t.  Wasting our time trying to change their minds only distracts others from the truth.  II Timothy 2:13-warns, “If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.  Of these things put them in remembrance, charging them before the Lord that they strive not about words to no profit, but to the subverting of the hearers.”  By arguing with them we give them the appearance of legitimacy.