Jacob
2009-04-28 00:58:34 UTC
You know the story. Jesus and the disciples had set out in a boat into
the Sea of Galilee, and a great storm arose that threatened to sink
the boat. Jesus was sleeping, and the disciples woke Him up, asking
Him why He was not bothered that they were going to perish. Jesus got
up, rebuked the wind and the sea became calm. You also remember how
the Sunday School teacher told us about how Jesus was so much at rest
in the middle of the storm that He could sleep calmly, and you have
never questioned it! This is an example of how we accept things from
Bible teachers without questioning, and how afterwards whenever we
read that portion we merely recollect the teaching and go on. Have you
thought about the fact that Jesus was sleeping, totally unaware of the
storm going on till He was woken up? It was not a matter of being calm
in the midst of the storm! (On the other hand, when He woke up
suddenly and found Himself in the midst of a storm and He kept His
presence of mind - that's something else, isn't it?)
Is this typical of how we read the Bible? If it is, we have placed
ourselves at the mercy of our teachers! If they are wrong, so will we
be! This was the case when only the teachers had the Bible with them,
and the rest of the people had to simply take what was spoken to them.
But fortunately now we all have Bibles with us, and also access to all
kinds of translations, concordances, dictionaries, etc. Now there is
no excuse for us to take things second hand from the teachers. Even
the least of us can read the words ourselves and ponder over them. We
can ask the Lord to enlighten our eyes (Ep.1:18), speak to our hearts
and give us the understanding that can equip us for life (2Ti.
3:16,17). Why is it that we still let the teachers do our thinking for
us? Either we are lazy or we honour them too much!
This is in spite of God warning us that in the last days there would
be all kinds of false teachers and prophets around, and even the elect
may get deceived (Mt.24:24;2Pe.2:1). There are many such going around
nowadays, aren't there? Can we afford to place our lives at the mercy
of such people who try to impress us with their forceful personalities
and emphatic deliveries? Don't we need to check things for ourselves
(1Co.14:29;1Th.5:20,21)?
Of course, not all of us are teachers, and we need to value those to
whom God has entrusted such ministries. But that does not absolve us
of our responsibility to check what they teach. It is my considered
opinion that no teacher - even good ones - is 100% correct on
everything. We don't have to agree with everything that people teach
just because they are well known preachers or writers (even though we
give more weightage to the ones we trust). But now we have false ones
too, and we have to be especially careful about them.
Many point to the Bereans who checked with the Scripture even when the
apostle Paul spoke ((Ac.17:11). Actually Paul was a new teacher on the
scene at that time! Ha ha!
the Sea of Galilee, and a great storm arose that threatened to sink
the boat. Jesus was sleeping, and the disciples woke Him up, asking
Him why He was not bothered that they were going to perish. Jesus got
up, rebuked the wind and the sea became calm. You also remember how
the Sunday School teacher told us about how Jesus was so much at rest
in the middle of the storm that He could sleep calmly, and you have
never questioned it! This is an example of how we accept things from
Bible teachers without questioning, and how afterwards whenever we
read that portion we merely recollect the teaching and go on. Have you
thought about the fact that Jesus was sleeping, totally unaware of the
storm going on till He was woken up? It was not a matter of being calm
in the midst of the storm! (On the other hand, when He woke up
suddenly and found Himself in the midst of a storm and He kept His
presence of mind - that's something else, isn't it?)
Is this typical of how we read the Bible? If it is, we have placed
ourselves at the mercy of our teachers! If they are wrong, so will we
be! This was the case when only the teachers had the Bible with them,
and the rest of the people had to simply take what was spoken to them.
But fortunately now we all have Bibles with us, and also access to all
kinds of translations, concordances, dictionaries, etc. Now there is
no excuse for us to take things second hand from the teachers. Even
the least of us can read the words ourselves and ponder over them. We
can ask the Lord to enlighten our eyes (Ep.1:18), speak to our hearts
and give us the understanding that can equip us for life (2Ti.
3:16,17). Why is it that we still let the teachers do our thinking for
us? Either we are lazy or we honour them too much!
This is in spite of God warning us that in the last days there would
be all kinds of false teachers and prophets around, and even the elect
may get deceived (Mt.24:24;2Pe.2:1). There are many such going around
nowadays, aren't there? Can we afford to place our lives at the mercy
of such people who try to impress us with their forceful personalities
and emphatic deliveries? Don't we need to check things for ourselves
(1Co.14:29;1Th.5:20,21)?
Of course, not all of us are teachers, and we need to value those to
whom God has entrusted such ministries. But that does not absolve us
of our responsibility to check what they teach. It is my considered
opinion that no teacher - even good ones - is 100% correct on
everything. We don't have to agree with everything that people teach
just because they are well known preachers or writers (even though we
give more weightage to the ones we trust). But now we have false ones
too, and we have to be especially careful about them.
Many point to the Bereans who checked with the Scripture even when the
apostle Paul spoke ((Ac.17:11). Actually Paul was a new teacher on the
scene at that time! Ha ha!