False Teachers Slander What They Don’t Understand, and They Will Be Destroyed
Over the years I’ve heard many ministers talk about things they didn’t understand. Not biblical or spiritual things, but worldly things. Out of ignorance they condemn certain people for their actions, slandering them in the process.
This is why the world doesn’t understand Jesus and his church. This is why the world thinks Jesus hates them.
Though he doesn’t, the words people say when they talk about things they don’t understand sends the wrong message that Jesus has something against humanity.
In Peter’s second letter he talks about these ministers and those who parrot their uninformed views. Peter explains that these teachers who slander what they don’t understand are false teachers.
They’re irrational like wild animals. They’re creatures operating under instinct, void of intelligent thought. What is the outcome of these false preachers who speak of what they don’t understand? Peter makes it clear.
They’ll be destroyed (2 Peter 2:12).
Jesus is all about love. Jesus loves everyone, especially those on the outside, the people on the fringes of society who religious folks reject.
Unfortunately too many people who claim to represent Jesus, often the ministers of his churches, speak out of ignorance about those outside the church.
These false teachers cause the church to reject those in the world and condemn them, even though this isn’t what Jesus wants.
We should reject these false teachers. We should ignore what they say and disassociate ourselves from them. These false teachers will be destroyed. Peter says so.
Instead we need to align ourselves with Jesus and the love he offers to everyone. When we do this, our love will point them to him.
[Read through the Bible this year. Today’s reading is 2 Peter 1-3, and today’s post is on 2 Peter 2:12.]
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
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5 replies on “Don’t Speak About Things You Don’t Understand”
Yes there are false teachers in the church and in the world who condemn others. I think the role or job of the Holy Spirit is to enlighten them and show them how to love those who do not know how to love. In John 3, Jesus tells the Teacher of Israel that God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world but to save all those who believe in the name of the Son of God…this may seem like an invitation to condemn those who do not believe.
The way I read John 3, it is an invitation to face the Truth and acknowledge one’s dark deeds and or thoughts so that they may be clearly seen. Once acknowledged, people can learn and grow in understanding and ask the questions that can determine how and why these dark deeds have come to be.
For Christians, it might be that they are believing in darkness. Their teachers may be believers who do not know Jesus’ name and are therefore causing divisions. And yet there are scriptures that reveal Jesus’ name…one is Mark 15:21, another is 1 Corinthians 1:11-13; another is Acts 18:5; Acts 18:27-28 (greek transliteration).
For as Peter (Cephas) makes clear, people who do not understand will be destroyed. Their own ignorance will keep them in the dark until the Light comes to them and then they will no longer be False Teachers. They will as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13:12 put their childish ways behind them and see “face to face” and know fully and be known fully.
And Paul very motherly says…the man (the person) without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him/her…
And what after all is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, though whom you came to believe–as the Lord has assigned to each his/her task…by the Grace of God I (Paul, the little one) laid a foundation as an expert builder…(1 Corinthians 3: 5-10) and waits for her children to put childish ways behind them.
Linda, I so like John 3:17. Thanks for reminding us of that!
There are so many people who don’t want to go to church in this day and time because of the judgement by Christians. If were not to judge as it is written then why is it so often done by churches? Who is your brothers keeper? I dont understand the words I read to what is portrayed. The more I read the more question I have to ask.
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Yes,Crist, we are not supposed to judge others, but too many people do.
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