Firming Your Foundation
Let’s Check It Out:
With all of Scripture
by George Sinkie

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          In the religious realm there are various doctrines.  Many of these are contradictory to one another.  This is what happens when man makes up religious teaching because every man has his own idea about what to do (Deuteronomy 12:8, Judges 17:6; 21:25, Proverbs 21:2)  When man makes up the doctrines, we should avoid that doctrine because it will make our worship vain (Matthew 15:9, Mark 7:7).  So how do we know if a doctrine is from God or from man?
     Someone may answer that question, “Does the teacher use Scriptures?”  On the surface that may seem like a good answer, but we must remember that there are those who “
distort” the Scriptures to teach false doctrine (2 Peter 3:14-16).  A good example of this is found in Matthew 4:5-6, where the Devil tempts Jesus to throw Himself off the temple and uses Scriptures to “back up” that God’s angels would protect Him.  This however was a distorting of the Scriptures, because it would make one Scripture contradict another.  Jesus shows this by also quoting Scripture (Matthew 4:7).  Now either Jesus or the Devil are misusing Scripture, and I believe it is the Devil.
     It is true that we need to use Scripture to back up what we teach, but we must check it out with all of Scripture so that it harmonizes with all Scripture.  This means that the contradictory doctrines taught by men cannot all be right… they may all be wrong, but they cannot all be right.  Prior to having the New Testament written down, Christian in the First Century had the childish miraculous powers (1 Corinthians 13:11).  But even though they only had the New Testament teaching in parts (1Corinthians 13:9), God still expected there to be peace and harmony (1 Corinthians 14:33).
     In future articles, Lord willing (James 4:15), we will examine some commonly held teachings to see if they harmonize with the “
whole purpose of God” (Acts 20:27).  Now I want you to open your Bible and look up all the Scriptures I have used, and check it out!

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      Courtesy of the Mitchell church of Christ.
      © George Sinkie; used by permission. rev.1408xx
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