Don't Toss the Baby out with the Bathwater!

[Wilchbla]

I agree with the OP. Balaam learned from the ass so I imagine we could learn from preachers who aren't IFB.

[Seth Doty]

I agree with the OP. Balaam learned from the ass so I imagine we could learn from preachers who aren't IFB.

Then again if Balaam had listened to God in the first place he never would have been in a position to hear a word from his donkey....

I understand the sentiment about not throwing out the baby with the bathwater, but you have to be able to discern if you have a baby in bathwater or a bad apple in a barrel to contrast metaphors. I have seen some bad apples in barrels that were mistaken for babies in bathwater. :wink Edited October 22, 2011 by Seth-Doty

[DennisD]

Oh boy, I'm confused now.

[JerryNumbers]

Then again if Balaam had listened to God in the first place he never would have been in a position to hear a word from his donkey....

I understand the sentiment about not throwing out the baby with the bathwater, but you have to be able to discern if you have a baby in bathwater or a bad apple in a barrel to contrast metaphors. I have seen some bad apples in barrels that were mistaken for babies in bathwater.

What has been proclaimed reminds me a lot of those churches in our community that goes around trying to get other churches to set aside their differences, & come & worship with them.

And when they come together, the majority teaches works base & baptizing salvation. So if all the people they come together with believes they're saved by works & or baptizing, them the majority of the people that have come together are lost in their sins.

And by joining together with them, to me puts their stamp of approval on their teachings, & also encourages them to stay in that teaching.

[John81]

I've seen many go astray because they were not careful in what the read and who they listened to. Some got sucked in the charismatic crowd because they read their books and that led them to listen to some of their preachers and they bought into charismatic dogma.

One man I know spent a long time reading a lot of different books thinking he was using his wisdom to find the truth. After filling his mind with so much garbage he ended up coming to the conclusion that Orthodox Christianity was the closest thing to perfect Christianity as practiced by the Apostles. Once he came to this conclusion he led his whole family into Orthodoxy head first. Not amount of walking through Scripture and attempts at reasoning with him prevailed. One he had decided upon Orthodoxy he immersed himself Orthodox writings and teachings. He quickly became grounded in Orthodoxy and not only could he not be swayed from his views on this, he became very outspoken at attacking any Christianity that wasn't Orthodox and worked overtime in his attempts to turn others to Orthodoxy.

There have been others I've known get caught up in reading the works of this or that popular preacher and in short order they were walking the "easier" path of watered down Christianity. Some eventually fell headlong into worldly Christianity.

It's very important to be careful what we read. It's very important to be careful in what we tell others to read. We must guard our hearts and help to guard the hearts of others as well.

Those who are babes in Christ or immature in Christ need to stick with the Word of God and only those other books that are biblically solid.

[HappyChristian]

There are many well-known writers who I wouldn't read because I know what they teach - and I don't want to have to wade through and pick and choose what is right from what is wrong. That said, we do have books that were written by people with whom we don't agree 100%, but they have a lot of biblical teaching. In those cases, we eat the meat and spit out the bones.

We are to be careful what we read - what is allowed into our eyes quickly goes to our minds and makes its way to our hearts, thus influencing us. If something promotes the philosophies and traditions of the world, we are not to countenance it. Unfortunately, there are those who are popular who insert much of that philosophy into what they write, thus becoming a danger to new Christian and old alike.

That is not to say throw the baby out with the bathwater, but it is to say that our guide must be scripture, and we must be thoroughly familiar with the truths of scripture if we are going to combat error.

[Wilchbla]

What has been proclaimed reminds me a lot of those churches in our community that goes around trying to get other churches to set aside their differences, & come & worship with them.

And when they come together, the majority teaches works base & baptizing salvation. So if all the people they come together with believes they're saved by works & or baptizing, them the majority of the people that have come together are lost in their sins.

And by joining together with them, to me puts their stamp of approval on their teachings, & also encourages them to stay in that teaching.

Who said anything about joining churches that teach salvation by works? You talk about going off the deep end. The discussion was about not throwing out books by certain authors that may have a few irrelavent beliefs we disagree with like the gap theory or double inspiration. How this got to teaming up with the WCCC is beyond me.

[Wilchbla]

There are many well-known writers who I wouldn't read because I know what they teach - and I don't want to have to wade through and pick and choose what is right from what is wrong. That said, we do have books that were written by people with whom we don't agree 100%, but they have a lot of biblical teaching. In those cases, we eat the meat and spit out the bones.

We are to be careful what we read - what is allowed into our eyes quickly goes to our minds and makes its way to our hearts, thus influencing us. If something promotes the philosophies and traditions of the world, we are not to countenance it. Unfortunately, there are those who are popular who insert much of that philosophy into what they write, thus becoming a danger to new Christian and old alike.

That is not to say throw the baby out with the bathwater, but it is to say that our guide must be scripture, and we must be thoroughly familiar with the truths of scripture if we are going to combat error.

Ah, a voice of reason.

[swathdiver]

I've seen many go astray because they were not careful in what the read and who they listened to. Some got sucked in the charismatic crowd because they read their books and that led them to listen to some of their preachers and they bought into charismatic dogma.

One man I know spent a long time reading a lot of different books thinking he was using his wisdom to find the truth.

There have been others I've known get caught up in reading the works of this or that popular preacher and in short order they were walking the "easier" path of watered down Christianity. Some eventually fell headlong into worldly Christianity.

It's very important to be careful what we read. It's very important to be careful in what we tell others to read. We must guard our hearts and help to guard the hearts of others as well.

Those who are babes in Christ or immature in Christ need to stick with the Word of God and only those other books that are biblically solid.

Been there, done that! Amen Brother John! Stick with the Bible and books that encourage you to read and study the Scriptures, learn the doctrines of Christ and carry out the Great Commission!

My wife has been witnessing to a co-worker and during conversation recently she told my wife that she was trying to get on track. Alarm bells rang in my wife's head and she asked what she meant. The co-worker said she was reading a book, the Purpose Driven Life! OHH NOOO!!!! We're going to order this poor soul a monogrammed KJV Bible on Monday! Please pray that the words of the Lord, however twisted in this wretched piece of work do not return void!

[lettheredeemedsayso]

Jesus made an example of the Pharisees for a reason. They followed God’s teachings but refused to acknowledge the Lord, Jesus Christ and they certainly knew nothing about having a relationship with Him. This goes to show we can learn from people who may not believe exactly the way we do.
When Bill Rice and all the teachers of his era taught there was no doubt who they served. Many of the books today only speak of God and few dare to name the name above all others, Jesus.

[JerryNumbers]

Who said anything about joining churches that teach salvation by works? You talk about going off the deep end. The discussion was about not throwing out books by certain authors that may have a few irrelavent beliefs we disagree with like the gap theory or double inspiration. How this got to teaming up with the WCCC is beyond me.

The majority of churches in this country teaches work & baptizing based salvation, & the majority of the Christian books that are written are written by these people. Be careful what you read, & even more careful what you recommend others to read.

[Brother Rick]

What has been proclaimed reminds me a lot of those churches in our community that goes around trying to get other churches to set aside their differences, & come & worship with them.

And when they come together, the majority teaches works base & baptizing salvation. So if all the people they come together with believes they're saved by works & or baptizing, them the majority of the people that have come together are lost in their sins.

And by joining together with them, to me puts their stamp of approval on their teachings, & also encourages them to stay in that teaching.

You're not actually suggesting that I "proclaimed" anything of this nature, are you? Did you read the entire article before you commented?

[JerryNumbers]

What I comment on was not necessarily the article, but some of the post made under this topic & what they seem to suggest.