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LET'S SAY A Question for Teachers and Ministers 11These
were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the
word with all readiness of mind, and
searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so. (Acts 17:) 3For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. 4But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another. 5For every man shall bear his own burden. (Gal 6:)
What forms our belief system? Have you noticed that people around you tend to hold the same opinion, or nearly so, as others in your circle? Of course that is not always the case, but those with differing opinions and beliefs either remain silent about what they believe, or else they speak out and are considered troublemakers and are ostracized, or avoided altogether.
You have integrity. I believe I can say this with confidence because if you do not have integrity then this study will mean nothing to you, and you will very likely stop reading right here and consider this to be so much garbage. Now that I know I am speaking to those with a great deal of Integrity and Self-Assurance; I will ask my question
But I have put forth an assumption that may be totally invalid. Perhaps you don't hold to those philosophies, and because of conscience, you avoid teaching those subjects that you don't agree with. Now for the sake of let's-saying; let us say that you are in a school that teaches Creation and does not accept Evolution. Let's say it is a private school at which you are teaching. Now let's say you are shown absolute proof (at least absolute enough to convince you) that Creation is impossible, and that Evolution is a definite fact. What would you do? Would you continue teaching what you no longer believe? Would you change schools? What would you do?
While teaching Creation you felt that you were helping to bolster your students' faith and understanding of God. (Again I am making an assumption that you believe in God, or otherwise you would not be teaching Creation.) Now you may or may not believe in God, but you don't believe you are being honest when you teach Creation. Of course you have all the options already presented; but you now have some added considerations. Believing in God can't do any of your students any harm; in fact it could do them good by helping to keep them out of trouble. So even though you are teaching a falsehood (in your own mind) it is doing no one any harm, and you do not have to look for a new job.
Can you now utilize the same rationalization as you did in the illustration above? Now you find that God is real, and you are teaching your students that He doesn't exist, thereby you are teaching that there is no punishment for living life like the TV tells them they should?
And let's talk to the Minister of God's Word for a bit.
You stand firm on the Word you preach, and have plenty of Scripture to back up every Doctrine you teach. Not a thing can be said against you. "Let not your good be evil spoken of" fits you to a tee. The road to the Narrow Gate is like a crowded freeway because of your faithful preaching.
(Remember, were just-saying here. I'm not trying to prove or disprove any Doctrine - so don't let any defensiveness rise because of the object of discussion. The Subject of the study is Integrity.) For all these years you have been preaching that Satan was a Fallen Angel; now you learn that he was a liar and a devil from the beginning. Do you tell your congregation that you were wrong all those years? Do you tell your wife and kids that you and they are going to have to change churches because yours won't let you preach what you know to be true? Or do you just keep quiet about it because, after all, what difference does it make? Devil or Angel - who cares? It's not effecting anybody's Salvation is it? Of course not. More heat and more coals. Let's say the fundamental belief you had been preaching is Works plus Grace. After all, there are a lot of churches preaching just that, and the Catholic church is fairly based on that belief. Let's say you discover that Works has nothing to do with Salvation - that it is all Grace and once you are Saved, you are always Saved. Again, this option is easy enough to rationalize in that Works is just extra stuff that might even help your congregation feel a little bit better about themself, and maybe even get them a little closer to Heaven. So why make waves? It's just a little more icing on the cake is all. Now let's turn it around. Let's say that you discover that it is all Works and no Grace that get's you to Heaven; but you have been preaching that it is all Grace for Eternity, and Works was a bad word.. (Don't look at me that way. I don't know how that could be seen; but there are certainly groups out there who do.) Now if you don't tell them that you were wrong, and your congregation continues on their merry way without the Works that is absolutely required to get them to Heaven and save them from the pit....? The stakes for a lack of integrity have been raised considerably, don't you think" What do you think God will have to say about such a preacher who doesn't preach that which he believes? What does the Bible say about a Minister's responsibility?
And of course so is every other preacher and minister - even though every one of them seems to preach something very contradictory one to another, yet exactly the same as everyone else in that church organization they belong to. Just like every teacher in the school system teaches exactly what all the others do, even though what they teach is exactly opposite of what the entire school system was founded upon.
When we all stand before that Great White Throne and have to face the One who commissioned us to do whatever job He gave us to do; I think we would do well to have an excellent reason for doing just what we did with what He gave us. I think we had better not have tares to present when it was wheat that He gave us to plant. I think that we would be better off having produced much less of the right produce (wheat) than a lot more of the wrong (tares). I would rather have taught poorly what the Lord said to teach, than to have taught well what Tradition has put forth.
And I think there is going to be a lot of "But I was told" excuses presented to the Lord by preachers who have dedicated themselves to Tradition instead of the Lord.
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