Thoughts about false doctrine

In the New Testament, three kinds of false doctrine are condemned. One was the Gnostic gospels, which Gnostics believe that they have secret knowledge about God, humanity, and the rest of the universe, of which the general population was unaware. They also believe that salvation is achieved through relational and experiential knowledge. No, that all not all they believed, but that is the gist of it. Another claimed we had to follow all the laws of the Old Testament. The third was that we could do anything we wanted, literally commit any sin we wanted, because we were free. None of these is correct.

Jesus had to be born a human, an innocent one, the same way that Adam and Eve were before they ate the apple. That is why Jesus was tempted. HE had to face the same kinds of temptations that we do and pass and He was tempted at His weakest moment. Hungry from lack of food for 40 days. HE refuted Satan every time He was tempted. When it was over, God, His Father, sent angels to take care of Him. Jesus had to be a human to pay for the penalty of sin. Jesus had to be human to die and be raised from the Dead. But Jesus was also much more than just an innocent human. HE was God's Son. The only Son born of a human virgin named Mary. God loved us all so much that HE sent His only Son to die for us. Jesus knew what HE was to do on earth. He knew His mission and HE obeyed His Father to the point of Death, and as a Result He was raised from the dead and went to Heaven and is seated at the Right Hand OF God His Father.

Those who say we have to follow the laws are incorrect because no one can be saved by following them. IF you could be saved by obeying the old testament then there would be no need for Christ's death. When Adam ate that apple, not Eve, but Adam, because Eve was tricked, he did it knowing full well the consequences of what he was doing. When Adam did that, we all were able to know right from wrong, but because he had done it against God's one rule for them, it condemned all of us to be slaves to sin. Almost all of us have good and evil in us. But it is the evil that separates us from God. None of us can live lives good enough to enter Heaven. So does that mean that the laws are no good? No, they were put there as a tutor to teach us about sin and to teach us that we needed Gods love. Jesus paid the penalty for sin. The ultimate penalty which is permanent separation between us and God. We know because as He died, HE cried out My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? So if being good enough can't save us, what can? Faith. The Old Testament saints were saved by Faith, not by following the law.

This leads us to the final false doctrine. Since we are saved by faith, does that mean we can do whatever we want now? NO, we are to try our utmost to lead a life like Christ did. We are to try to put to death our sins. Carrying your own cross means putting to death your sins. How can anyone who truly understands what Christ did for us want to deliberately keep sinning over and over again, which is, in a way, crucifying Christ over and over again? We are to show our love for Christ by imitating Him by obeying His two commandments: Love God and Love others as yourself. We are to be lights shining in the darkness for others. A silent witness to our actions.

Now, will we always be successful? No, because if we were successful all the time, we would not be here but in Heaven. We are going to stumble and fall. We are going to make mistakes. But the point is, when we do that, we get up and try again. We don't lie in the dirt feeling guilty and saying I can't do this, it is too hard, I am too bad, I am too sinful. WE get ourselves out of that dark place and ask God to forgive us and try again.

We are all going to disagree about other points in the Bible. But we all need to realize that we see in a mirror darkly. The mirrors back then were not the nice polished ones we have today. They showed a distorted view of themselves. That is how ALL OF US see the bible. No one is going to get all the truths right. But as long as we are not straying from the truth and following one of the three false doctrines spoke about in the bible, we need to be accepting of others' beliefs. We need to be accepting of other churches, and we need to be loving towards all of Christ's children, even if we disagree.