Contradicting Teachings

[IWalkAlone]

Until you find Christ.

I fear but then I think what am I fearing? A better life in heaven? Foolish

 

[James_Lai]

Until you find Christ.

Good objection, and very true.
Well, you have to take fear and love in greater context.
Fear of God, fear of wasting your time, of being ineffective, not doing the right thing. wtc

 

[Halbhh]

Good objection, and very true.
Well, you have to take fear and love in greater context.
Fear of God, fear of wasting your time, of being ineffective, not doing the right thing. wtc

I think gotquestions does well on explaining fear of God:
What does it mean to have the fear of God? | GotQuestions.org

The other 'fears' you listed would be valid concerns, causes to take action for change if and when those actually happen.

If they are not happening, it's only worry in that case, and Christ taught us in the sermon on the mount and in Bible Gateway passage: Matthew 11:28-30 - New International Version the cures for worries generally.

 

[James_Lai]

I think gotquestions does well on explaining fear of God:
What does it mean to have the fear of God? | GotQuestions.org

The other 'fears' you listed would be valid concerns, causes to take action for change if and when those actually happen.

If they are not happening, it's only worry in that case, and Christ taught us in the sermon on the mount and in Bible Gateway passage: Matthew 11:28-30 - New International Version the cures for worries generally.

Thank you. I understand your clarification

Well, my point in the OP was simply to state opposites for motivation. Maybe fear/love aren’t the best. It’s more about why you do or don’t do something. In the most neutral, broad sense. You take a vaccine because you don’t want to get sick (fear) and also not to spread the virus to others (love).

Plus or minus. Loss or gain.

Otherwise, the direct opposite of love would be hate, and for fear would be courage.

“Fear” not in the sense of being scared, terrified, a strong emotion. More in the sense of “want to avoid or prevent smth from happening”, in a rational calm way.

 

[miamited]

My statements weren’t worded well and were incomplete. Corrected in the OP. Thank you

Hi @James Lai,

Still don't see the contradiction. I can see where someone might look at those two statements and say, "What's the use?" But they are not contradictory.

God bless,
Ted

 

[timothyu]

Some people fear nothingness which doesn't make much sense because if there is nothing, then you wouldn't know.

 

[James_Lai]

Hi @James Lai,

Still don't see the contradiction. I can see where someone might look at those two statements and say, "What's the use?" But they are not contradictory.

God bless,
Ted

Yes. Directly contradictory would be “go out and stay at home”, “love and hate” etc… So it’s not that direct. It’s more by logical extension:

1) convert the whole world,
2) only a small part of humanity will be converted, and even in the church many will be deceived and miss salvation.
3) love your neighbour, procreate and care for your parents and children, care about your body as the temple of God and the natural environment as good stewards of creation,
4) this world with humanity in it is going to be destroyed, and signs indicate it’ll happen very soon.

Idea 2, if truly believed, effectively cancels out Idea 1. Also idea 4 cancels Idea 1 in the way of creating an impossible task due to the time constraints vs. known rate of Christian conversions. Idea 4 cancels out idea 3 by removing the sensible purpose of Idea 3

It’s similar to the Stepmother saying,

- Cinderella, please join us to the royal ball.
- All guests are to wear proper attire. I only allow you to wear your work clothes and shoes.
- Separate this huge pile of peas from beans mixed together, and when you’re done you’re allowed to go to the royal ball,
- oh BTW, we’re heading out in 10 minutes.

So there’s no direct contradiction in those ideas, but it’s pretty obvious she’s not going to the ball. I know the ending of Cinderella though

The majority of people do not realistically expect a Godmother Fairy’s intervention in their lives… Those that do…. are either toddlers or in asylums…

 

[James_Lai]

Hi @James Lai,

Still don't see the contradiction. I can see where someone might look at those two statements and say, "What's the use?" But they are not contradictory.

God bless,
Ted

Maybe it would be more suitable to say Competing Ideas or Demotivating Ideas.

In the OP, I’m more concerned with the resulting human action, or the motivating effect of the ideas. Their practical implications.

As in applied science vs. theoretical science.

“Give me a lever and a place to stand and I will move the earth!” - exclaimed Archimedes of Syracuse, but was he ever able to do it?

 

[James_Lai]

Sure, any false teaching or wrong emphasis is potentially harmful. It is the reason why Christians need to check everything out for themselves. If we are not sure about a teaching, we should take no action on it until we are sure. We need to check out the whole counsel of God on an issue. The reason why prosperity teaching was so popular is that the teaching was unbalanced.

This passage was overlooked.... I wonder why....
1 Timothy 1:6
…8But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these. 9Those who want to be rich, however, fall into temptation and become ensnared by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction. 10For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. By craving it, some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.…

I totally agree

 

[James_Lai]

I'm a contradition.

Yes, some contradictions are inevitable and unavoidable…

 

[James_Lai]

If having contradicting ideas is a concern, I suggest studying the 6 elementary teachings of the doctrine of Christ as listed in Hebrews 6:1-3.

1. Repentance from dead works.
2. Faith toward God.
3. Teachings about baptisms.
4. Laying on of hands.
5. Resurrection of the dead.
6. Eternal Justice.

These are referred to as the foundations, the milk, the first principles of the oracles of God, and the word of righteousness. (See Heb 5:12- 6:3)
Down through the years I have found that almost all of those who promote themselves as doctrinal experts and heretic hunters are woefully ignorant of these basic teachings. How can one judge the doctrine and teachings of others when they are barely aware of the basic principles and priorities of the Word?

Great point! Golden. It’s a way broader view than my OP. True, first things first! It’s the sign of well-grounded education in any field - from fundamentals to details, from simple to complex, from general to particular - from the root to the branches.

 

[James_Lai]

God never gave us standards and requirements which were optional, but if we look around we can easily find churches and preachers who preach a different gospel, other than the one originally taught and it not difficult to find watered down bibles to suit our watered down teachings.

Much of the word of God is unacceptable to the many in these days, which we now live. The word of God is now regarded by some as hate speech and politically unacceptable. How many of todays people can even name the ten commandments. Perhaps not very many!

Thank you. It’s a very, very difficult subject…

What’s the true gospel?

What’s the real Bible?

How do we interpret and apply the Bible?

No wander there’s so many denominations in existence….

 

[IWalkAlone]

Thank you. It’s a very, very difficult subject in my view…

What’s the true gospel?

What’s the real Bible?

How do we interpret and apply the Bible?

No wander there’s so many denominations in existence….

Keep it simple.

 

[James_Lai]

Well, if someone tells me to do something because the end is near, I don't think he or she will tell me that what I do will be for nothing . . . if the person just told me to do something.

Plus, God's word says our labor in Jesus is not in vain > 1 Corinthians 15:58.

So, if you use things God's word says, this can help to understand things correctly.

I think of this > as a Christian I need to do what God guides me to do. So, whether the end is near or not, I am always doing well by doing what God has me do. And He will bring His good with what He guides me to do, no matter how soon Jesus is coming, or how later.

Makes perfect sense. I’m thinking about motivating people. How easier it is to say to someone, “do it!” than to say “do it, but you’ll surely fail” and force them to think, “I better do it just for the fun of it”…

- Mop the floor, Jimmy! Dog’s incoming in 10 minutes and it’s raining and muddy outside.
- Okay, dad! (keeps on playing Roblox)…

 

[James_Lai]

Keep it simple.

“Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler” .

 

[James_Lai]

Some people fear nothingness which doesn't make much sense because if there is nothing, then you wouldn't know.

Fear of the unknown…

 

[IWalkAlone]

Nothingness is death

 

[SavedByGrace3]

Some question that logic applies in the spiritual in the same way that it applies in the natural. I believe it does. Everything about God and the spiritual makes perfect sense. The idea that spiritual truths are not logical is, I think, bogus. God and the things of God can be understood. All we lack is the knowledge and the vocabulary to describe them.

 

[James_Lai]

Nothingness is death

Or sleep

 

[coffee4u]

Could contradicting teachings cancel each other out in minds of believers and cause lack of passion or idleness? Or worse, cause destructive, counter-productive actions?

For example, I was thinking about
- “love your neighbour and preach the good news to all corners of the world”
- “this world is ending, perhaps any day now. there will be very few saved, the gate is narrow”

I don't see that as contradictory at all, but as complimentary.
The world probably is getting closer to ending, which means there is even more reason to preach the good news of Christ sacrificed.

In a cinema fire people are going to be rushing to that safe exit not sitting down and offering around their popcorn to each other.
If people feel the world has another 100,000 years to go they are more likely to be complacent and do nothing.
The most growth in Christianity does not happen in the west. -Because we are complacent.

For example, would you write to all churches in the world the following? “Stop teaching the end of the world Right Now! Start teaching possibly a 100,000 year future ahead of us! Every human being eventually hearing the true gospel by our hard work! The Christians one day comprising the 100% of the world’s population!”

No because that goes against the plain teaching of scripture. The longer the world goes on the more will drop away.

1 Timothy 4:1
Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons,

Matthew 24:10-13
And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.

So on hearing someone say "The Christians one day comprising the 100% of the world’s population!' I would know immediately I was hearing false teaching and leave.

Not “it’s all going to burn” and “no matter what you do, a narrow gate is all we’ll have”… Such ideas are like killing the drive.

I disagree. It should drive us even more towards that small fire exit.

It’s like hiring an employee and telling them, “You’ll earn $100k a year but the tax man is arresting our accounts next Friday”… Would you be all hyped up about the $100k income labouring like a bee or rather sit on your hands pretending to be working till your next and only weekly paycheck?

Not the same thing at all.

So if we say in math terms.

Must we?

Given:

Idea 1 = I1
Idea 2 = I2
I1 and I2 are natural numbers
Human Action = A
A = I1 + I2
Positive idea: + Ix > 0
Negative idea - Ix < 0
Neutral idea Ix = 0
where x ∈ {1,2}

Possible outcomes for A:

1) I1 and I2 both positive

A = + I1 + I2 > 0

Positive human action, its value is greater than each individual idea

2) I1 and I2 both negative

A = - I1 - I2 < 0

Negative human action, its value is lesser than each individual idea

3) I1 is positive and I2 is negative

there are two possible sub-outcomes:

a) If I1 > I2, then

A = + I1 - I2 > 0

Positive human action, its value is lesser than the positive idea I1

b) If I1 < I2

A = + I1 - I2 < 0

Negative human action, its value is greater than the negative idea I2

I'll leave that to you to think on lol, I'm lucky if I can calculate my change.