Is it possible Christians are practicing more false teachings than ever?

iluvatar5150 said:

So, no, I don't think they/we are practicing more false teachings now than ever before - perhaps in spite of ourselves.

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More like pursuing their own interests using God as a business partner

tturt said:

Also, repenting of sin after salvation isn't necessary is being taught by some. Rev 2 & 3 clearly states otherwise.

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I agree with you...We are constantly getting dirty by our sins and must wash ourselves to be clean. Sometimes we ask for forgiveness and go out and repeat the sin over and over again. True repentance is to turn away completely and head in a different direction. For those who really mean they are repentant, change occurs sometimes over time...Being that we have a sinful nature we are constantly working out our faith. Sometimes that requires refinement by fire. God knows who's sincere.

tturt said:

Also, repenting of sin after salvation isn't necessary is being taught by some. Rev 2 & 3 clearly states otherwise.

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Explain the LORD'S prayer?

Sometimes I get frustrated with responses. There was no intent that Rev 2 & 3 are the only Scriptures that state repentance after salvation is in order. But for those who want/require for it to be without a doubt- well there's always going to be a few - in Rev 2 & 3, 5 of the 7 churches were told to repent & explains why Which means when there is teaching that repentance is not necessary as a Christian, it is false. Know that folks have tried to talk with a minister who teaches believers do not have to repent and his response was indescribable.

According to Scripture, God is gracious and merciful when we repent.

quintessentialramble said:

forward.

So, taking all these things into account, is it possible that there is a popular belief in Christianity right now, that is actually a false teaching? Similarly, is there a true teaching that may have been lost due to the nature of the teacher it originated from?

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In answer to your first question, yes, and these include Nestorianism, Iconoclasm, the Propsperity Gospel, Liberation Theology, Queer Theology, Womanist Theology, and many other things.

In answer to your second question, no, because that would constitute a violation of the promise of Christ concerning His church in Matthew ch. 16.

It's interesting to see how the word of God is being twisted these days. It's not about how we should conform to the image of Christ, but how we can make Christ conform to our image of Him. The Prosperity gospel, queer theology, and many others are doing just that.

One resource I use is called "Got Questions." Here is one example of false teachings going on today...Are Christians Little Gods?

Some theological systems, such as Mormonism, teach the heresy that people can become gods in their own right. Roman Catholicism teaches what it calls the divinization of men: “The only-begotten Son of God, wanting to make us sharers in his divinity, assumed our nature, so that he, made man, might make men gods” (The Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition, Section 2, Chapter 2, Article 3, Paragraph I, I:460), although the Catholic meaning is that believers are united with Christ through the Eucharist. What has been popularly termed the “little god controversy” originated with Word of Faith pastors and teachers. The basic idea behind the controversy is that humans are actually divine, created “in the image of God” (Genesis 1:27) not only in having a soul, having dominion over the earth, or living in relationship with others, but by being of the same “spiritual class” as God Himself. Biblical theologians decry this concept as misguided at best, and heretical and cultic at worst.

The main tenet of Word of Faith is that, when we ask something of God in faith, He is compelled to fill the request. As “little gods,” our words have much power. This error is taught by some television evangelists, and its roots in Pentecostalism have made it more common in charismatic churches. The Word of Faith movement has a number of popular monikers including “name-it-claim-it,” “prosperity theology,” and “health and wealth gospel.”

The basis for the “little gods” claim is found in two Scripture passages. Psalm 82:6 reads, “I said, ‘You are “gods”; you are all sons of the Most High.’” Jesus quotes this psalm in John 10:34, “Is it not written in your law, ‘I have said you are gods’?” However, both of these passages include explanations in the immediate context that clearly do not indicate human divinity. Psalm 82:6 is followed by a warning that “you will all die like mere men, you will fall like every other ruler” (verse 7). The reference is to mortal men who represent God’s authority in the world—kings, judges, and magistrates. (Please see our article on Psalm 82:6.)

Psalm 82 is a warning to unjust leaders who consider themselves “gods” (Psalm 82:1) yet who “know nothing,” who “walk about in darkness” (Psalm 82:5). Jesus used this passage in response to those who accused Him of blasphemy. Essentially, Jesus asked why, when human rulers were called gods, “the one whom the Father set apart as his very own and sent into the world” (John 10:36) was blaspheming by claiming to be God’s Son.

Claiming divinity for Christians is insupportable, especially taking the rest of the Bible into account. God is God alone (Isaiah 37:16). We have never been God, we are not God now, and we never will be God. Jesus was fully God and fully man (a combination called the hypostatic union). If the “little gods” hypothesis is accepted, it imputes to Jesus a lesser divinity of some kind; He became a “little god” like us. John said that “the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us” (John 1:14), but this does not indicate “a lesser divinity.” Jesus took on human flesh and blood in order to die for our sins (Hebrews 2:14), yet He retained His full position in the Godhead. God created us with a spirit, but that spirit does not hold divine qualities.

Jesus' greatest commands are to love God and to love others as ourselves. The second of these is the most difficult challenge in our modern time because that it requires that we let go of our prejudices--ALL of our prejudices. It is most unfortunate that many modern Christians have embraced so many of them. It is the root of most religious deceptions.

quintessentialramble said:

So, this comes in light of the whole debacle surrounding Josh Harris, author of "I Kissed Dating Goodbye." Coincidentally, also the father-in-law of one of my small town church acquaintances (I would say friend, but tbh we weren't really close, but we know of each other and served in some ministries together. Sister in Christ, I guess we'll say?)

When Harris renounced his faith, so many of my friends posted on Facebook how they were ruined by Harris' aforementioned book, and how it was false. There a couple key things here that I want to point out.

While a false teacher/deceiver, if indeed they are that, may have done a bad thing, the blame is not solely on their shoulders. We also have a responsibility to discern, and one of the biggest problems I see in Christianity is that many Christians read more "Christian literature," than the actual Bible itself. I have yet to see a Christian say, "I was wrong to believe that lie," but rather, the blame is placed squarely on the "false teacher."

One caveat stemming from that, is that a teaching is not false because someone renounces the faith. False is false and true is true. Sometimes someone can have a really strong argument for what they believe to be biblical, but then renounce the faith; that does not make their prior argument unbiblical. It only shows them to not be a trusted source going forward.

So, taking all these things into account, is it possible that there is a popular belief in Christianity right now, that is actually a false teaching? Similarly, is there a true teaching that may have been lost due to the nature of the teacher it originated from?

For me, I firmly stand by this belief, that the whole Boundaries teaching, particularly by Dr. Henry Cloud, is one of the most wicked teachings currently in all of Christianity. I do not mean to say we should never have boundaries. There are clear times when we should...such as abuse. Sometimes not so clear, where it may at least be understandable, such as ex-bf/gf. But for the most part, I have found peoples' use of boundaries to just shut out anyone they dislike, disagree with, annoys them, or basically any reason they see fit, in the name of Christian boundaries. I mean, I see children shut out their parents, directly against then 10 Commandments. I think this has added more division to the church than any other teaching in history. It was actually a secular psychological belief long before Cloud espoused it. I legitimately could see many Christians saying in 20 years, "How stupid I was to believe Henry Cloud and Boundaries! I sabotaged all my friendships and now I have none!"

To me, the biggest red flag of a false teaching is when a great number of non-Christians are in full support of the teaching.

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You make some good points.

Back in the 80's, alot of Christians took to writing 'Christian' self-help books.
The self-help movement was strong back them. Their books were very popular.
But not all that they wrote was Biblical ...

As Christians, we really need to be grounded in the Word of God ...
or how else will we recognize what is false?

NASB - 2 Timothy 4:3 3For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, 4and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. 5But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

Being a Christian is very hard. Especially in these times. I used to belong to a church, but due to the falesness of their teachings I had to leave. I've been looking, but there is no place to go. Once you check a churches teachings and compare that to what the bible says. It's very difficult to find a place that only teaches truth. Christians today want to believe their own beliefs not what's in the bible. If you do stand up for truth then you're criticized and put down. I've found I can only spread the word of god through forums and be around like minded people. Those are few and far between. Don't ever give in to the pressures of false teachings and continue to fight the good fight for God and his son.

BibleStudentBorean said:

Don't ever give in to the pressures of false teachings

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I agree with much of what you say. Consider however that there others within these human institutions who also see the hypocrisy. A church as we know it cannot be free of corruption for it is run by man as an institution rather than as a movement as originally intended. That movement was in the world of man but not of it until a time came when the religious institution rejected the Kingdom and aligned itself with the world of man once again in the form of the Roman Empire assuming it's form of governance. That template has existed ever since but that does not mean there are not seekers within that understand there are two sides to Christianity. It is just as possible to be in the religion but not of the religion just as we are already in the world but not of it for they both represent the world man has made in our own image. Nothing in this life escapes the power of the Adversary and the narrow path is reserved for those who seek the will of God rather than of man.