Articles From Our Bulletins
The Non-Sensical Things We Say (and Believe), Part 1
Whether it’s searching for a misplaced wallet, purse, or phone, or playing the “in which box is it found” game after a move, we’ve probably all uttered the phrase, “I found it in the last place I looked.” Really? Why would we possibly continue to look in more places after we’ve found the item? Exactly who continues to look for a lost or misplaced item in more places after it’s been found? Don’t we always find an item in the “last” place we look? Another non-sensical thing we say is admittedly a personal pet peeve of mine: the “hot water heater.” If the water is “hot,” why does it need a device to heat it? Wouldn’t the mechanism actually be better described as a “cold water heater”? Folks, it’s a “water heater,” not a “hot water heater.” But our non-sensical speech is unfortunately not limited to the realm of the mundane- it has invaded our religious speech as well….
Here are a few examples of the non-sensical spiritual (I use the term loosely) things we say:
- “It doesn’t matter what you believe as long as you’re honest and sincere.” Really? In what other area of life would this same reasoning apply? When else would my honest and sincere beliefs circumvent truth? If I honestly and sincerely believe I am immune to electrocution would it change the outcome of me grabbing “live” wires? Of course it matters what you believe (and practice)! The New Testament is replete with warnings regarding false teachers and false doctrine, cf. Matthew 24:24; 1John 4:1; e.g. Why, if it doesn’t really matter what you believe as long as you’re honest and sincere?
- “We’re all just taking different roads to the same place.” The non-sensical nature of this statement is that it assumes the differing roads lead to the same place. Jesus made it abundantly clear that He was the one-and-only way to heaven, “I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me,” John 14:6. This statement necessarily excludes any and all other roads or ways. Please read Ephesians 4:4-6 and understand that there are no “different roads” that lead to heaven. There is but one.
- “We just understand that passage/verse differently.”Truth is neither relative nor subject to our understanding. It is still “truth” whether we understand it correctly or not. Furthermore, differing viewpoints don’t necessarily mean that either one is correct. You may understand a passage that I misunderstand, or vice-versa, or we may both misunderstand it; but we do not understand it differently. Truth is still true whether either of us understands and interprets it correctly or not. It is true because it came from God (1Corinthians 2:6-13) who does not and cannot lie (Hebrews 6:18), not because we understand it. The truth of God’s Word is objective rather than subjective, and is therefore not relative to our understanding or application of it.
- “Once we’re saved, we can never be lost.”Again, in what other area of life would such a statement be accurate? “Once we’re right, we can never be wrong?” “Once we’ve said something true, we can never say anything false?” “Once we’re on the right road, we can never make a wrong turn?” The premise is non-sensical and unscriptural. With the possible exception of the letter to Philemon, every NT book has warnings against falling away or becoming lost after being saved, or examples of such occurring. Here are only a few of the passages, Matthew 13:20-21; John 15:5-6; Acts 8:12-23; Romans 11:20-22; 1Corinthians 10:12; Galatians 5:1-4; Hebrews 3:12-15; and James 5:19-20. Since we’re created in the image of God (Genesis 1:27), and by sin we become separated from Him (Isaiah 59:1-2), we’ve already been “safe” and then “separated/spiritually dead”- why would we possibly assume that it couldn’t happen again?
Yes, we say things in life that just don’t make any sense- some of us more than others, but let’s be sure that in spiritual matters, we “speak, as it were, the utterances of God,” 1Peter 4:11!
- Non-Sensical_Speech.pdf (77.38 kB)
