WHEN TO DEFEND THE FAITH

 

 

There will be differences of belief among sincere and even mature Christians. There is no way around it. Why? Our Lord has not given us a complete understanding:

 

·       “For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.” (1 Corinthians 13:9-12)

 

Paul had admitted the limitations of his own understanding even though he had been taken up to see things in heaven:

 

·       “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!” (Romans 11:33)

 

Since we do not have all knowledge, we need to be patient with others who disagree, while we grow in appreciation of those beliefs that must be guarded and preserved and those which lack Biblical clarity and certainty. Consequently, we must speak with clarity and assurance where the Scriptures are clear and certain. Meanwhile, there are other beliefs which we must only hold loosely, and, for the sake of the unity of the Spirit (Ephesians 4:1-5), we must exercise tolerance, lest it divides us. Therefore, Jesus prayed:

 

·       “that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.” (John 17:21-23)

 

Therefore, in regards to the teachings about eternal punishment, I think that we must agree that whatever it is, whether eternal death or eternal torment, the prospect of this punishment is horrific and must be avoided at all cost by placing our faith and lives into the Life of our Savior.