Nathaniel Hendry
  • Home
  • About
  • What I do
    • Blog
    • Videography
    • Chalk Art
    • Public Speaking
  • Contact

A Worthy Word

The sky is not blue!

1/20/2019

3 Comments

 
Blue sky and mountians
It isn’t. For one thing, the sky looks black at night and red in the morning. Furthermore, any scientist will tell you there is no sky. The atmosphere above us just looks blue because blue light reflects off the air better than the other wavelengths. The “sky” is no more blue than the Blue Ridge Mountains.  

Our communication today is filled with clichés and well-known bits of assumed truths. However, many of them are actually false. Here are some more examples:  
“The customer is always right.”
As someone who works in customer service, sometimes I want to sock the guy who originally started circulating this myth. I understand the maxim's value as a promotional device, but I am pretty sure you can figure out a host of situations in which it is completely false.

“Slow and steady win the race.”
I competed in cross country running a few years ago. I ran slow and steady, but I never won any races. In fact, I was the slowest person on my team. That fall I learned that fast and steady wins the race. The reason the tortoise beat the hare in the myth (and let’s remember that this whole philosophy is based on a myth) is because the hare got prideful and fell asleep. The real moral: don’t get cocky.

“Practice makes perfect.”
No human being on earth is perfect. Some people just have greater intervals between their obvious mistakes.

“What doesn't kill you makes you stronger.”
Um, drugs...

There are, of course, other honorable mentions that I disagree with (e.g. “Absence makes the heart grow fonder”) but I will forbear ranting about those for the present. The only other cliché that needs to be addressed is one that has resulted the deception of millions of people, affecting their lives now and in eternity.

“If your good works outweigh your bad ones, you’ll get into heaven.”
Unfortunately, as pastor Adrian Rogers puts it, “God doesn’t grade on the curve.” His standard is moral perfection (Matt 5:48). Yet, because all of us fail this criteria, we have no hope of doing good things as some way of bribing God to forbear serving justice (Romans 3:19-20). Only when Christ trades His righteousness for our sin can the scale tip in our favor.
​
Because resting our faith on a false slogan will can lead to our life falling apart, it’s critical that we do not blindly follow them (Matthew 15:14). “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world” 1 John 4:1.

The complete truth is rarely contained in an oversimplified, memorable one-liner. Reality is far more complex than we would like to think. As H. L. Mencken put it,
“There is always a well-known solution to every human problem—neat, plausible, and wrong.” Even though our (lazy) minds long for simplistic maxims to be true, that desire does not actually validate them. Some truths cannot be accurately compressed into a tweet.

Repetition doesn’t make a saying true. Next time someone tells you the sky is blue, remember that there’s always more to the truth than “first meets the eye.”
Was this post encouraging? Please feel free to share it on social media and subscribe for more posts like this one:
3 Comments
Ann Samuelson
1/29/2019 09:37:54 am

Because I think you would not want to point any of your readers to someone who says the right things at times, but whose life reveals a departure from the truth, I give you a suggestion.

Before you quote anyone on your blog, do some background research on the individual. Compare what you will find in the way of a full spectrum of teaching with the word of God. This will take some time, but it will be a profitable study.

For example, you can find many helps for rightly dividing the word of truth and discerning the true disciples from the false by entering the name of the individual you wish to quote in a web search engine, followed by the words "false prophet." For example, if you enter "Francis Chan False Prophet" in your search engine, you will be enabled to determine if you want to publish his name with his quotes. For the quote you gave with his name is truth. But there are many disturbing and compromising statements from this man' mouth.

Some members of the body of Christ think this is sowing discord to speak against another member of the body of Christ and expose their errors. Jesus told us that in these days there would be many false prophets, many false teachers.

It is imperative that we study to show ourselves approved only unto God, not seeking the praises of men but seeking the praise that comes from God alone. God will never rebuke any of us for testing the spirits, trying the lifestyle of those who profess to know Him, but whose words and lifestyle do not remain consistent and true.

I know of a pastor who had a difficult decision to make. But I believe he made the right one as a shepherd over his flock. Several years ago someone in his church began began to pass around some dvds entitled "The Truth Project." He viewed the series and was troubled in his spirit by some of the false teachings that were put forth. He sought the Lord for the help he needed to mark this teaching out and warn the sheep that he was responsible over as an under-shepherd.

As a result of God calling him to publicly denouce this deception, the person who had circulated this left the church. She later divorced her husband who continued to attend the church. But that body of Christ was preserved from receiving what some said was so exciting, so powerful --

But, so very deceptive. Dear young man, the sky is not blue. And not every powerful speaker with a polished presentation is true. May God help you continue to study to show yourself approved only to Him and to research those you quote before you quote them. Then you will keep yourself from error and those who hear you.

Reply
Ann Samuelson
1/29/2019 09:42:29 am

A helpful discernment ministry I would also recommend is The Berean Call. Here is one example of their helps for the church today:

https://www.thebereancall.org/content/less-truthful-truth-project

Reply
Nathaniel Hendry
12/9/2019 10:52:23 pm

Dear Ann Samuelson,

I am sure that this comment, coming nearly a year after your comment, seems strange. It is. I have not forgotten you comment, however. You made a very important observation and I did not want to respond with a trite answer, so the email has been sitting in my inbox awaiting a reply. I recently read a book on productivity (What’s Best Next) that recommended I should empty my inbox to zero, so I decided it is time to respond.

First of all, and most importantly, I want to thank you for your comment and the helpful resources. I have much to learn and any help along the way is extremely appreciated. Please note that I took your comment very seriously. Although I did not respond with an 1,000-word comment at the time, I did immediately research more into the background of Francis Chan and reread several sections of Crazy Love. I spent several more hours in research writing this email.

Regarding the teachings of Francis Chan, I would definitely like to clarify that, just because I quote something someone said, that does not mean I agree with every single other thing they have ever said in their entire life. For example, many people quote Alexander Pope saying, “To err is human; to forgive divine” without any knowledge of his other beliefs. That does not mean they endorse him or the Catholic church to which he belonged. Many times I quote someone simply because I like their creative phrasing and must follow standard academic and ethical attribution standards instead of plagiarizing it. I am not quoting them, necessarily, as an authority but rather giving credit where it is due. For this reason, I specifically wrote, “As pastor Francis Chan puts it…”

While Chan does seem to be off on some things (e.g. the age of the earth), he seems on point regarding major doctrines. He does not, for example, preach works-salvation in his book, and those who say he does are either unfamiliar with his writing or they have lifted phrases from the book out of context. In Crazy Love, he clarifies that he does not believe works cause salvation, only that they must be present to demonstrate its validity (James 2:17-18). He also bluntly denounced the prosperity gospel, saying, “It is dangerous because it is not the gospel.”

Most of the criticism of Chan stems from his speaking engagements. True, he has spoken at conferences with speakers who are false teachers, but that does not make him one. In his response to criticism about these speaking engagements, he explains, “It seems more effective to speak where there is less Bible teaching… sometimes my participation can give the impression that I align with every other speaker at the event. I’m not sure what to do about that other than to tell you that I don’t… there are millions who will never hear strong biblical teaching unless teachers are willing to go.” I feel the same way: I would even speak at Catholic church, a humanist conference, a mosque, or any other opportunity that God opens for me. I would rejoice in the opportunity to preach the true gospel to an audience that doesn’t already hear it every week. Who could need it more?

Yes, Francis Chan said, “I love Mike Bickle.” In the same clip Chan also said that he had just met him. I give Chan the benefit of the doubt that there were things about Mike Bickle that Chan did not find out during the first meeting.

In addition, many individuals unfairly criticize Francis Chan and misrepresent him. For example, this author alleges that "Chan aims to be a people-pleaser." Having read Crazy Love, this statement is ridiculous to me. His book argues that Christ's call is a serious one that turns many away. Another video alleges that Francis Chan is "claiming direct revelation from God." This is completely misrepresenting what Chan explained in the video, where he said, "God was revealing so many things to me during worship... You know how God communicates somehow--brings Scripture, opens your eyes to even things in your own life." In other words, he said that the Holy Spirit was revealing his sin using Scripture, not that he was having an extra-biblical revelation (reveal-ation not revelation). Using Scripture to convict us of sin is exactly what the Holy Spirit is supposed to do (John 14:26, 16:8, 13).

Bearing false witness against my neighbor is wrong whether they are an upstanding Christian, a member of the opposite party, or a false teacher. I do not have permission to blindly pass on other people's criticisms of a person without verifying their validity for myself.

Finally, I will reassert that I definitely believe we should be quick to call out false doctrine (2 Tim 4:2, Acts 17:11, 1 John 4:1, Rom 16:17). However, we should be much slower to label others “false prophets” because that implies that they are unsaved or even demonically driven. There are many people like Apollos who are not false

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    About Nathaniel Hendry

    I blog on common social issues from a reasoned, conservative Christian perspective in easy to understand writing. I am committed to academic excellence in writing and supported by solid reasoning and research.

    About A Worthy Word

    The Worthy Word isn't mine, but God's. I just try to explain the truly Worthy Word and encourage you from it.

    Categories

    All
    Bible
    Christian Living
    Constitution
    Empathy
    Following God
    Guest Posts
    Logic
    Making An Impact
    Politics
    Power Of Words
    Social Issues
    Technology
    Understanding Others

    Archives

    April 2020
    December 2019
    August 2019
    April 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    April 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    August 2016

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • Home
  • About
  • What I do
    • Blog
    • Videography
    • Chalk Art
    • Public Speaking
  • Contact