What makes you right?

  • Welcome to Christian Forums, a Christian Forum that recognizes that all Christians are a work in progress.

    You will need to register to be able to join in fellowship with Christians all over the world.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon and God Bless!

B

Butterfly

Guest
People reach different conclusions, gain different insights , are at different stages of Christian growth and are influences by those who are preaching and teaching them- I doubt it will change.
I would suspect that the answer to your question will also be something that will not be agreed upon !
Rita
 

farouk

Well-Known Member
Jan 21, 2009
30,790
19,230
113
North America
People reach different conclusions, gain different insights , are at different stages of Christian growth and are influences by those who are preaching and teaching them- I doubt it will change.
I would suspect that the answer to your question will also be something that will not be agreed upon !
Rita
People do indeed develop and grow in their understanding.

Reminds me of 2 Peter 3.18.
 
  • Like
Reactions: GodsGrace

GodsGrace

Well-Known Member
Aug 29, 2017
10,727
5,716
113
Tuscany
Faith
Christian
Country
Italy
With all the different doctrines going around ,how do you know you right and everybody else is wrong?
LOL
I'm ALWAYS RIGHT!!
:)

Sometimes I'm told MY theology is wrong.
I reply that I don't make the theology...
theologians do.

I learned from two different churches.
I've been able to find only one doctrine to be not so biblical with one of them.
As to the other....they believe some doctrine that cannot be supported by the bible, but is found in other sources...OR it is based on other sources.

Pretty much it's simple stuff and I see it all through the N.T.

Then there are some churches that make up some unbelievable concepts that are nowhere to be found in scripture...I don't know where they learn it from.
A church?
YouTube?
Themselves?

I like what @Enoch111 said in post no. 2 and he's already being challenged on it !
 

farouk

Well-Known Member
Jan 21, 2009
30,790
19,230
113
North America
LOL
I'm ALWAYS RIGHT!!
:)

Sometimes I'm told MY theology is wrong.
I reply that I don't make the theology...
theologians do.

I learned from two different churches.
I've been able to find only one doctrine to be not so biblical with one of them.
As to the other....they believe some doctrine that cannot be supported by the bible, but is found in other sources...OR it is based on other sources.

Pretty much it's simple stuff and I see it all through the N.T.

Then there are some churches that make up some unbelievable concepts that are nowhere to be found in scripture...I don't know where they learn it from.
A church?
YouTube?
Themselves?

I like what @Enoch111 said in post no. 2 and he's already being challenged on it !
We do need to search the Scriptures, don't we?
 

GodsGrace

Well-Known Member
Aug 29, 2017
10,727
5,716
113
Tuscany
Faith
Christian
Country
Italy
We do need to search the Scriptures, don't we?
Sure.
I think I said that we need to confirm everything by SIMPLY reading the N.T., in its entirety....

By simply, I mean the clear words and not attempt to change them,,,as is done many times.

If I didn't say it....
I'm saying it now.

Men's rules change over time.
Their doctrines change.

It was important to get a bible assembled because the Early Fathers saw this happening already...it started soon after Jesus' death with the gnostics.
To be followed by many heresies which had to be put to death.
 

Not me

Well-Known Member
May 8, 2019
1,696
1,945
113
66
California, Ca.
Faith
Christian
Country
United States
With all the different doctrines going around ,how do you know you right and everybody else is wrong?

Hi;

Consider, it is when we realize we are all wrong, because we are sinners and Christ alone is right because He is God.

This is the ground we grow from. The “I am wrong” ground. Than a turning of the mind and heart to God is repentance. A turning from self to God.

For scripture says;

“if we think we know, we know not as we aught to know”

Blessings for one who doesn’t know.

Much love in Christ, Not me
 
Last edited:

farouk

Well-Known Member
Jan 21, 2009
30,790
19,230
113
North America
Hi;

Consider, it is when we realize we are all wrong, because we are sinners and Christ alone is right because He is God.

This the the ground we grow from. The “I am wrong” ground. Than a turning of the mind and heart to God is repentance. A turning from self to God.

For scripture says;

“if we think we know, we know not as we aught to know”

Blessings for one who doesn’t know.

Much love in Christ, Not me
We always have scope for more growth in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3.18).
 
  • Like
Reactions: Kermos and Not me

Episkopos

Well-Known Member
May 17, 2011
12,794
19,242
113
65
Montreal
Faith
Christian
Country
Canada
I think there is a responsibility, as a human being in the face of the words from God...to realize just how easy it is to be wrong!

Certainty can be achieved in the grossest of errors. Look how certain the Pharisees were. Look how certain the Taliban are.

The problem of certainty is especially prevalent in regards to the bible. People can take self-delusion and turn it into an art form...being very creative with error.

Then there is the nature of truth itself.

The truth is only held up as the opposing poles (even contradictory) of linear thought are held TOGETHER. The truth is not linear...it is polar. Like a magnet that creates a magnetic field.

In fact people that go looking for answers in the bible are fooled into a false understanding so often because the bible is meant to be a book of questions. But this overwhelms the shallow seeker....which it is supposed to do anyway. God has jumbled His words on purpose. To see who will pay attention.

Prov. 26:4 Do not answer a fool according to his folly,
Lest you also be like him.
5 Answer a fool according to his folly,
Lest he be wise in his own eyes.

And this is the folly of men...that if these two verses were put in different places in the bible you would have false champions of one verse over the other. But seeing that they are side by side we see that interpreting the bible is really about discernment in the moment.

But again this is too much to ask for many people.

Notice how God uses the word "fool" to show how foolish it is to think that knowing a bible verse makes you think you actually understand it.

So there is a lot of ignorance that goes into formulating doctrines from scriptures. But that never stopped anyone from being foolish enough to do it. The temptation of the human carnal mind to try championing truth (in gross error of course) is just too great for many. Pride will have it's way.

So the fact that there is a dialectic involved leads us to a searching out the polarity of the truth ...which begs the need of wisdom from God to put them together so that He might reveal the POWER of life hidden there. The connection to God is what counts...not the words themselves. People stumble over the words.

The letter of the word leads to death...but the Spirit gives life.

So they who think they are careful and right...because they know how to read and they study the bible...become the biggest fools of all...because of the pride it takes to think they understanding anything at all of God with their own mind. God withholds His truth from these.
 
Last edited:

Willie T

Heaven Sent
Staff member
Sep 14, 2017
5,869
7,426
113
St. Petersburg Florida
Faith
Christian
Country
United States
You know you are "right" when your beliefs give you the peace of God that passes all understanding. If you feel you have to strive with other people about what you believe... instead of simply stating it — there just might be something wrong.
 
  • Like
Reactions: marks and Butterfly

ScottA

Well-Known Member
Feb 24, 2011
11,693
5,574
113
Faith
Christian
Country
United States
With all the different doctrines going around ,how do you know you right and everybody else is wrong?
Interesting...the responses.

There is no truth in the scriptures for those who hear but do not understand, and see but do not perceive. Speculations by the learned are of little value, sometimes even hindering.

One only knows the truth by the Spirit of Truth, which is given, not learned, and not taken. And when it is given...you know it.
 

justbyfaith

Well-Known Member
Jun 28, 2018
21,740
4,114
113
51
San Pedro
Faith
Christian
Country
United States
We might be wrong on any given issue...which is why we need to always be open to new insights.

We ought to seek to be as right as we can possibly be, and we also ought to seek to be certain of what we believe...

But if new information comes in that would change our pov...then we need to be flexible enough to change it.
 

amadeus

Well-Known Member
Jan 26, 2008
22,394
31,446
113
80
Oklahoma
Faith
Christian
Country
United States
"I said in my haste, All men are liars." Psalm 116:11

And to the extent that each of us is in error and teach our errors to others as if they were truth we are still liars... and then look at the following verses that God inspired Solomon to write:

"There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death" Prov 12:14

"Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil" Prov 3:7

"The way of a fool is right in his own eyes: but he that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise." Prov 12:15

"All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes; but the LORD weigheth the spirits." Prov 16:

"Every way of a man is right in his own eyes: but the LORD pondereth the hearts." Prov 21:2

Lot of good and perhaps wise words here on this thread but one thing that comes back most clearly to me were the verses also from Solomon in the post by @Episkopos :

"Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him.
Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit" Prov 26:4-5


So then back to the question of the OP:

With all the different doctrines going around ,how do you know you right and everybody else is wrong?

Obviously, to me anyway, saying that we teach only what the Bible says is not the answer to the OP. Probably everyone responding to this thread and others on this forum would say that about themselves and even truthfully as they see it. But, what Solomon wrote in the verses I cited above are also in the Bible and hopefully we agree that they were also written by him as inspired by God to do so.

The correct answer to the OP question is of course is that God knows.

How much of the mind of God does each of us have? How much of what we believe and teach is still, unbeknownst to us, a lie? The solution is not to be found by finding the best theologian or minister or Bible student and following that one, is it?

I guess I've given my own answers about this on this forum on more than one post so I won't repeat them here. Each of us should know the answer if we are hearing from God at all rather than repeatedly bumping heads with one another and wanting to win some argument as if that would help God.

No matter how much we know that is right according to God, how much is there in each of us that we think we know that is really a lie. Anyone who doesn't really admit the possibility or even the likelihood of that being true about himself is probably already in trouble with God.
 
Last edited: