It’s OK To Question Your Preacher & Teachers

Word-Of-The-Day: ‘<God said to the Israelites though Hosea,>”Judah’s leaders are like those who move boundary stones. I will pour out my wrath on them like a flood of water.”’ (Hosea 5:10)

I do not like to be wrong on the little things (especially when it is related to the Bible) as this can lead, over time, to being wrong on the big things.  Hosea 5:10 refers to ‘Judah’s leaders’ (mostly the priests and elders) being like those who ‘move boundary stones’ or property lines.  Obviously, if they move their property lines to confiscate a couple acres of their neighbors’ property at one time, that would likely be seen as an egregious act and there would likely be at minimum a court case and at worst a deadly neighborly feud similar to the Hatfield’s and McCoy’s. 

But what if one moves the property lines about one foot, perhaps to improve water drainage or to gain better ground to put a fence on?  Later, the line is moved again, another foot, for another improvement, and it continues a little at a time.  What you end up with is a property line no where near where it should be.

In much the same way, a wrong adaption to the meaning of a Scripture may stick and be passed along; it may be a little misunderstanding but in turn that misunderstanding, now held as ‘the truth’, is the basis for more misinterpretation and thus the teachings of Scriptures become perverted and twisted well away from their intended meaning.  We end up with ‘truths’ that aren’t; one example is ‘God helps those who help themselves’.  While this may sound like a good sentiment, it’s nowhere found in the Bible.  The Truth is God wants us to be dependent on Him; while He also expects us to take initiative and work to provide a living and to work to His Glory,

He also wants us to rely on Him for direction and to follow His plans for our lives and not our own, and ask Him for help along the way.  This may have been a ‘stretch’ from the allegory of Jesus where the men were given ‘talents’ or accounts of money and asked to handle them while their master went away (Matthew 25), where the servants who worked to gain the best interest rates for their master’s money were greatly rewarded, while the one who hid the money and did nothing was tossed out. 

However, the men did not do the work themselves; the master’s money given to them provided the means that enabled them to establish themselves into getting the best returns.  Likewise, in my own power, I am not someone who could teach the Word, but with Jesus and the Spirit I can teach (and write these WOTD blog postings) through the power of Christ, using the gifts He gave me.

When Jesus arrived, the ‘boundary stones’ were moved by the Pharisees and Sadducees past the point of them being God’s representatives; they took what God provided for their own gain by twisting the Word of God until it enriched them and gave them power.  It likely started with a little ‘fudging’ of the Truth and it ended with the ‘false truth’ they were teaching and those living under those teachings were no longer following Scripture but a lie.  So my challenge to you: keep me honest; ask questions, demand the right answers, and question my responses (and those of other teachers and preachers), research and talk with each other and gain consensus.  Never allow the property lines to move when it comes to the Word of the Lord!