I'll Be Wrong

One thing that I continue to encounter as I attempt to show Christians the truth of right division is the unwillingness to acknowledge the possibility of being wrong. I do occasionally come across Christians that understand they do not know as much as they should about scripture. Many times, these people still defend a position they don’t understand themselves. They just know that the church they have chosen to attend teaches scripture that way and therefor it must be truth. As a right divider of scripture I have come to understand something very clearly. I can be wrong. I still could be wrong. I still have much to learn. So, if you are not willing to admit you could be wrong, then I will. I regularly say this thought to people. “If you can show me from a verse written to me that I’m wrong, I will change my doctrine.” This is a fact. I’ll be wrong. Please notice the very important criteria for this statement. It must be a verse written to me. I am willing to be taught and corrected by scripture. I am willing to be wrong but you must bring scripture written to me in this age of Grace, that is valid today according to our Apostle Paul, and rightly divided as we are instructed by scripture. I am willing to be the one that is wrong. As one that was firmly established in a denomination most of my life and now understands better, I know I need to always allow room for the teaching of the Holy Spirit and scripture. I try to take everything I hear with a grain of salt, but also with the acknowledgment that they could be correct and I could be wrong. My how I wish this was the position of Christianity as a whole. I consciously remind myself of this principle as I hear others teach. I will leave you with a quote I got from a previous pastor of mine that got it from a college professor named Wymal Porter. A danger of Bible study is: “closing your mind to further instruction after hearing something you disagree with.” The position our human nature runs to so often is to be formulating a response rather than to actually consider what is being said. Paul mentions this principle in 2 Tim 2:7 “Consider what I say; and the Lord give thee understanding in all things.” I can promise you this, if you don’t consider what Paul says, you will never understand all things.