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The devolvement of discernment
There’s one book I know I’ll be purchasing upon its imminent release: The Discipline of Discernment. Written by the Tim Challies of challies.com, it will be addressing the naked emperor of American Christianity – naivete. Perhaps naivete is too innocent for what passes as Christianity in our country today. Scripture assures us that by nature we would rather appoint and surround ourselves with teachers and leaders who allow us to claim the live we want rather than live those we should.
For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. (2 Timothy 4.3-4)
A recent issue of Time magazine ran “Does God want you to be rich?” as the cover story. Joel Osteen now has a board game that after reading about it in challies.com entry, I’d have to echo, “I feel dirty.” Prominent evangelicals fall to moral sin. Large denominations debate side issues of theology.
We could all use some discernment. All that is preached, proclaimed, written and blogged is not truth. Or even helpful. What are we going to do about it? Let’s accumulate the “Top Ten Suggestions for Becoming More Discerning…” Comment away.
The scripture in 2 Timothy becomes so clear these days. You have teaching that tells people everything they want to hear, but nothing that people NEED to hear. I read the Time Magazine article that you’re referring to. Hearing such extremes on the subject of prosperity makes me sick. I believe that prosperity is okay as long as our soul is prospering (3 john 1:2). If it’s unprofitable to gain the whole world and lose our own soul, then what needs to be taught heavily WITH teaching on prosperity is that the most important thing is that your soul is… Read more »
Is it naivete or discernment?Are people not the religions they are because they feel through their own best determinations that the one they choose is the way to go?Or is that based on being naive?Who really has the answer to that?
2.Prayer
So prayer for clarity should definitely be on the list…..and prayer for an open heart.Prayer for GOD to show us the path of most resistance but also glory in his name.
I see that K.T. has already added prayer to the list, and TJ began with what I might term “Christ centeredness” – though depending on some other factors, it might be hard for a truly naive Christian to really know what a Christ centered mentality looks like. I’ve seen people do some pretty stupid things in the name of Christ centeredness. The reason? Their “center” for Christ was unfortunately off base. Here are a few ideas for the list that shouldn’t get negelected: 1) READ!: …and not just the scriptures. Read commentaries on the scriptures. Read Christian history – from… Read more »
this might sound like laziness or a cop-out, but if used along with the other so-far excellent suggestions above, “seeking wise counsel” goes a long way toward ferreting out truth. while we are ultimately responsible for our own decisions and the stands we take, it is always helpful to listen to spiritually mature people whom we trust. i guess to complete this vicious cycle, one would already have to be a discerning individual to even know who the wise, spiritually mature ones are among us though. hmm… i think before i completely sell out to this suggestion, i better go… Read more »
Dean – that’s not a cop out at all. It’s true! I wish I’d thought of it…a lot actually. 🙂
Have you read Elton’s latest blog on this same subject?
[…] With that said, read Tim’s entry about spiritual discernment. I’ve said elsewhere that this book will be a must-have for today’s American Christ follower – mainly because […]