If a person cannot reason, they may be mentally ill. If they will not reason, they may be a fool. Those who refuse to honestly examine any religious belief which differs from theirs are not only religious bigots but, spiritual cowards as well. Whether they are willing to admit it or not they are afraid of what they might learn, namely, that what they believe, practice and hold dear could be wrong. It is much easier to hide behind a manmade religion they are comfortable with, one which makes them feel good; and usually does not force them to think. When they refuse to think they in effect, have chosen to remain ignorant. In an effort to avoid dealing with this they have convinced themselves they already know the truth and that no one else could possible be right. Yet, they do so without any honest effort or comparison with what the scriptures actually teach. They are fearful of any unbiased examination of the truth and
will often employ disingenuous or dubious methods to defend it. How true the saying; " those who think they have the truth stop looking for it." Discussing religion with those whose teachings are other than the New Testament can be a frustrating thing sometimes; because all Christian religions have a few teachings in common, which can be agreed on and which they are willing to discuss. But trouble is encountered when you move into areas that differ from their views or their interpretation of doctrine. Often they will become angry and argumentative, belittling or making fun of the other's beliefs while trying to defend an impossible position of their own. I have observed professional debaters do this quite often. I was reading a debate between a gospel minister and a Pentecostal preacher once. I was amazed how the Pentecostal got practically everything wrong! He would accept nothing his opponent said or would even consider the gospel preacher might be right, but spent most of his time either trying to twist his opponent's words, dismissing what he had to say as trivial or ignoring them altogether. Everything was interpreted from his denominational point of view. Like all of his kind who are highly prejudiced against the truth, they have been deceived to the point they may never find it. They take refuge and great comfort in their fallacious beliefs and are convinced those trying to teach them anything foreign to their narrow minded point of view are only trying to trick them. Sadly enough, members of the Lord's church are many times guilty of this unprincipled behavior when debating certain issues. We understand it is prudent to use causation when exploring unfamiliar teachings. But not to the extent that it defies all logic, common scenes or plain bible teaching! In doing so; they have admitted their practices cannot stand up under close investigation and hide behind beliefs unsupported by anything resembling the truth or first century teaching. They are headed down a road that leads to only one place!

By J.D.Williams

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