Beware of False Teachers.

[Not of the World]

3 hours ago, Vine Abider said:

Okay, I took about 10 minutes to come up with these 7 points that I think are core Christian beliefs.  Does this look complete and correct . . . or perhaps too much? 

Core items of our common Faith:

In His great love for mankind, God did, or will do, the following:

1. God was manifested in the flesh in Jesus.

2.  Jesus lived a righteous life, died as the perfect atonement for our sins, was raised again bodily on the 3^rd day, and was later taken up into heaven

3.  God has made Jesus both Lord and Christ and given all authority in heaven and earth to Him

4.  By accepting Jesus Christ and His atonement personally, Christ comes to live in us through the Holy Spirit and we are thereby being transformed into His image

5.  All believers are made into one body – one Lord, one faith, one baptism

6.  Christ will return in glory and bring His people into the place He has prepared

7. There will be righteous judgement of all beings, including humans, angels and principalities

God wants us to LOVE him and to LOVE one another.  Those are #1 and #2.  

[Not of the World]

2 hours ago, Mr. M said:

Number One Jesus Christ is the only begotten Son of God

John 20:31 But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ,

the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.

1 John 5:

5 Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

9 If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater; for this is the witness of God which He has testified of His Son. 10 He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself; he who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed the testimony that God has given of His Son. 11 And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. 12 He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. 13 These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.

1 John 4:15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. 

https://www.blueletterbible.org/search/search.cfm?Criteria=Son+of+God&t=KJV#s=s_primary_0_1

2 Peter 1:17 For He received from God the Father honor and glory when such a voice came to Him from the Excellent Glory: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

What about loving God and loving one another?  

[Mr. M]

39 minutes ago, Not of the World said:

What about loving God and loving one another?  

Can anyone really do that unless they have been born again?

1 Peter 1:

22 Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through

the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently

with a pure heart, 

23 having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, 

through the word of God which lives and abides forever.

The Gospel begins with devotion to the Son of God and receiving the

promised Holy Spirit.

Then you can talk about loving God and one another. 

1 John 4:20 If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? 21 And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also.

[Mr. M]

1 hour ago, Not of the World said:

God wants us to LOVE him and to LOVE one another.  Those are #1 and #2.

The Pharisees and citizens of Jerusalem would agree! But did they, or just give

lip service to the idea?

John 8:42 Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me.

John 3:7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.

No one can love as God would Will, unless they have been born of the Spirit, received by faith in the only begotten Son. They must repent and believe the Gospel. Mark 1:15

[Marathoner]

@Omegaman 3.0 created a topic about core doctrines some time ago, @Vine Abider. I don't remember where it is on the forum, but perhaps he does. I participated in it, I do remember that!

Of course, my memory works perfectly. 

With regard to theology, I would say that eschatology is one area that is filled with non-essentials with one notable exception:

Our Lord Jesus Christ will return in the same manner that He ascended after His resurrection.

On this we all agree, but the when of His return is a matter of intense debate! The intensity of the debate is why I steer clear of eschatological back and forth. 

[Not of the World]

22 minutes ago, Mr. M said:

Can anyone really do that unless they have been born again?

I don't know my brother.  I'm just going off of what Jesus said.  

Matthew 22:34-40

English Standard Version

The Great Commandment

34 But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. 35 And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. 36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

[Mr. M]

1 minute ago, Not of the World said:

 

40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

This is the fulfillment of the Law and the prophets,

not the fullness of the Gospel

John 15:

12 This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 

13 Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. 

14 You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. 

[Mr. M]

4 hours ago, Mr. M said:

Number One Jesus Christ is the only begotten Son of God

Number Two Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.

1 John 2:

2 And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only

but also for the whole world.

3 Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. 

4 He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar,

and the truth is not in him. 

5 But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him.

By this we know that we are in Him. 

6 He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.

John 1:29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said,

“Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! 

[Mr. M]

Just now, Mr. M said:

Number Two Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.

Number Three Believing that God Raised Christ from the dead, and that there will

be a resurrection and judgment of all at the end of the age, 

Romans 1:

3 Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh;

4 And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead:

Romans 1o:

9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation

1 Corinthians 15:

12 Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead?

13 But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen:

14 And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain.

[Marathoner]

I'll share my impression of what constitutes false teaching.

False teaching is a perversion of the teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ and His apostles. The apostle John addresses the false teaching of the Gnostics who claimed that the Son of God did not come in the flesh.

Some historical knowledge of Gnostic heresy is required to grasp the weirdness of this assertion, and how many claimed that Christ Jesus only appeared in the likeness of flesh... which most Gnostic schools (there were many) taught was created by a bizarre evil deity. Believe me when I say that Gnosticism was weird to the extreme. 

The apostle had to address this because Gnostics were infiltrating the Body during his day, seeking to lead the unwary astray. 

That is an example of false teaching.

Then there is the twisting of scripture, which may either be deliberately done or committed in ignorance. The prosperity gospel is an example of the twisting of scripture in my opinion; most proponents readily confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh, which sets them apart from the perversions of the Gnostics of antiquity. Remember that the apostle taught any spirit which confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God. 

Even those who twist scripture.

The twisting of scripture can lead to all manner of delusion, which is grieving to witness.

There's a difference between false teaching, twisting scripture, and wrong-headed notions.