Quote:
Originally Posted by tcalbrecht  Our allegiance to leaders is not unconditional. We are to obey them insofar as they are obedient to Christ the King. We accept their teaching insorfar as it is in conformity to the Word of God.
As in all things we need to focus on Christ as we consider our responsibility to our leaders. |
Tom,
Thanks for your comments. I particularly like the bolded advice you gave. Even at work, when we work for people who don't claim to be Christians, we work in such a way that our actions and words bring honor to Christ, desiring to be a good witness. When they mess up, or do something that doesn't appear to be the best decision, we (ideally) don't join in with the rest of our coworkers in tearing them down behind their back, but either hold our peace or try to say something positive.
It seems, if we cut our bosses such slack, how much more should we do the same for those in authority over us in the church? I'm wondering, though, when you say "
We accept their teaching insorfar as it is in conformity to the Word of God.", where do/should we draw the line, and how should we (or should we) react when we don't accept a teaching? There are critical teachings (deity of Christ, trinity, etc) that clearly must not be 'tolerated', but there are other teachings (eschatology, EP, etc) where there are differing opinions among godly Christian leaders. When we have a different opinion, and thus don't see a particular teaching
conforming to the Word of God, what is the godly way to 'not accept' a teaching?