Jeremiah 6:16 reads, “Thus says the LORD: ‘Stand in the ways and see, And ask for the old paths, where the good way is, And walk in it; Then you will find rest for your souls.’ But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’” It is amazing how human beings always want new and improved. That is a common mantra in advertising. Sometimes new and improved is a good thing. Look how far cell phones have come from the old bag phone, to the huge handheld ones, to the slim, basically computer ones that we have now. The sad thing is, however, that humans tend to want to look for new and improved when it comes to the Word and Will of God.
Instead of seeking the old paths, they want to blaze a new path that they sometimes want to call “progressive.” Actually, most of the time these “progressive” ideas, these “re-examinations” and new thoughts about what they like to call “Church-of-Christ doctrine” are simply rehashes of old errors already taught by people through the centuries. Almost every time some brother makes a declaration of what he has “discovered,” you can go back and find where that “discovery” has been hashed and re-hashed in times gone by. They simply regurgitate the same false ideas that were already taught by false teachers way before their time. They remind me of the Gnostics of the first century in that they claim how much more knowledge they have than all the faithful Gospel preachers who preceded them. (Gnostic comes from the Greek term meaning “to know”; the Gnostics claimed special knowledge no one else has.) These folks want to sound smart and to say to all, “I know better than you do!”
Most of the time these so-called great thinkers spend a great deal of time ridiculing or just plain bashing the church in which they grew up and the preachers they have heard, calling them unloving, ignorant of grace, etc. Apparently, one must tear down the old paths to lead people into new ones.
Let’s teach the whole counsel of God in love but with conviction and without compromise. I don’t have any special knowledge; I just want to walk in God’s paths – in the old paths – which adhere to His Word and seek His authority for what we do religiously.
