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I have a confession to make. At this very moment, I may be holding to and even promoting a doctrine that is false. Though I'm not aware of any of the truths that I hold to be untrue, I know that it is possible because it has happened many times before. If Life were to be found in the Bible, I would most surely die in my sins for I am unable to wholly know the mind of God and hold onto perfectly sound doctrine.

In my Christian walk, there have been doctrines that I held to be wholly true for the simple fact that I was new in Christ and not fully able to utilize the mind of Christ in me. Matter of fact, as a new Christian, I did not fully understand what it meant to have Jesus in my heart. I had many worldy and superstitious ideas and I often twisted the scriptures to my preconceptions as I began to apprehend the mind of God. I am still in the process of that apprehension and though I am less superstitious and much less worldly, I am not fully grown in Christ and prone to error.

What I have learned through the process of claiming and then letting go of doctrine that once appeared true and then as I matured, appeared false is that Jesus has not left me to my own devices in learning and applying the Word of God. In allowing me a wrong viewpoint and riding it to its end, He works it to my good and I learn what He desires me to learn of Him. I am in an ever deepening process of actualizing the character of Jesus Christ in me and all truths guide me closer to knowing fully the Truth. Jesus doesn't live in the Bible. He lives in me and others who believe in Him, those to whom He has revealed Himself to and in. The Truth in me is fully able to over-ride any untruth that I may, for a time, mistakenly cling to.

I have also found this to be true in others. Someone teaching a doctrine that is false does not make that person a false teacher. A teacher who is false is one who teaches Biblical Doctrine when Jesus has not been revealed to them or in them and that said teacher desires that others follow him and not Jesus. Someone who is in Jesus will only teach true doctrine for by it, they will point others toward Jesus Christ and not themselves. Even if that doctrine is not wholly Biblical, its truth is in the Truth Who lives within that teacher.

I have also at times in my life, made Biblical doctrine untrue in me as I followed it not in the quest to know Jesus better but in the quest for acceptance by other Christians or in a desire not to insult someone by not following a popular tradition. I am more mindful, as a older Christian, to follow what Jesus shows me personally and trust Him as He reveals Himself more fully to me by revealing to me the truths of the Bible. However, I am not fully mature and if my doctrine does not ring true with the Truth who lives in you, please discard it. I don't desire acceptance as much as I used to but I do very much desire that all could experience the revelation of Jesus Christ in their own lives in the very individual way in which that only can occur. Never ever follow me but look only to Jesus. Look and Live!