A Christian apologist laid out three ways Christians can judge whether an idea is “biblical or bogus” in a speech that was part of a student-centered apologetics event in Allen, Texas.
Alan Shlemon, author and speaker with the apologetics group Stand to Reason, gave remarks at the reTHINK Apologetics Student Conference, held last week at Cottonwood Creek Church in Allen.
During his talk last Friday, Shlemon laid out three steps that help guard against false religious ideas.
The first step is to “seek to study scripture,” which involved reading the Bible. Shlemon told students that when they “come across an idea or some kind of claim, we need to test it against Scripture.”
The second step is to “seek wise counsel,” with Shlemon giving examples of parents, young group leaders, and pastors, among others.
“Chances are, you don’t know the Bible entirely, you don’t have perfect theology, you don’t understand the Christian worldview completely, and guess what? That’s OK. I don’t either. Nobody does,” he explained.
“But what that means is you can and should seek wise counsel. People who might be more biblically mature than you or walked with Jesus longer.”
Shlemon said his counsel was his boss, Stand to Reason founder and President Greg Koukl, who hosts a radio program that invites people to call in and ask spiritual questions.
The third and final step in determining the validity of an idea, according to Shlemon, is to “seek the consensus of historic Christianity.”
“What has the Church taught for 2,000 years?” asked Shlemon. “If the idea or the claim that I am considering right now is contradicted by 2,000 years of church history, or it is a completely new idea, then it causes me to become suspicious.”
SOURCE: Christian Post, Michael Gryboski
All Content & Images are provided by the acknowledged source