One day a man is in a gym, and he sees a little boy, about the age of 7. Assuming he came in with one of the other people exercising, he dosnt pay much attention to him, until he notices the young boy looking at a shelf full of weights a little too curiously. The man walks over to him, explaining to him that the weights were heavy. He showed him the label on the weights that said "50 lbs." and explained that it meant 50 pounds, and the boy couldnt lift it. The boy looked up at the weights again, thinking they were small, and argued he was sure he could, they looked little.
The man pointed out the marked weight again and the boy nodded saying "Right, 50... 5 + 0 is 5!" The man told him he was reading it wrong, but the boy was sure he was reading it right. He felt his interpretation was just as good as the mans, so he grabbed one of the weights and pulled it down. It fell obviously, as the boy was entirely unable to even move the weight if not for gravity helping him pull it off, and the boys foot broke underneath it.
Does this situation sound more or less familiar? It should. Many of us have talked to, and many even are, that little boy. Many of us look at scripture the same way as the boy read the "50 lbs." on the weight. Many assume that every interpretation is just as good as the other person's.
But the lesson of the boy is for all of us in all things. There are far too many people who believe that the word of God is open to interpretation, or are so readily willing to utter that horrid statement "agree to disagree," that they hardly give any creedance whatsoever to a reading of scripture other than their own. They give up within minutes crying "Well, your not going to change and I'm not!"
They testify to their own stubborness and hardness against the Word, while believing fully they are being the wiser of the two by calling off any conflict, seeing themselves as having the perception to know when someone will not listen, and as a result, do not try. The danger is twofold, they not only reject the chance to learn new truth and take - though it may be unconciously - pride in being secure in what they know and believe as truth, but they on *top* of this refuse to impart their beliefs to the person in error. They make a dark truce, agreeing not to trouble with the word nor be troubled by it. They disallow Yah's usage of them as witnesses.
Anyone who gives up speaking about the word is like a seed that refuses to poke above ground. They hear that the sun is above, and it may be hot, so they stay underground and never grow. As the heat of the sun is what gives the plant its life and growth... it dies without it. On top of this, the plant will then never bear more seeds and plants; it will never bear fruit. There is of course a time where talking any longer would be pointless, however this is never before the person in question has shown that, despite scripture, they will not listen.
Even then, the agreement should be to cut off talking for a time. Never should the words "agree to disagree" be uttered. When a messenger of Christ agrees to simply disagree with the other persons point, they cut off themselves from any light the person may have given them, as well as from imparting any light to that person. In addition, they essentially condone the error of the other party by their agreeing to simply disagree, passing it off as something too unimportant to reason out by the word of Yah.
And those are just the ones who may very well have the truth. What of those who, when their beliefs are challenged and they begin to shake, they cry "Agree to disagree!" in order to slip out of being exposed to new light? These are the ones who most fittingly are represented by the young boy. They are shown the label of Christ, the word of God saying "50 lbs," but choose to agree to disagree with the man telling them their error. And what is the result of this mistake? In the boy's case, he lost his foot.
Scripture tells us "it is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire." (Matthew 18:8)
The young boy only lost his foot, yet scripture tells us the loss of a foot is nothing compared to the loss of eternal life. Those who are treating the word of God as that weight, choosing to ignore those who disagree and who show them what the letters say, go by what they think regardless of the Word. They feel each interpretation is just as true and will just as easily get you into heaven. They will find that they cannot lift it, and they will be crushed. What does Christ say judges us?
"He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day." (John 12:48)
If his word is what judges us, we had better know what it says and means! It is dangerous, very dangerous, to believe that all ways are right, or that being right dosn't matter. It is dangerous to believe that the word is only there for inspiration, or that if we agree to disagree we will still go to heaven and find the truth once there. If this is all it is, what is the point of truth at all? If all will lead the same way, why is truth necessary? Why, if we can be righteous without being right?
While it is true we are saved by faith, again, what is the difference between right and righteous? Are any going into heaven being wrong about scriptural truth who had the chance to learn it? Yah gives very solemn words regarding knowledge, and its rejection. Choosing not to look into it, agreeing to disagree, neglecting to look into and test everything by the word, is exactly the same as rejecting it.
"My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children." (Hosea 4:6)
Destroyed. They do not stub their toe.. They do not simply drop the weight on their foot. Christ is that weight, and he is the rock. If it falls on any man, it grinds him to powder. (Matthew 28:44) Christ is also the word. (John 1:1) Just as on that weight there are words engraved in the rock of Christ, the words of salvation that tell us how we are to attain the kingdom, and what is truth. If we, in the slightest, in any way neglect to read, take away from, add to, or neglect to test what is written, then we try without knowing what we are getting into, to attain the kingdom. As Christ said :
"Whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple. For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it? Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him, Saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish. Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first, and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand? Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth an ambassage, and desireth conditions of peace. So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple." (Luke 14:27-23)
If we neglect to count the cost, we will suffer loss; if we neglect to read the letters on the rock, it will crush us. Why? Because the only way to be saved is to be broken on that rock. We must be broken on Christ. We must be broken on the word.
If you were shopping for ingredients for a recipe, and you found out that you misread the label on the olives and bought a can of dog food instead, would you take it regardless? What about if you were preparing the recipe before you realized it? What if you were about to put the food on the table? The closer you are to serving and eating the food, the more urgent the need to realize and fix the error is. And yet you would, as we draw closer to the end day, say that matters of the truth do not matter to eternal salvation?!
We must agree with the bible and not seek for the bible to agree with us. We must fall onto the word and be broken by it, and then lifted up by Him. If we do anything, anything at all other than seek the word to be broken on it, testing our beliefs always against the truth, then we - as the young boy - instead of falling onto the rock, try to pull it, and it falls on us. It crushes us, it grinds us to powder, and we perish.
Let us agree to agree with the bible. This is the one, lone, sole agreement that should be made regarding scripture. None other. Whatever we say, let it agree with the bible. If it does not, let it be broken on the word in the bible, and let the truth replace it. God cannot accept a heart that lives in darkness, because he is light. He cannot accept a heart that dwells in sin, because he is purity. How then, can any of us dare to say that He who is truth can accept a heart that chooses to dwell in error? Wilful ignorance is a deadly, numbing poison.
Agree to agree with God.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. Grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Grace be with you all. Amen." (1 Thessalonians 5:21, 2 Peter 3:18, Hebrews 13:25)