I constantly get told by Christians that the doctrines those of us in my church believe are wrong and that I need to stop believing and teaching these doctrines, because I’m leading not only myself, but those I teach, to hell.
The problem is, these Christians don’t seem to realize that I’ve studied the Bible carefully, and not only the passages that teach the doctrines I believe, but the ones they assume teach the doctrines they believe as well, and I’ve concluded that their “proof texts” don’t actually teach what they think they do at all.
This means that these Christians want me to ignore the interpretations of Scripture and the theological conclusions I’ve arrived at through my Bible studies (interpretations and conclusions that many others have arrived at too), based only on the fact that they’re telling me I’m wrong. Because if none of them will take the time to read my eBook where I explained what it is we believe the Bible teaches and why I believe it does teach what we believe it teaches, they’re basically asking me to take their word for it (or the word of their religious leader or denomination) that we’re wrong, even though none of them can show me where we went wrong since they don’t even know the reasons for what we believe (or even what it is we actually believe, in many cases).
And if you’re one of these Christians who are asking me to just take your word for it that we’re wrong and to change my mind and believe what you believe instead, simply because it’s what you think the Bible teaches and because you’re telling me to, I hope you can now see what you’re doing. I mean, would you just take my word for it that you’re wrong about your doctrines simply because I said you are, without me explaining why I believe you’re wrong (perhaps in an eBook where I laid out my scriptural interpretations and arguments as to why I believe you’re wrong)? I know the answer to that question is “no,” so I hope you won’t be so hypocritical as to tell me to change my mind without explaining exactly where I went wrong in my studies of Scripture and writing it out in your own study or book and sending it to me.
So bottom line, if you’re actually serious about getting me to change my mind, put your money where your mouth is and read my eBook carefully from beginning to end, and then write a refutation of it. But I already know you won’t. How? Because, out of the thousands of Christians I’ve sent the link for my eBook to, a few dozen have taken this challenge and promised to write a refutation and send it to me, but one of two things always happens:
- They give up before finishing chapter 1.
- They finish the book and tell me they now believe the same as I do.
There have been literally zero exceptions to this rule, at least among the Christians who have gotten back to me, which is another reason I remain convinced that we must be on the right track. But hey, maybe you’ll be the first to actual write that refutation. If not, though, you have no business telling us we’re wrong when you can’t even tell us why we’re wrong (or what it is we even believe, in many cases).