NEED FOR JUDGMENT AND DISCERNMENT

A reader, Peter Sze, responded to my post, “NO NEED TO CONFESS SIN?”

http://limpohann.blogspot.com/2013/02/no-need-to-confess-sin.html

with the following comments:

This is a very clear example of the "straw man" fallacy:
The straw man fallacy occurs in the following pattern of argument:
*Person 1 has position X.
*Person 2 disregards certain key points of X and instead presents the superficially similar position Y. 
The position Y is a distorted version of X.
*Person 2 attacks position Y, concluding that X is false/incorrect/flawed.

RS picks up a line from JP's book without context, attack it vigorously, declares it as flawed and amazingly PAL holds it up, see... sigh.
Come on... the Bereans "listened eagarly to Paul" directly, not 2nd hand distorted messages.

Abbreviations:

JP Joseph Prince.

RS Roger Sapp

PAL Poh Ann, Lim

MY RESPONSE:

Peter, as I mentioned earlier in my blog, I hope that believers will become more open-minded: Whenever they hear a message or read a Christian book, they should learn how to judge wisely its contents against scripture.

All of us love God. We want to see truth upheld and His name glorified.

Perhaps you might not know this: When I read the book, "Destined to Reign", a year ago its theology gave me an uncomfortable feeling. On 19^th Feb, I posted in my blog:

“Are the future sins of Christians automatically forgiven (FSAF)?” http://limpohann.blogspot.com/2013/02/future-sins-automatically-forgiven.html, a post which shares some of the concerns RS has about the book.

So my opinions have already been formed about this book even before I stumbled into RS’s Youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYUKOtya_xs yesterday (26^th Feb). I didn’t just ride piggy back on someone else’s views.

When a Christian author writes a book, he has to make sure that what he puts down is able to stand the test of scripture, not just selected verses and passages but the whole truth. Otherwise he might be inviting a barrage of comments.

Between spoken and written word, the latter is more reliable and accurate. RS has picked up what someone has written and given a specific reference (page, line quoted) before he shows why such and such a position is not tenable. 

As the reference has already been clearly stated by RS, I cannot understand why you bring up the term “straw man”. RS is not directing his comments against something vague and nebulous.

Unlike the believers of Berea, we are in a better position to judge the validity of a particular teaching because it is often available in a well-recorded format (in this case, a book or video) whereas the former could only judge based on Paul’s spoken word (or hand-written manuscripts at best, if available).

“Reading maketh a full man, conference a ready man, and writing an exact man.” – Sir Francis Bacon

We are not the only ones who are able to judge whether the author or RS is right. Let everyone read the book, watch the various YouTube videos (by RS pertaining to the book and those by JP) and compare the contents of the book and video with scripture (Acts 17:11, 1 Cor. 2:14-16).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4uQjND-rFg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eMWd_ubNMM

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDgqUP2-FOw

My hope is that Christians will become more open-minded: Whenever they hear a message or read a Christian book, they should learn how to judge wisely its contents against scripture.    

May the Holy Spirit help us to discern truth from error.

A Review of “Destined to Reign” by Joseph Prince

http://moriel.org/MorielArchive/index.php/discernment/a-review-of-destined-to-reign-by-joseph-prince

Footnotes:

And the people of Berea were more open-minded than those in Thessalonica, and they listened eagerly to Paul's message. They searched the Scriptures day after day to see if Paul and Silas were teaching the truth.

(Acts 17:11).

The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments, for,

“Who has known the mind of the Lord
    so as to instruct him?”

But we have the mind of Christ.

(1 Corinthians 2:14 -16).