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Sound Instruction


          These are the things you are to teach and insist on. If anyone teaches otherwise and does not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ and to godly teaching, they are conceited and understand nothing. They have an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels about words that result in envy, strife, malicious talk, evil suspicions and constant friction between people of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain. (I Timothy 6:2-5)

          Uh oh. “Unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels about words…” But, I have to say in my defense that I try to make sure that my teaching agrees to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ and to godly teaching. Post Modernism, on the other hand, maintains that words have only the meaning that the hearer attaches to them – which is a slap in the face to every writer even though it’s true in a sense. Most readers aren’t interested or disciplined enough to research the meaning of a word in the mind of the author or of the society in which the author lived.
          For example, how many people would examine the culture of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries to understand that when Jefferson wrote of the “pursuit of happiness,” he was referring to the pursuit and attainment of virtue not the mere feeling we call “happiness” or the American Dream of a cottage with a white picket fence?  I can’t blame them – as much as I love words, I’m often no better.
          No, the more I look at this morning’s passage, the more I find myself thinking that Post Modernism and socialism are precisely what Paul was describing. Socialism is built on class and group conflict, with those who don’t have rising up (strife) in envy to demand their “fair share.” If you listen to those who adhere to these philosophies, while you hear talk of tolerance, it is tolerance only for those who agree with them.      Anyone who disagrees with them can expect to be treated maliciously and suspiciously. Within socialism, there is constant friction. Add Liberal Theology (which, as I understand it, is socialistic in nature) and you have the “godliness” as a “means to financial gain.”
          It could be that I’m deceiving myself, so here’s my challenge to you. You’re welcome to disagree with me, and I challenge you to do so – but if you’re going to disagree with me, make sure that the teaching you insist on is based on the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ – not pulled out of context in the same way you’ll probably claim mine is.

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