Apologetics Aphorisms

I have a collection of aphorisms, quips, and humorous thought-provokers about discernment issues. I've collected these over a period of many years and I can't remember where I got most of them. I know many were picked up at the various discernment conferences I've attended. One of my favorite teachers with some of this wit is G. Richard Fisher, who has been a pastor at Laurelton Park Baptist Church in Bricktown, NJ since 1968, and is also with Personal Freedom Outreach apologetics ministry. I hope you enjoy these thoughts as much as I, and that you can find use for them sometime!


"Discernment is the immune system of the church; apologetics is the handmaiden of the gospel."


"Wisdom is knowledge applied; the knowledge being from study or experience."


"Tolerance is the virtue of those who don't believe in anything." G.K. Chesterson


"Greeks looked for wisdom, Americans look for compromise."


"True love must discriminate between good and evil."


"The Bible is like a gun; don’t defend it, use it!"


Christians who don’t understand their faith, and who are not discerning, are suffering from some (or all) of the following maladies: "Spiritual AIDS - Acquired Ignorance of Doctrine Syndrome," "Doctrinally impaired," "Biblically challenged," or "Doctrinal anorexia."


"They have been sewing spiritual clothes but they’ve missed several stitches."


"We need to equip our people for living in the world, rather than protect them from living in the world."


"Shepherds are letting the sheep determine their diet." (I believe this came from R.C. Sproul)


"Many Christians are eating junk food theology; some of which can give food poisoning."


"With some teachers there is so much chaff that the wheat is hard to find."


If someone says “you can’t throw out the baby with the bath water,” tell them to save the baby but drain the water.


"Seduction of the mind will result in corruption of the soul."


"When people are starving they will eat anything."


"To get a bone away from a dog, give him a bone with more meat on it." (Helping people leave cults)


"Ear candy gives brain cavities."


Some of Dick Fisher’s quips discussing scripture-twisting: “Hazardous hermeneutics.” “Rorschach Hermeneutics” (you see what you want to see). “Harmeneutics” “Flexodoxy”


Some claim people just need “milk” because they are not ready for the meat of Scripture. The question becomes, what sort of milk are we giving them: skim? 1%? 2%? or sour?


Daffynitions: Cult cocktail - Scripture with a twist. Therapist: Rent a Friend.

Emerging Into Cultdom!

One of the things that should be an immediate red flag for any "Christian" movement is when they have to come up with their own Bible to reflect their theology. This is what happens with cults and other groups who have gone aberrational or heretical. Some examples of this are:
1. Mormons and their Joseph Smith Translation (also called the "Inspired Version").
2. Jehovah's Witnesses and their New World Translation.
3. Seventh-day Aventists and their The Clear Word.
4. The Local Church and their Recovery Version.

So now the Emergent Church has joined the ranks and are now publishing their own “translation” of the Bible called The Voice. If the Emergent Church hasn’t raised red flags with all their aberrations, heresy and apostasy already, then their new “Bible” should do so.

Extreme Theology has done some excellent work showing problems with this new version of the Bible. So far they have posted two parts of their investigation:
http://www.extremetheology.com/2008/11/review-of-the-voice-new-testament---part-one.html
http://www.extremetheology.com/2008/12/review-of-the-voice-new-testament-part-two.html
(Extreme Theology is a site I recommend for general reading, as there are a lot of good, thought-provoking articles.)

As I read these articles I couldn’t help but shake my head in wonderment that these men would do such twisting of the Word of God.

The Darkness of "Twilight"

There are many Christians sending/allowing their children to see this movie without hesitation. Christianity Today on their web site movie reviews actually gave this movie what reads to be a very positive review, as if it is all fun and romantic. I e-mailed CT my concerns that they did not recommend against this movie and I was given the usual complaint of being “judgmental” and even that I was making “blanket decisions for everyone.”

My point is this: the Bible says we are to avoid and expose the deeds of darkness, and that we are to avoid sexual immorality. Yet this movie’s theme was sexual tension between the vampire - a demonic being - and the 17-year-old girl, and no one seems to have a problem with the fact that this girl aggressively initiated sexual relations with the vampire and only remained chaste because he pulled away out of fear of hurting her. Somehow this has gotten to be a great teaching for abstinence!

Of course there’s the other problems, such as the girl saying she doesn’t care that he is a killer and dangerous, that she is willing to be eternally damned as a vampire with him, that it’s okay for a man to be stalking you and showing up in your bedroom while you sleep. There were so many bad messages that there is no way I can see any value in this film, regardless of the Christian reviewers who make a big deal of the family unity of the vampires.

Another blogger brought to my attention about how the Christian Stay at Home Moms blog removed all comments that spoke against Twilight because they thought it was a great movie. My suggestion for these CSAHMs is to spend their time delving more into the Scripture rather than promoting the “fruitless deeds of darkness.”

Making "blanket decisions for everyone” is not what we do when we warn against things that are spiritually harmful to the flock. We don’t say you “can’t” see this movie, we just tell you the harmful messages it presents and then say that is why you “shouldn’t” see this movie. My authority would be passages such as Proverbs 4:23, Psalm 101:3 and Ephesians 5:11-12.

Emerging Into Homosexuality?

The Emergent Church leadership are continuing rapidly in their run to apostasy. A case in point is their acceptance of homosexual behavior.

The latest of the “emerging” leaders to whitewash the sin of homosexual behavior is the former national coordinator of Emergent Village, Tony Jones. Tony Jones has decided that “gay persons are fully human persons and should be afforded all of the cultural and ecclesial benefits that I am…I now believe that GLBTQ can live lives in accord with biblical Christianity (at least as much as any of us can!) and that their monogamy can and should be sanctioned and blessed by church and state.” (For an excellent article about this, see http://www.renewamerica.us/columns/mwest/081201)

We previously had Brian McLaren saying, "Frankly, many of us don't know what we should think about homosexuality. We've heard all sides but no position has yet won our confidence so that we can say 'it seems good to the Holy Spirit and us.' That alienates us from both the liberals and conservatives who seem to know exactly what we should think."

I don’t know what Bible these people are reading, but my Bible says homosexual behavior is a sin before God, so I don’t understand McLaren’s confusion over the issue. Furthermore, to say that people practicing sexual perversions can live “in accord with biblical Christianity” is certainly a far cry from Jesus’ charge to the adulteress to “go and sin no more.”

I have read many articles in which members of the various “Emergent Church” branches go soft on the issue of homosexuality. It seems they want to be politically-correct rather than biblically-correct.

The Emergent Church movement is one that is apostate in many ways, and often heretical. We need to be alert for its intrusions into our local assemblies and identify it for the evil it is.

Tony Campolo: Homosexual Advocate

For anyone who still thinks Tony Campolo is a worthy teacher after my exposure of him in June, I must demonstrate his advocacy for homosexual behavior.

Campolo spoke at the Baptist General Association of Virginia during their November 11-12 meeting. It seems he was not happy about California’s Proposition 8 passing and stated his opposition to it. Although Campolo DID say homosexual behavior was “contrary to the teaching of God,” he has previously stated that we need to be supporting homosexuals in their “struggle for dignity,” whatever that is supposed to mean. As noted in my previous article (6/4/08), Campolo’s wife is a leader of a group urging Baptists to be supportive of homosexuals and Campolo himself preaches in homosexual-affirming churches.

I see nothing in Scripture that says we should “affirm” those practicing immoral sexual behavior or that we should be supporting such people in their “struggle for dignity.” Our mission is to take the gospel to them and once they realize they are sinners in need of repentance they will leave that sin behind. Jesus told the woman caught in adultery to “go and sin no more.” He didn’t affirm her in her sin, nor was he supportive of her lifestyle.

Perhaps Tony Campolo should read his Bible for more than taking passages out of context to support his socialistic agenda. Meanwhile, Christians should avoid his teachings like the plague.

Are Musical Instruments Unholy?

I was in a train station sending my mother back to Alabama when I found a “gospel tract” collection planted by “Gospel Tract and Bible Society,” published by the Church of God in Christ, Mennonite. Much of the stuff was good, but much of it was also very legalistic and often aberrational. But I want to mention just one of them because the subject is something the Church of Christ also teaches.

I am referring to the idea that musical instruments should not be used in the assembly because there is no mention of them being used during worship in the New Testament. Now, if you happen to think that is arguing from silence, I whole-heartedly agree with you! I don’t remember reading about pews being mentioned in the N.T either but I suspect these churches all have pews. There are many things these churches use for their worship service that aren’t mentioned in the N.T., such as collection baskets/plates, air conditioning, furnaces and even hymn books! I guess when one argues from silence he can come up with all sorts of things not allowed in the church because they aren’t mentioned in the New Testament.

The Church of Christ (often referred to as “Campbellites”) has no problem with singing hymns as long as they don’t have any musical instruments. Of course a pitch pipe is okay (isn‘t that a musical instrument?).

I was unaware that Mennonites also were against instrumental music; or is it just this particular sect?

Anyway, the tract I picked up was titled, “Worship Without Musical Instruments.” The reasons given in this tract again include an argument from silence: “There is no evidence in the New Testament that the apostolic Church used musical instruments. There is little mention of them in the New Testament other than as examples for comparison (1 Corinthians 13:1; 14:7), and in Revelation referring to music in heaven (Revelation 14:2; 15:2).” The tract then discusses many passages of Scripture that speak of singing but not of musical instruments.

From what I have read, the Greek in the N.T. passages that mention singing (Rom. 15:9; 1 Cor. 14:15; Eph. 5:19; Col. 3:16; James 5:13) carry the idea of singing with instruments. The word “psalm” in Ephesians and Colossians especially includes the meaning of instrumental accompaniment. So I guess musical instruments are indeed mentioned in the New Testament!

My first thought when encountering this teaching for the first time through a member of the Church of Christ was Psalm 150’s mention of playing musical instruments. But this Mennonite sect tract says, “Before the time of Christ…worship included the use of musical instruments… The sacrifices and rituals so important to the Old Testament-era worshipers were abolished, and worship from the heart became the only acceptable worship…. Salvation is of the heart. God is worshiped and praised from the heart.” So what they are claiming is that all use of musical instruments in worship was done away with in Christ. I’d say that was some very convoluted reasoning!

Dr. Hugh F. Pyle, in his book, The Truth About the “Church of Christ,” makes a very good point: “Do we really believe that God has changed? If musical instruments were used by godly men in the Old Testament ([cites several passages]), is it wrong to suppose that God would still bless the use of musical instruments by godly men today?” I have to agree with Pyle, and I personally worship the Lord and praise Him in my music while playing my bagpipes. (A funny side note - I have had Catholic priests tell me I couldn’t play at weddings because the bagpipes are a secular instrument - as if there was such thing.)

If you are a member of a Christian assembly where this legalistic silliness is taught, I would suggest you find another place of worship. I have observed that when an assembly has this sort of legalistic teaching it is only one of many legalistic ideas that keep its members in spiritual bondage. Christ has set us free from this sort of Pharisaical bondage.

The Shack - Junk Theology

The Shack, by William Young, is really becoming a popular book among Christians. And, as with lots of other books with bad theology, heresy and aberrations, this book is a big seller at “Christian” book stores. Now, this is something that I find really disturbing because of its contents.

I admit I haven’t read this book myself; I can’t read everything. However, a good personal pastor friend has read it and has given me first-hand information about the contents. Additionally, I have found many, many reviews by top-notch Bible teachers that demonstrate beyond a reasonable doubt that this is a book full of blasphemy and heretical teachings. BUT, it sure makes people FEEL good!

Plain Truth Ministries, which has some good stuff yet is aberrational in many of their teachings (including the denial of the existence of Hell), is headed up by a guy named Greg Albrecht. Greg’s PTM promotes The Shack, and when I wrote him suggesting they should rethink their position Greg responded that he was involved in the editing of this book as well as endorsing it. He stated that the book is “theologically accurate.” Since PTM is theologically off-center with other issues, I guess it doesn’t surprise me that their leadership would find no problem with this book.

Anyway, rather than write my own review of this book, here are some links to many excellent reviews describing the false teachings and danger of The Shack.

http://www.svchapel.org/resources/book-reviews/15-fiction/428-the-shack-by-william-p-young
http://www.crossroad.to/articles2/08/shack.htm
http://www.carm.org/features/theshack.htm
http://www.tektonics.org/books/shackrvw.html#Review

If anyone reads these reviews and still agrees with Greg Albrecht that the book is “theologically accurate,” I’d appreciate it if you could demonstrate this from Scripture. I think it would be wonderful if pastors spoke against this book from the pulpit.

Christians and Homosexuality

Many churches are conducting “marriages” and even “civil unions” for those who practice homosexual behavior. Whole denominations are bowing to the world’s ways and condoning homosexual behavior as just another way of expressing “love” in relationships. In fact, there is a denomination (Metropolitan Community Church) specifically for those who practice homosexual sex. There are even claims made that God gave people homosexual orientation, and claims that references to homosexual behavior in the Bible are always taken out of context to “attack” those who practice homosexual sex. All passages from Scripture that mention homosexual behavior have been reinterpreted to “prove” that homosexual behavior is natural and okay with God.

Let me start by making a clarification between homosexual “orientation” and homosexual “behavior.” Whether one is “oriented” towards a particular behavior is irrelevant; what is relevant is how one responds to his or her orientation. 97-98% of the population is oriented towards heterosexual sexual relations, but that doesn’t mean they should act on those feelings outside of marriage. Some people are oriented to desire sexual relations with children, animals or even corpses, but having these orientations does not therefore force the people into acting on those feelings. So then, if a person truly is oriented towards homosexual behavior, that doesn’t thereby give them the need or right to practice such behavior.

So what is the true biblical position about homosexual behavior, and what should be the Christian’s view of those who practice homosexual behavior? This can be ascertained by reading the relevant passages of Scripture in their context. I will be using NKJV.

First, read Genesis chapter 19 - I’m not going to quote the whole chapter here. It is the well-known story of the depravity exhibited by the men of Sodom against the angels who were visiting Lot. It is very obvious that the men wanted to have homosexual relations with them, since Lot offered his virgin daughters to sate their lusts and the men wanted nothing to do with the women. Jude, in discussing judgment God is reserving for wickedness, continues at verse 7 with, Sodom and Gomorrah…having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. Jude describes the incident of the men in Sodom as sexual immorality that went after “strange flesh.” I don’t think it takes a rocket scientist to understand that Jude was referring to the action which was named for that town - sodomy. So why is this important? Jude tells us what God’s attitude was about the homosexual behavior in the town of Sodom; it led to the destruction of that city.

Two other passages from the Old Testament also tell us what God’s attitude is towards homosexual behavior. Let’s look at them:

Leviticus 18:22: You shall not lie with a male as with a woman. It is an abomination.

Leviticus 20:13: If a man lies with a male as he lies with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination.

I’d say these passages are perspicuous in their descriptions of homosexual behavior being abominable to God. There is no qualification as to the men discussed being male prostitutes or anything else; the statements are about men in general. If a man has sexual relations with a man as he would with a woman, then God says it is an abomination.

Now, there are many who try to marginalize these passages by bringing up all the “holiness” and ceremonial laws of Leviticus, but none of those laws were meant for anyone but Israel and have nothing to do with the context of homosexual behavior being an abomination before God.

A passage that should be familiar to Christians is Romans 1:26-27. But to get the context of the passage we must go back to verse 16 where Paul starts talking about how he is not ashamed of the gospel and why, and that the righteous person is saved through faith. Then Paul says that the wrath of God is against men (mankind - means women are included) who suppress the truth about God because God has made the truth about Himself evident to everyone. But these people who want to reject God do not glorify Him or give Him thanks and become futile in their thinking. They then worship the creation rather than the Creator. Then at verse 26 Paul says, For this reason, God gave them over to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due.

This is the only passage in Scripture that mentions lesbian homosexual behavior. Paul says it is “against nature.” Paul calls male homosexual behavior “shameful” and “error.” Other English Bible translations say “perversion.” He calls both female and male homosexual behavior “vile passions.”

Some people have suggested that Paul is only talking about those whose sexual orientation is naturally heterosexual and yet are participating in homosexual behavior, thereby behaving “unnaturally.” This is nothing more than “word salad.” The meaning of the text is quite clear that homosexual behavior practiced by ANYONE is unnatural and shameful.

1 Corinthians 6:9-10: Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites…will inherit the kingdom of God.

Notice that Paul includes several types of sexual immorality: “fornicators” - those who are engaging in sexual relations outside of marriage; “adulterers” - those who are married but having sexual relations with someone other than their spouse; “homosexuals” - the Greek word here refers to the man who plays the passive or “effeminate” role to the: “sodomites” - the aggressive, dominant, masculine participant in a homosexual relationship.

Paul’s list is about those who have not put these sins behind them, for in the very next passage he says, And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. (Of course this gives lie to the claim that homosexuals cannot change.)

One last passage to review is 1 Timothy 1:10. In this passage Paul is discussing various types of people who are ungodly, profane, and unholy. He includes “fornicators” and “sodomites” in this collection.

So it is very plain in Scripture that homosexual behavior is not approved of by God. Period. God didn’t give anyone homosexual orientation; that orientation came about by man’s fall into sin. And if it is ever demonstrated that such orientation has a genetic reason (it would be a genetic mutation), that still does not take away one’s personal responsibility for his behavior.

Since Scripture makes it plain that God abhors homosexual behavior, any Christian who sanctions such behavior is in conflict with God. We cannot condone homosexual behavior any more than we can condone any other sexual immorality; any sexual relation outside of a monogamous marriage of man and woman is contrary to God.

As Christians our duty is to treat those who practice homosexual behavior as we do any other unbeliever; we give them the gospel message and when they choose to “confess Jesus as Lord” they will come to see that such behavior is sin that needs to be repented. In this way they can leave such a life behind. But we do not welcome them “as they are” into our assemblies as if there is nothing wrong with their behavior. We wouldn’t do that for prostitutes or adulterers, so why do so many think it is different with homosexuals?

Christians and Abortion

It is indisputable that life begins at the moment of conception. Therefore, abortion is terminating a life. Of course the dispute then becomes whether that life is valuable or worthy of protection. What should be the Christian’s viewpoint on abortion based on what God has revealed to us in His Word?

This should be a rather simple chore, to see what the Bible says about an unborn child. So let’s begin with Exodus 21:22-24 (all passages from NKJV):

If men fight, and hurt a woman with child, so that she gives birth prematurely, yet no harm follows, he shall surely be punished accordingly as the woman’s husband imposes on him; and he shall pay as the judges determine. But if any harm follows, then you shall give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.

The woman was "with child" who could be harmed if she was caught up in a fight between men. The pre-born child had all the protection of the law. If the premature birth brought no further harm to the child, then the punishment exacted could be rather mild. However, if the child suffered any harm, punishment was severe. It is quite obvious here that what was inside the woman was a child.

Job had a couple interesting comments in chapter 3 that bear on our study (vv 3 &16 ):

May the day perish on which I was born, and the night in which it was said, “A male child is conceived”. Or why was I not hidden like a stillborn child, like infants who never saw light?

Job was feeling sorry for himself and was essentially wishing he’d never been born or even conceived. Notice he said, “a male child is conceived” - he was a child from the moment of conception! Notice also he calls stillborn babies “children” and those who die before seeing birth are “infants” who never saw light.

In Psalm 51:5 David said he was sinful since conception. For brevity I will not quote Psalm 139:13-16 but the passage speaks of how wonderfully made the author was while still in the womb. Even Ecclesiastes 11:5 speaks of the “child” in the womb.

Isaiah 49:1 tells of how God called him while he was still in his mother’s womb, which means he was certainly a living human being at that time. And Christians are usually familiar with Jeremiah 1:5 where God speaks of knowing him before he was born.

In Matthew 1:18 we are told Mary was “found with child.” Luke 1:41-44 tells about how the child in Elizabeth’s womb leaped for joy upon hearing Mary’s greeting.

God’s word plainly calls an unborn baby a “child” or an “infant.” The pre-born child is a human being. When anyone kills a human being without justification (e.g., punishment for crime, self defense or defense of another) God’s word calls it “murder.” Since a child in the womb has not committed a crime nor has tried to cause harm to another person, then the killing of that child is nothing less than murder.

The Christian must see the pre-born child as God sees him; fully human. There is NEVER a justifiable reason to kill a child just because he isn’t born yet. Therefore, a Christian who supports abortion is guilty of supporting the murder of the unborn.

According to God’s Word, abortion is wrong, and Christians have no basis to claim otherwise.

"Pleading the Blood" and "Binding" Satan

Several years ago I was with a youth group in a local church during the time an addition was being built. One evening close to the finish of the addition the leader took the whole group around all the new rooms to “plead the blood of Christ” and “bind” Satan from the rooms. I was so put off by the idea of such unbiblical practices that I said I could not participate and my son and I left.

At the next church we attended we discovered that every Sunday morning before service this one man would walk around the church “binding” Satan. Again, I just shook my head at such silliness. This particular assembly ended up splitting over the bringing in of the Toronto/Pensacola “revival” and I took my family elsewhere.

I have met many Christians over the years who have these same ideas. They originate in charismatic churches where other aberrations usually often abound. It is sad that people get so tied up in bondage to these false teachings. This month’s Berean Call newsletter brought this to mind as I read the following from the Q&A section:

Question: What about the popular idea that we must "plead the blood" over a situation or one's home, room by room?

Response: The phrase "plead the blood" does not appear once in all of Scripture. The word "plead" is found 30 times but never in association with blood. Just before each meeting of the discredited "revival" at the Brownsville Assembly of God in Pensacola, Florida, teams would pray over each seat and "bind the demons" that might be lurking in them. This is an unbiblical practice. The Bible contains no record of its ever being used by any apostle, prophet, or any other believer. Paul and the other apostles preached in many demonic places without once reciting this mantra. It is a vain practice that opens the door to much error, fanaticism, and spiritual bondage, needlessly giving attention to Satan and demons. Do not engage in it.

This is an excellent response to this practice. You will find no place in Scripture where these practices are mentioned, so those who teach this sort of stuff are false teachers who should be avoided.