We Need Discerning Women

This is not going to be one of those “how to win friends and influence people” posts. In fact, this post may annoy you, because I am going to talk about a word that mainstream Christian women don’t like to deal with: Discernment.

I am convinced that one of the greatest dangers facing Christian families is the lack of biblical discernment in our reading and in our viewing habits.

And this is a bad trend, because in order for Christian homes to remain, well, you know, Christian, women need to practice discernment.

Why don’t we like this word, let alone practice it?

Perhaps it brings to mind someone who is argumentative or nit picky. Maybe you don’t like the sound of splitting hairs over doctrine.

But discerning truth from error is not optional for a true Christian woman.  It is not a responsibility that falls solely on the leadership of your church. (2 John 1:10)

1 Thes. 5: 21 tells us to “examine everything carefully.”

In C.S. Lewis’s insightful book The Screwtape Letters, the main character, Screwtape, instructs an apprentice demon to “keep his human victim’s mind off the plain antithesis between true and false.” 

John MacArthur puts is plainly:

Some say that doctrine divides. That’s true! If you set aside biblical truth and remain silent for fear of offending people, opposition will disappear, but so will some other things like truth, holiness, and God Himself.

Jude 1: 3-4 says we are to “contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain persons have crept in unnoticed … who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.” Diluting doctrine only ends up making things easier for those who stealthily seek to victimize the church.

Christian mothers, you cannot afford to feed your mind half truth and half lie.

It WILL affect your children and grandchildren.

We need to think about who is the author of half-truths. (hint: Satan)

Why would he offer half-truths? Because half truth will lead us further and further away from the actual truth.

When I read reviews about books that are clearly full of doctrinal error, I see  women defending error with these arguments:

• Well, I loved this book. 
• I was helped by this book. 
• This author really moved me.
• This book was life changing.

Our analysis has to be about more than “us.”

We must ask “What would God think of this book? Would He approve? Is this consistent with His message or is it a twisted version?”

Might I suggest that the Bible can change your life more than a book that has questionable doctrine.

We should have serious RED flags when an author

• claims that God told them to write something down and share it (for a fee, of course.)
• claims that they’ve had an “experience” of other-worldly proportions
• mixes biblical truth with mysticism, pantheism, deism, humanism
• represents God’s character in a way that is inconsistent with God’s word (God is not a biker dude.)
• claims that doing this or that good work will bring you to a “higher life” type of Christianity.

I think women generally WANT to increase their relationship with the Lord, and that in their sincerity they fall for some of these “schemes” of satan.

Satan is the author of confusion, and he’ll use biblical truth mixed with just a dash of error…hardly discernable, but over time it will lead you further and further away from God.

In 2012, God speaks to us through His word. Period.

There is no new revelation. No matter what an author claims.

And although the desire to grow is a good one, the spiritual life is not an over-night endeavor. (I wish it were!)

It is a slow, steady, one-victory-at-a-time, uphill battle.

That is the truth of it.

Endure sound doctrine. Be in the Word. You can’t protect yourself from error if you don’t KNOW the truth firsthand.