Torch, Spring 1996

\' divine truth (1 Corinthians 2:9) . God has revealed what is necessary for life and godliness through the Spirit in the inspired Scriptures. The Bible, and the Bible alone, is the normative basis of faith and practice for the Christian. In order to understand it, we must be responsive to the teaching ministry of the Spirit (1 Corinthians 2: 10-13). When we do, we are able to examine all things (1Corinthians2:15). We then have the ability to measure life and its decisions against the absolute standard of revealed truth. Third, biblical discernment is the ability to apply common sense acqui~ed through life experiences. We learn it in "the school of hard knocks." We gain it by practice in making both good and bad decisions. It involves study, research, counsel, maturity, and logic . It involves time, truth, and the tests of life. The fires of opposition and criticism will purify the ability to discern (James 1:2-12; 1 Peter 1:6-7) . Such discernment is the ability to ask the right questions at the right time in the right way to achieve the right solution. Paul practiced this technique throughout Romans to guide his readers to form proper theological conclusions (e.g., 3:1 , 7, 9, 27, 29, 31). Fourth, biblical discernment is the ability to distinguish between negative criticism and positive discernment. We must all develop the habits of proper critical thinking without becoming emotionally critical people. I once heard someone say: "People quarrel because they do not know how to argue." We must not be predisposed toward finding fault with another person just because we disagree with his opinion. In criticism, we use negative, subjective bias, whereas in discernment, we seek an understanding of truth regardless of its source. Discernment is both positive and objective. Christ rebuked the religious leaders of Israel because they failed to discern the signs of their times (Matthew 16:1-4). In their prejudice toward Him, they chose not to evaluate His ministry objectively. Fifth, biblical discernment is the ability to examine yourself before you judge others. We should all examine our hearts lest we partake of the Lord's Supper unworthily (1 Corinthians 11 :28, 31). Paul admonished professing believers: "Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves" (2 Corinthians 13:5). Even the Savior warned: "Judge not, that you be not judged" (Matthew 7:1) . We should not have a lower standard for ourselves than we do for others. After proper self-examination, we will be in a better position to discern the virtues and the faults of others. We all make decisions every day. Some are of little significance; others are life– changing. As we seek to glorify God in all that we do, we must apply the biblical principles of discernment in all areas of our life expenence. Between truth and error... The apostle John charged: "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world" (1 John 4:1). We must not be naive nor gullible. We must examine all of the doctrinal statements made from the pulpit, in a classroom, in a book, over the radio, or on television. We must evaluate all such statements in the light of the clear truth of the inspired Word of God (John 17: 17). On one occasion, I listened for 30 minutes to Herbert W. Armstrong, the radio voice of "The World Tomorrow." His magazine Plain Truth was the official organ of the Worldwide Church of God. I agreed with everything that Armstrong said. His error was not in what he said, but in what he did not say. He did not exalt the divine-human person of Jesus Christ nor His redemptive death and resurrection. Between right and wrong... Isaiah cried: "Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness , who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter" (Isaiah 5:20). We live in a culture where homosexuality, lesbianism, abortion, and euthanasia are deemed to be politically correct by a growing, influential number. Biblical family values are caricatured as Victorian. The sins Torch 7