Is It “Outdated” To Trust Only In The Bible?
Q: How should we respond in love to believers from other denominations when they call us outdated for trusting only in the Bible?
A: You should ignore them. Who cares? If you’re going to make a stand for true Biblical Christianity, there will be some people who disagree with you and mock you. Even if they laugh at you, who cares? Spurgeon said something to this effect. He said that if people laugh at you, remember that there’s a lot of sorrow in this world; if I can make somebody a little bit happier by giving them excuse to laugh at me, that’s fine with me. He didn’t mind having a joke cracked over his head every once in a while. It doesn’t need to matter to us. It doesn’t mean that we hate them, of course, or target them with our disapproval.
The approval and commendation of our God matter far more to us than the approval or commendation of the culture or the people around us. The world has mocked and scorned and belittled believers of God in every age. People now are being told, “You’re old fashioned. You’re out of step with the times.” But if it not that particular argument, there would be something else.
I’ll be honest, when I receive criticism like that, I genuinely wear it as a badge of honor. When a person’s theological argument against me is, “Wow, you must be really stupid and not one of the smart guys like we are,” that doesn’t affect me in the slightest. First of all, I’m content to hang out among the simple and lowly people. I am just fine in the company of simple people who love Jesus and believe the Bible. That’s fine for me. I don’t feel a compulsion to fit in with the smart guys. Secondly, if they want to go down that road of pride, let them. I don’t have to travel down there with them. I have no desire to seek the approval of such people.