Praying for Truth

Orthodoxy. Correct doctrine. Straight opinion. Right belief. A very important word for Christians. Believing correctly about Christ is essential to a relationship with God. This is why the Apostle Paul excoriated false teachers and those who misrepresented the True Gospel. It's also why he urged Timothy to "rightly divide" or "cut straight" the Word of God (Gospel) in his teaching. Interestingly, the word used in this verse in the Greek is "orthotomeo", obviously closely related to "orthodoxos". Each word has something to do with doing something precisely, correctly and accurately.

There's something afoot in religious discussions these days, and I suppose it's been around since the beginning. What I'm talking about is the argument about who believes correctly; who exactly does have a corner on the Truth? In organized "Christian" religion (I put it that way b/c I don't believe everything within this scope is truly Christian) the belief pendulum swings far and wide from tight-fisted, close-minded, obsessive-controlling Phariseeism to loosey-goosey, warm-fuzzy, so-open-minded-that-your-brains-leaked-out, feel-goodism. Somewhere in the middle is orthodoxy. Or perhaps orthodoxy escapes the path of the pendulum altogether. That might be a better picture.

In my time here on the planet, I've met folks who live in religious straightjackets and I've had discussions with others who dilute the Gospel down to some all-inclusive kind of resort package. I'm not sure which end we of the spectrum we are most threatened by in America today, but I think I'm leaning toward the warm-fuzzy folks as the most dangerous.

I'm really just making an observation here. I'll save a discussion on what is included within orthodoxy for another day. Today I'm just contemplating, and praying that people in need of God and Truth will no longer be led astray by teaching outside of orthodoxy.