The diversity of supposed truths that have been and are propagated in the name of God is nothing short of mind boggling. Many atrocities have been committed by individuals, organizations and nations that professed to be acting on truth straight from the mouth of God.
During what is referred to as "the crusades of the dark ages", many millions were tortured and butchered in the name of God by kings and popes obsessed with spreading their religious truth. Throughout history, organizations like the Klu Klux Klan, the Irish Republican Army, the Palestinian Liberation Organization and al Qeada, just to name a few, have collectively murdered millions in the name of God. Then there are people like Charles Manson, Jim Jones and David Koresh who have actually convinced people they are the Messiah and persuaded them to do bizarre and ungodly things, all in the name of God. Today, there are literally tens of thousands of religions, cults and occults throughout the world, each one teaching their unique, and sometimes downright strange, brand of doctrine and dogma and each one claims they alone are teaching the absolute truth.
A quick look at mainstream Christianity in this country should convince you that the 21 st century clergy is not exempt from believing and teaching untruth in the name of God. With hundreds of denominations and thousands of independent churches, most of which are in serious disagreement about what the truth really is, there must be a whole lot of preachers out there teaching untruth in the name of God. They disagree about nearly everything, like, who, how and when we are saved, the proper method of baptism, the power of the Holy Spirit, what we can and cannot do as Christians, who gets to go to heaven and who goes to hell and dozens of other very important doctrinal issues. Nonetheless, they all seem so certain that everything they teach is the truth and although most preachers have and teach a measure of truth, it just isn't possible that any of them can be right about everything. But they seem to think they are.
Most people, even those with no Bible training are equally certain that everything they believe is truth and simply choose a church that agrees with what they already believe. Others just blindly accept the teachings of whatever church they happen to land in without any real examination or contemplation. Many Christians are instructed to blindly accept what their church teaches and are sternly warned that they are in danger of being lead away into damnable error if they question their doctrine and traditions. But, suppose they are already in error. How will they ever discover their error if they do not question their doctrine and traditions?
All this certainty and uncertainty in no way indicates that God does not exist, that the Bible is not the word of God or that there is not an absolute truth by which all things can be measured. On the contrary, the Bible speaks frequently of the uncertainty of all the teachings of men and attributes all the confusion to man's pride and hardness of heart. It seems it is inherently difficult for all of us to open our minds and listen to the opinions of others and even more difficult to ever admit it when we have been shown to be wrong about something we have believed for years. But just because you have believed something for years and your mama believed it and your grandpa too does not necessarily make it true.
In Matthew 24, Jesus speaks of the many perils that will come in the last days, such as wars, pestilence, famine and natural disasters, however, he told his follows to not let their hearts be troubled by such things. He said the real danger was the many false teachers that would abound. Jesus repeatedly warned them and us saying, "Be on your guard, see to it that no one deceives you". He makes it very clear that each individual is responsible to seek for truth and not be deceived. This same warning is reiterated many times in the writings of the apostles.
We cannot just assume that everything we believe is the truth or assume that because we personally like a preacher, teacher, church or denomination that everything they teach is the truth. We must earnestly seek for God and His truth for ourselves. That is the only way we can "see to it that no one deceives us". For most of us, just like the Pharisees, the truly dangerous error is not the one coming down the pike next week, it is the one we have been stubbornly clinging to for years.
Go to Part 3 of 4 - Absolute Truth