Jesus said 'You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free' (John 8:32). He also said: 'I am ... the truth' (John 14:6).

Paul wrote: 'The time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth ...' (2Timothy 4:3, 4). Sadly, this is very obviously true in Christianity today.

This Back to Basics series of meditations will look at some foundational truths of the Christian faith that are taught in the Bible. These meditations seek to challenge you to hold fast to those basic truths, and to have the courage to stand against all the deceptive add-ons that threaten to drown, over-ride, dilute or otherwise distort the truth.

You might say, 'But Rosemary, we are not supposed to judge.'

To that, I would respond: every New Testament book, except for Philemon, contains some warning about or reference to incorrect teaching. Jesus and everyone of the New Testament writers strongly command us to be very careful and very discerning about what is taught and what we believe. It is critical that we judge what we hear and read - what is being taught from the pulpit, in books, on the television, and on the internet and in social media. Just because something is said does not mean it is right. We have to assess it as biblical or unbiblical, as true or false. The same chapter in which Jesus said 'Do not judge, or you too will be judged' (Matthew 7:1), he also commanded us to make extremely acute judgements in relation to people and what people say and do (Matthew 7:6, 13 - 14, 15 - 23, 24 - 27).

For further on warnings about false teaching see these studies.

For expanded teaching on Matthew 7 see this study.