Amen, Jim, Richard, and Beacon!
We are not sent into the world to combat everyone's false ideas, but to present the truth as it is in Jesus, knowing that the most effective way to deal with error is to plant truth. May we also be refreshed and encouraged by Jesus' manner of dealing with controversy--in that rather than enter into it, He kept presenting eternal truth that would show the inconsistency of error. So today, even in God's church, when there are so many who preach false gospels--and there are so many--we might think it necessary to combat every nuance of error and inconsistency. How? By presenting the Bible's plain teaching on the sinfulness of humanity and our utter need of conversion, the power of grace to change sinners into saints by renewing the heart and mind, and the resulting transformation manifest in the revelation of the fruits of the Spirit being in the life without one missing, we can be thankful that when truth is clearly revealed, the errors do not harmonize with the everlasting gospel. Jesus has sent us to uplift the cross and to proclaim real righteousness by real faith. May we not get side-tracked by trying to defend ourselves. I am thankful for Jesus' perfect example!
"Jesus made no attempt to defend Himself or His disciples. He made no reference to the charges against Him, but proceeded to show the spirit that actuated these sticklers for human rites. He gave them an example of what they were repeatedly doing, and had done just before coming in search of Him. 'Full well ye reject the commandment of God,' He said, 'that ye may keep your own tradition. For Moses said, Honor thy father and thy mother; and, Whoso curseth father or mother, let him die the death: but ye say, If a man shall say to his father or mother, It is Corban, that is to say, a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; he shall be free. And ye suffer him no more to do aught for his father or his mother.' They set aside the fifth commandment as of no consequence, but were very exact in carrying out the traditions of the elders. They taught the people that the devotion of their property to the temple was a duty more sacred than even the support of their parents; and that, however great the necessity, it was sacrilege to impart to father or mother any part of what had been thus consecrated. An undutiful child had only to pronounce the word "Corban" over his property, thus devoting it to God, and he could retain it for his own use during his lifetime, and after his death it was to be appropriated to the temple service. Thus he was at liberty, both in life and in death, to dishonor and defraud his parents, under cover of a pretended devotion to God." {The Desire of Ages, page 396, paragraph 4}
Every false principle wars against the unselfish love to God and to our neighbor manifest in Christ's everlasting gospel. When we are seeking not to evade responsibility or the searching conviction of the Holy Spirit who shows us our sinfulness and our deep need of repentance, we can be thankful that Christ came not to condemn, but to save and to help us see our constant need of union and communion with Him!
