Jesus said it very simply. "You are in error not knowing the Scriptures or the power of God" (Matthew 22:29). There are a lot of categories of errors that are described in the Bible. Here are some of them.
IGNORANCE: Not knowing truth.
UNBELIEF: When you know the truth but reject it.
DECEPTION: When you believe error, but think it is true when it is false.
DISOBEDIENCE: When you know the truth, even believe it to be true, but fail to live by it. (Also known as INSANITY.)
IMMATURITY: Have some understanding, partial and incompletel understanding.
DRY (or Dead) ORTHOSOXY: Knowing the truth and believing the truth, but having no passion for that truth in a way that it changes you.
DUALISMS: Have alternative and usually contradictory truths for differnet situations. It is an endless way of double standards - one for your "church world, your spiritual life, your personal life" and the other for everything else in the world.
KNOWLEDGE WITHOUT WISDOM: Knowing facts, ideas, pieces of information, but not having these facts integrated into your life so they become the "way you live."
INTELLECTUALISM/RATIONALISM: This is another way of talking about head knowledge without heart knowledge.
SKEPTICISM, CYNICISM, DOUBT, AGNOSTICISM: While these are each a little different, they have enough "cognitive" overlap that I'll include them together. For these errors, you are confused, uncertain, suspicious, questionning, it's possible but not likely that the item of faith is true...
Every item above is a real problem. Often there are several of them going on at the same time. Be attentive to the condition of your own heart and whether any of these "errors" are traps you may experience.
Christian maturity includes the process of moving deeper into belief, faith, understanding, enlightenment, truth and wisdom.
Brian K. Rice
Leadership ConneXtions International
www.lci.typepad.com
