Hey, that's actually not a bad idea for a kids' movie. I can see it now: "The Apostle Paul gives birth to an adorable brood of young Galatian Christians only to have them snatched away by the frightening Circumcision DeVille! Will Paul ever get his precious Galatians back? Find out this spring when the studio that brought you "Larryboy and the Rumor Weed" and "Dave and the Giant Pickle" presents "101 Galatians!"
So my small group Bible study is currently studying Galatians and a question came up a few weeks ago when we discussed 2:11-21. When Peter starts distorting the gospel by refusing to eat with the Gentiles, Paul calls him on it in public - "But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in the presence of all, "If you being a Jew, live like the Gentiles and not like the Jews, how is it that you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews?" (Galatians 2:14)
It seems Paul's harsh and public rebuke was necessary given that Peter's actions were presenting false teaching about the gospel and were influencing the other Jews. This makes me wonder if and when we should publicly rebuke false teaching. For instance, suppose you hear a pastor teach that we're not really free from sin. Or that you'll always prosper financially if you are walking with God. Or that God isn't sovereign. Do you stand up in the middle of service and rebuke them? Do you wait until the service is over and gently take them aside? Do you chalk it up to a bad Sunday and ignore it all together?
I currently don't have a thoughtful or developed opinion on this subject and I'd love to hear people's thoughts. Do you think it's appropriate to publicly rebuke the false teaching of another Christian? If so, when? What criteria would you use in deciding whether to publicly or privately address false teaching? Any comments would be much appreciated.
In the meantime, I'm going to call the VeggieTales people about my movie idea. Those DVDs are going to sell like hotcakes.
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Ive been hoping someone much more knowledgeable than I (like any member of your immediate family) would answer before me, but maybe putting something down here will incite a discussion. I pray so.
I often wonder about this myself. I've walked out of one or two sermons myself in my tenure as a member of the Body of Christ; though my natural desire has been to stand up and shout "hey, man, what you're saying is crap". But I do know that a few times I've felt like that, I've been wrong. Even in sin.
I wonder if the qualification is apostolic? Or hierarchical? Because Paul is an apostle, he has the right to call Peter out publicly? A pastor could call out another pastor then? Because I wonder where the line is drawn. We have whole churches and denominations with packed houses of especially zealous believers in things I would leave a church over. Do I call a man of a different denomination a heretic? Would it even have an impact in that context?
Okay, Im going to stop. Im great at asking big questions without answering any.
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