Diverse versions of God’s will and standards, as authored by men are everywhere now. One version says this, and another version says that. A faithful steward, as an individual should be diligently responsible to build his own roots, in the pure primary source of the Truth; The Holy Bible. Moreover, when other versions come against what he holds, he should keep firm within his conviction.

This conviction, can be examined and re-examined frequently if need be, but the benchmark for all convictions should not be a secondary source, but the Spirit of God; the Word of God, which is the source of all truths.

Few months ago, we changed to a new apartment. Days after we settled in, one of my well-meaning neighbours; a brilliant, well-spoken, intellectually sound Christian woman called me on the phone.

“Hello Mr. Sobayo would you be free today or after church tomorrow for a discussion?”

According to her, she loves to relate with fellow Christians like herself to check up on them the quality of what they believe. So, if my belief was wrong, she would help me see clearly, so I can realign well. What a nice ministry!

So, over a refreshing serving of snacks, she asked me, “What is your opinion on sin and works, having impact on our salvation?”

“Hmnn…” I began, “we are saved by faith through grace, not by works. If we keep faith in Jesus, the grace is available to keep us from going into sin, but if we fall, we should promptly stand up again by repenting and appropriating the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit. We must not abuse the grace of God by being careless, romancing iniquities every now and then”

In my wildest imagination, I never expected a debate over that simple expression. I was wrong.

We were there for almost two hours. She thinks that we can never lose our salvation again. We cannot become unsaved again. Once we are saved, we are saved for life, irrespective of anything.  The salvation will keep us from sin and we can never lose faith again.

Arghhhh! I have heard of the eternal security doctrine, but I had not seen an apostle of it face-to-face.

That is not the only revised version of God’s truth I have heard; the internet is filled with thousands of revised standard versions of God’s truth as propounded by men. The truth is that some of these men do not mean evil. Those are their versions, by conviction too.

A pastor once said that masturbation in itself is not a sin; it is the guilt of it that is. My much-loved pastor once said, “If you do not pay your tithes, things will be tight for you”.

The most important part of our lives is our conviction. It determines our life perspective, and ultimately our destination. We will keep having diverse versions on matters of life and afterlife, but we must learn to be responsible for our own convictions.

But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good;
1 Thessalonians 5:21 NASB

A lot of us would absorb instructions from secondary sources (teachings from books, tapes etc.) directly. There should be a filter for every version we receive. Secondary sources, should be treated only with reference to the Primary Source; God (through the Holy Spirit).

Every man is at best a man. Only a lazy man will absorb the convictions of others, out of respect for the man. It is less costly to seek the primary source of inspiration and have every secondary source diligently filtered by and matched with the Word of God.

This is the way to grow our own root and be responsible for our beliefs.

Acts 17:11-    Now the Bereans were more noble-minded than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if these teachings were true.