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We hear that a lot..."the majority accepts thus and so as being the correct view." I, personally, get it thrown at me time and again, in my political views as well as my religious views. But it means absolutely nothing. As a matter of fact, if I believed, religiously, as the majority of people do, I would immediately be concerned that I was wrong. Man was created near the end of the first week of God's creation. And within a short period of time, Adam and wife Eve, both got it wrong. I am confident they believed with all their heart that nothing evil would come of their eating of the forbidden fruit. Then a few years later, their son, Cain got it very wrong. From the record, these were the first three people on earth and they all believed something which was wrong, even though they had been instructed by God!
The next son, Abel, seemingly had God's instructions correct and lost his life at the hand of his brother, Cain, because of it. Now that was not a very good or impressive start for humanity. But it has been so ever since. By the year 1536 A.M., the earth's population was many thousands, but all were wrong, except eight people. Noah, his wife, three sons and their wives were the only ones who were worthy of salvation when God decided to destroy the earth with water. The overwhelming majority in this case believed something, whatever it was, which was wrong. During the time Noah was building the ark, he was also preaching to those around him of the coming destruction. But none believed him.
Almost one thousand years passed and again the world was full of wickedness. Almost all had again forsaken God, except Abram (Abraham) who found favor in God's sight and because of that, He chose Abraham to furnish the lineage to the birth of His son Jesus, some fifteen hundred more years down the road. Even God's chosen people, the descendents of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Israel), who were watched over by God and protected from their enemies, often strayed away from God and were chastised by Him. They finally were taken captive because of their unfaithfulness and finally destroyed and the remnants scattered abroad.
When Jesus was born, lived and was crucified in order to establish His kingdom, only a small minority accepted Him and although his church grew rapidly, not many remained faithful. And, even though the groups formed continued to be called Christians, few followed the teachings of Jesus and His inspired writers. There was a period when those few who were striving to live faithfully to those teachings were forced to do so in secret for their safety. Then came the Reformation period and the Restoration period when men tried to return to the biblical teachings rather than those of man. Which resulted in an almost innumerable variety of doctrines, virtually all of which differ from that of the Apostolic age.
The vast majority of "Christians" believe that any and all of these diverse doctrines are acceptable to God. Sadly, I do not believe that. I believe one must study God's word diligently and prayerfully and strive with all their heart to rightly divide that word. Many do not know that there are two entirely different covenants which God made with man. The Old Testament contains the first one and the prophesy of the one which would replace it. Then when Jesus came and left His Apostles to establish His church, the beginning of which is recorded in Acts the second chapter. Many also confuse some of the things Jesus taught in his personal ministry. He lived under the law of Moses and He was sinless, proving that it could actually be done under that law. His inspired Apostles beginning in Acts 2, preached and wrote of His new covenant, His kingdom, and spread it through out the then world.
It is my urgent plea that no one accept some doctrine simply because someone believes it to be true. Be as the Bereans were, they checked the scriptures daily to see if what Paul was telling them was so. The Holy Bible is the only source of authority we have. Regardless of how highly educated someone may be, if they are taught error, they will almost always teach it, also.
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