Serious Error...

"Your problem is that you don't know the Scriptures, and you don't know the power of God."  Mark 12.24

I never cease to be amazed at Jesus' ability to cut to the chase.  The verse above is His answer to a question asked by a group of "religious" folks, the Sadducees.  (They didn't believe in resurrection after death, so they were "sad, you see".)   The hypothetical situation posed in their question was meant to somehow trick Jesus, trip Him up.  Jesus immediately went to the heart of the matter, stating that the Sadducees did not know Scripture, which He calls "a serious error."  

In our day and  time, there are many questions that believers and unbelievers alike submit to the church.  Sometimes these questions are actually meant to in some way justify wrong belief, motivation, or behavior.  Sometimes, however, they are simply asked out of ignorance.   A young lady once asked me why shouldn't she have sex with her fiance.  Both she and the young man claimed to know Christ; they both were active in their local church.  Jesus' response to the Sadducees would also answer her question ... "Your problem is that you don't know the Scriptures."  As I sat down with her to discuss the situation, it became apparent to me that she did not understand that having sex outside of marriage is wrong. (Jesus affirms this Old Testament truth in John 8, for example)  It simply is not God's best, even if - maybe especially if - you plan to marry the other person.  I also explained  that having sex outside of marriage is no worse than any other sin.  If she were to confess it to God and ask for forgiveness, He would certainly wipe her slate clean. (1 John 1.9)  Her lack of knowledge of Scripture had left her in dangerous territory.  She couldn't depend on anything or anyone else to protect her from sin.  Not even her own heart.  Only through the Holy Spirit's illumination of the absolute Truth of Scripture can our thoughts and actions - our very lives - be transformed.  

Speaking to his disciples, Jesus says in John 8.31, "You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."