Here’s a tip on how to make counterfeit money, right here on a Christian site: Don’t put much effort into your bad bills — only enough to get a few past someone who’s not really looking.
Real crooks and counterfeiters never do, anyway. Instead of painstakingly making fake versions of a real bill, they put little manpower into their designs. But it makes sense. After all, they only need their bills to pass a casual inspection. If someone familiar with a real bill’s facets stares hard, the jig is up.
That’s according to blogger Tim Challies. A while ago for some research, he naturally went to the best place to learn about doctrinal discernment: a local bank. Christians should be glad he did. It gives more truth to that usual “study truth so you’ll know the error instantly” argument.
But I wonder how many Christians, even those who have gotten all those email forwards1 about real/counterfeit money and discernment, wind up making some errors even when it comes to the business of finding errors. While starting a site about debunking Christian myths, it’s worth remembering that!
Three potential side effects of busting Christian myths come to mind:
1. We don’t even bother to look for errors.
Call me crazy, but somehow I get the notion that many Christians out there still have this take on things, even in our modern 21st-century society.
Let’s say a Secret Service agent trainee sits in that room full of cash all day long, staring at the bills and figuring out what’s right about them, and feeling really good about it. Yet when the time comes to get out there and discern fake cash, the trainee would rather stay in the room, fondle the bills, figure out what’s right about them, and keep feeling really good about it.
Yes, we as trainees need to keep up the training. We never finish studying and familiarizing ourselves with truth. But even then, we need to get out there and engage with others, trade in the commerce of ideas both inside and outside the Church, and keep sharp eyes for the lies.
- I’m not referring to the ones about Madalyn Murray O’Hair and her U.S. FCC pals trying to shut up televangelists, which, sadly, proved to be untrue. By the way, not only Madalyn herself but a clip of the text from that email forward is actually included in this site’s banner-image montage. Have fun finding it if you wish. ↩
