Demolishing Arguments Series

Demolishing Arguments

2 Corinthians 10:5

5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

Today we continue a thought we started 3 weeks ago… “Winning the Battle Within”… from Romans 7

So far… We talked about two ways to do that

Put on the Full armor of God

Pulling Down Strongholds

Today we come to the third… Demolishing Arguments

I studied many teachers who taught on this subject and it seems that most combine or confuse “demolishing arguments” with “taking every thought captive.”

I do understand the verse says, We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought

The word “and” can be used to combine or to separate

Bacon and eggs… combine, as one

Ups and Downs… separate, different

In fact “and” is used to combine when it says “arguments and every pretension.”

They are seen as one

But here, “and” is used to separate two thoughts…. Demolishing and “taking control of”

I think the two are totally separate. I will cover “taking every thought captive” next week.

I believe “demolishing arguments” is an issue so big and so important that it mandates its own sermon.

What did Paul mean when he spoke of “demolishing arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God…”?

In our world, Christianity has… for too long… surrendered authority to human arguments and things that have set themselves up against the Word of God.

That should NEVER be because we have THE Autority… THE BIBLE!

Some of the most obvious things that have set themselves up against the wisdom of God are:

science, the courts and public opinion.

They have come up with “evidence” which they have used like a club to batter Christians and the bible into silence.

We have the Word of God… THE AUTHORITY on ALL things.

They have scientific theories, studies, philosophies and they hold these things to be superior to the bible, because are “SCIENTIFIC” and that trumps faith, which they consider to be “superstition” and therefore inferior to scientific.

Science says the THEORY of evolution is superior to the REVELATION of creation.

They say creation is “made up, fairy tale”

What is evolution? A CONCOCTION!!!

But the court weighs in and says science can be proven and the bible is faith, so science wins and the bible is tossed out.

Public opinion (pooled ignorance) throws its two cents on the side of science and BOOM… the bible is no more than a fairy tale. God is on the same level as the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy.

So Science is what Paul was talking about, the courts are what he meant, and public opinion is what he had in mind when he said, “arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God.”

It is understandable that the world has accepted the arguments and thrown out the bible… but the sad thing is… MOST CHRISTIANS HAVE ALSO FALLEN FOR THE ARGUMENTS of the superiority of science and have allowed it to set itself up against the knowledge… the wisdom… of God…the BIBLE.

Paul teaches us that if we are going to win the battle within… we must TAKE BACK the territory which has been surrendered.. and tear down the strongholds… like SCIENCE

Our biblical example comes from Joshua 9. Joshua and the Israelites have just steamrolled through the mightiest fortified city in the land, Jericho, and crushed a small hamlet, Ai. All of the kings of Canaan realize that no one army can stop this juggernaut, so they form an alliance and plan to fight as one super army.

One nation, Gibeon, realizes Israel’s God is too powerful and there is no chance of winning a battle. So they decide to take another tack… subterfuge! They devise an elaborate ruse that they have come from far, far away… not in the Promised land. They have old worn out camels that look like they have traveled a thousand miles. They find old, dried up wine skins that are years old and say, “They were brand new when we left home, see how far we have traveled.” Clothes, dust, fake accents… the make-up and acting were worthy of an Oscar.

Israel fell for the ruse and signed an alliance with them before they found of the truth. Then it was too late… They had a foothold in the promised land and the Israelites had sinned against God. The Gibeonites were a thorn in the side of Israel for hundreds of years.

Here is the key point: The people of God, surrendered land, because they fell for the argument.

Modern day Christians have done the same thing with SCIENCE… and COURTS… and PUBLIC OPINION.