How do I treat false teachers, like the Mormons?
Question:
God teaches us so much through His Word, but I have a question that cannot be easily answered. Throughout the New Testament, God instructs His children (born-again Christians ) to love unconditionally; yet, I'm not sure how to act or respond to Mormons. Loving others is a commandment of God but somehow I'm not so sure if it would include those who are defiant of God's Word. My short-lived involvement with Mormonism has left some irreparable social scars that can't be healed. They're stubborn in their beliefs and their teachings contradict the Holy Bible. The Bible teaches not to wish them and other controversial believers Godspeed. Are we not to befriend them? How about business agreements? Where should we draw the line without being offensive?
I value any advice that you can give.
Thank you very much.
Answer:
While the Bible talks about God's enduring love, it doesn't say God's love is unconditional. "Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off" (Romans 11:22).
God's preference is that all men would be saved. "For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth" (I Timothy 2:3-4). "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life" (John 3:16). But notice the condition. God loved the world, even in its sin, so much that He offered salvation through His Son, but it requires that people accept His offer by believing in God's Son.
God longs to be gracious to people. "Therefore the LORD will wait, that He may be gracious to you; And therefore He will be exalted, that He may have mercy on you. For the LORD is a God of justice; Blessed are all those who wait for Him" (Isaiah 30:18). He is patient with people. "The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance" (II Peter 3:9). But notice that God is requiring people to change. There is a condition that must be met. "But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who "will render to each one according to his deeds": eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality; but to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness -- indignation and wrath" (Romans 2:5-8).
I do not know of any passage that instructs Christians to love unconditionally. Like God, we are to show love toward all people, even our enemies. "But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust" (Matthew 5:44-45). But this isn't the same as saying that I like or approve of all that my enemies might do.
So what do you do with false teachers? You are polite, you are kind, but you don't leave the impression that you approve of what they stand for. See: When Is One Bidding Godspeed to Another's Error?
