{"id":57612,"date":"2004-01-03T19:48:00","date_gmt":"2004-01-04T01:48:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=57612"},"modified":"2023-01-03T19:55:20","modified_gmt":"2023-01-04T01:55:20","slug":"it-depends-on-what-you-mean-by-is","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/it-depends-on-what-you-mean-by-is\/","title":{"rendered":"It Depends on What You Mean by \u201cIs\u201d<\/strong>"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\tby Jeffrey W. Hamilton
\nbased on an ad written by Floyd Chappelear\n

\"\"When a person is caught in an indefensible position, they will frequently argue over the meaning of words. If you can’t define your position, then you cannot hold them accountable. Even simple words suddenly become vague because the arguer will not accept any definition. Paul warned the young preacher Timothy about these tendencies: “Remind them of these things, and solemnly charge them in the presence of God not to wrangle about words, which is useless and leads to the ruin of the hearers.”<\/p>\n

Do your religious leaders claim that long or short cannot be defined? Do the “Thou shalt not”s become “perhaps?” Are they allowing sin in the church because passages, such as I Corinthians 6:9-10, “doesn’t mean what it says?”<\/p>\n

Why not worship with people who revere the word of God and teach its truth simply and purely?<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Jeffrey W. Hamilton based on an ad written by Floyd Chappelear When a person is caught in an indefensible position, they will frequently argue over the meaning of words. If you can’t define your position, then you cannot hold them accountable. Even simple words suddenly become vague because the arguer will not accept any…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[478],"class_list":["post-57612","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-false-teachers"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":20304,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/isnt-divorce-a-sin-so-how-can-a-preacher-insist-that-two-people-who-had-divorced-and-remarried-to-get-divorced-before-they-can-be-baptized\/","url_meta":{"origin":57612,"position":0},"title":"Isn’t divorce a sin? So how can a preacher insist that two people, who had divorced and remarried, to get divorced before they can be baptized?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 24, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: This one is about marriage and divorce: Everyone is confused about this.\u00a0The problem is a few people have been baptized and before they were baptized they had been divorced and remarried again.\u00a0I have heard preachers telling them to get divorced. I personally do not see how that would be\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":55550,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-peter-saying-that-the-backsliding-cannot-be-forgiven\/","url_meta":{"origin":57612,"position":1},"title":"Is Peter saying that the backsliding cannot be forgiven?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 6, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Greetings! I have a question concerning II Peter 2:20. Is it teaching that backsliding cannot be forgiven or is the \"overcome\" part speaking of someone who has completely fallen away and, in this case, they were overcome through the deception of these false teachers? Thank you! Answer: \"For speaking\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":24644,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-a-woman-only-become-spiritually-mature-in-marriage\/","url_meta":{"origin":57612,"position":2},"title":"Can a woman only become spiritually mature in marriage?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 25, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have heard it expressed before by a past preacher in a church of Christ that he did not consider single women to be mature in Christ.\u00a0 The implication being that all women must marry if they are to obtain maturity spiritually.\u00a0 This perplexes me and I find myself\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":35535,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-a-preacher-sins-is-he-permanently-disqualified-from-preaching\/","url_meta":{"origin":57612,"position":3},"title":"If a preacher sins, is he permanently disqualified from preaching?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 4, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi, What is the proper term to call the speaker on Sunday? Is it a pastor or a preacher? Also, to be a preacher you basically have to have all the qualifications of an elder correct? And if for some reason a preacher sins, such as adultery, they would\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9052,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-the-bible-be-understood-by-the-common-man\/","url_meta":{"origin":57612,"position":4},"title":"Can the Bible be understood by the common man?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 19, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Have you heard of Eli Soriano? What do you think about his teachings? Answer: I looked briefly at Eli Soriano's website. I'm afraid I didn't get far because there was a statement on the first page that I knew to be contrary to God's Word. \"The Bible contains many\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":44503,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/cussing-and-cursing\/","url_meta":{"origin":57612,"position":5},"title":"Cussing and Cursing","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 10, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"by Perry Hall \"Words are just words.\" A friend who was a new Christian had just fired off an \"F-bomb\" while we were playing golf. When I suggested such language should not be used, he got angry and said, \"Words are just words. I don't mean anything by them.\" Well,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57612","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57612"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57612\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57612"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57612"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57612"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}