{"id":9739,"date":"2020-12-04T09:43:44","date_gmt":"2020-12-04T14:43:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pathway2truth.com\/wp\/?p=9739"},"modified":"2020-12-04T09:43:55","modified_gmt":"2020-12-04T14:43:55","slug":"mark-1014-15-are-believers-supposed-to-be-gullible-like-children","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pathway2truth.com\/wp\/mark-1014-15-are-believers-supposed-to-be-gullible-like-children\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark 10:14-15 &#8211; Are believers supposed to be gullible like children?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Problem:<\/strong> Jesus said, \u201cUnless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven\u201d (Mt. 18:3). Does this mean that believers should be na\u00efve and gullible?<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p><strong>Solution:<\/strong> There are a number of observations in order:<\/p>\n<p>First, Jesus is not referring to GULLIBILITY, but HUMILITY. In the very next verse, Jesus states, \u201cWhoever <em>humbles<\/em> himself as this child\u201d (v.4).<\/p>\n<p>Second, other passages are clear that believers should be discerning\u2014not gullible. Elsewhere, Jesus said, \u201cBe shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves\u201d (Mt. 10:16). Paul writes, \u201cWe are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming\u201d (Eph. 4:14).<\/p>\n<p>Third, children ask more questions than anyone. Francis Schaeffer writes, \u201cDid you ever see a little child who didn\u2019t ask questions? People who use this argument must never have listened to a little child or been one! My four children gave me a harder time with their endless flow of questions than university people ever have.\u201d<sup>[1]<\/sup><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>[1] Schaeffer, Francis A. <em>25 Basic Bible Studies: including Two Contents, Two Realities<\/em>. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 1996. 129.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>&#8220;4 But when Jesus saw it, he was much displeased, and said unto them, Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God. Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein. (Mark 10:14-15)&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Problem: Jesus said, \u201cUnless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven\u201d (Mt. 18:3). Does this mean that believers should be na\u00efve and gullible?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9739","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bible-errors","no-thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pathway2truth.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9739","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pathway2truth.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pathway2truth.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pathway2truth.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pathway2truth.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9739"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pathway2truth.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9739\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pathway2truth.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pathway2truth.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pathway2truth.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}