Aarinola
Hold fast and follow the pattern of wholesome and sound teaching which you have heard from me, in all the faith and love which are for us in Christ Jesus 2 Tim 2:13.
It is amazing the access we have these days to information, especially with the era of social media and the internet. Anyone with internet access can post any information online and act as an authority in the knowledge field. Getting information on anything one is interested in is not as difficult as it used to be anymore. Information is readily accessible at the palm of our hands with the mobile device, unlike before that one needs to go to the library and consult with an expert to write on a subject matter or conduct researches. Today, all one needs to do is to google it out, and tons of information is revealed- verified and unverified. Thus, in this age and time, it becomes necessary and essential for someone to be equipped with the right skills to wade off lies, errors and wrong teachings that are readily available on the internet to be able to approve what is essential and vital for living, that is the truth. There is a pattern to wholesome and sound teaching.
Dictionary.com defined pattern as a distinctive style, model, or form, a combination of qualities, acts, tendencies forming a consistent or characteristic arrangement. This implies that wholesome teaching has a form; it has a unique arrangement; it has a distinctive style of form. We can recognise it by its style, by its form. So, what are its style or form. How does one know it and identify it? Below are some of the patterns to watch out for.
Truth is wholesome. Any way and anyhow it is cut, it will still be whole. It cannot change, no matter how it is suppressed. It is consistent in every way with the universal truth. It is confirmed by all elements that make it up.
Truth liberates, it frees, and it lifts up. It edifies the hearer. A wholesome tongue is a tree of life, Proverbs 15:4. Truth is everlasting. It does not change. If it was the truth yesterday, it would still be the truth today, and it will be tomorrow.
Additionally, it is necessary to check and confirm the source of the teaching, that is, the person giving out the information, check their life, and the output from the person’s life. Is it in harmony with what they are saying? Has it been tested? Truth is tested and can be proved over and over again.
If anyone teaches otherwise and does not consent to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which accords with godliness, he is proud, knowing nothing, but is obsessed with disputes and arguments over words, from which come envy, strife, reviling, evil suspicions, useless wrangling of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain. From such withdraw yourself. 1 Timothy 6:3-5
