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“See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.” (Colossians 2:8, ESV)

Standing there on the ocean shore, looking at the light fluffy clouds – all you can see is blue.  The ocean touches the sky in such a way that it makes it hard to know where one begins and the other ends.  If I didn’t know better, my viewpoint would have me believe that the earth is flat.  Just looking at this picture provides supportive data for the claim.  In fact, it’s easy to understand why our ancestors originally believed this theory – that’s what their perspective told them.

After travelling to Egypt to study the new constellation of stars, ancient Greek philosopher, Aristotle was one of the first to provide empirical evidence that the earth was a sphere.  Others have added their own scientific research over the centuries to support this.  With all the scientific evidence available – one would think it’s safe to assume that everyone knows the earth is round – especially in 2021.

However, there are still philosophers out there who will argue to the contrary.  In fact, there’s a society that works to educate people in the – flat earth theory. There was even a movement from this group as recently as 2017 to gain support for more trips into space to prove this theory.

For those of us living in this present era it’s hard to fathom how anyone could be deceived by such a philosophy.  Especially since we’ve all seen the views from outer space – we have the full picture now.

This was why the philosophy that was threatening the Colossian Christians was so dangerous.  It wasn’t outright sinful and licentious. It came across as highly intelligent. An air of scientific backing that supported these human traditions that were being promoted.

Jesus Christ left heaven and lived on this earth. He was tortured and died on a cross.  Yet he rose from the grave conquering death and hell.  After His resurrection, He spent time with the disciples and was seen by over 500 witnesses.

If we’ve experienced the resurrection power of Jesus, then we have the full picture. Which means, we should not be embracing the “philosophies of life” that we see our culture doing.

Paul was warning the church then and now to be careful not to be lead away as prey.  Christians have received salvation from Christ freely.  But there are people who will cheat us out of our blessings by perverting our minds and leading us away from the truths of Christianity.  By telling us we need to do something else to earn God’s love. Or that there are other paths to God.

“Father help us to not fall prey to the empty philosophies of this life.  Teach us to live by the truth of your Word daily.”

For His Glory

Laura Holmes (www.ephraimministries.org)
TRBC Women’s Life