Commitment to Error
Greetings and good morning brothers and sisters. This is Dr. James Perry continuing with our series
where we seek to explore the deeper meanings of our relationship with Jesus Christ. Over the years,
the heavenly Father has revealed many revelations of spiritual truth to me, and I want to share them
with you. This morning we will ponder our lives as seek to understand the meaning of being
committed to error.
And now, sit back and listen to today's message.
Commitment to Error
"Jesus saith unto him, ‘‘I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man cometh unto the Father, but by
me. If ye had known me, ye should have known the Father also: and from henceforth ye know him,
and have seen him.’’" John, Chapter 14, Verses 6 and 7
Brothers and sisters, in today’’s broadcast, we discuss the problem of being committed to error. We
shall show how this error comes about and how to correct the error specifically and generally. We
know that in our world error is not only a possibility but a continuing reality. Error is familiar to us
all. There is no area of life where error can’’t be found. It is found socially, morally, intellectually,
physically, and spiritually. It has and continues to not only cross our path but follows us along this
path like the shadow that it is (from the eternal perspective). Nothing is perfect.
We know that error in the material sense such as thinking that the gas tank is full when in fact it is
near empty, can be readily realized, for shortly after we try to drive on a near empty tank, we come
to a rapid stop. Some other material errors take longer to recognize because the material impact of
the error takes longer to play out, but still the material error can be recognized much easier than the
error that springs from the failure to recognize truth.
Truth is a spiritual quality and describes the eternal relationships among and between personalities.
And it is the failure to recognize this truth that causes so much evil and error and discord, with its
harvest of pain, suffering, and disappointment in personal relationships. Because we are all related
to each other, what affects one affects all, though it may not appear to be so. Jesus came to bear
witness to the Truth. He revealed the God is our spiritual Father, and we are all his children. And
since this is the case, it becomes impossible to escape either the benefits of goodness or the penalties
of evil.
How should we approach this problem of not recognizing that God is our Father and we are all
brothers and sisters? We think that the solution to this problems lies in the failure either to recognize
the Father’’s character or the failure to worship that character. It is the failure to recognize that Jesus
is the personal revelation of the Father’’s character. The Father and Jesus are one. No one
comprehends the Father except through and by Jesus. The heavenly Father is love. When we see the
maladapted relationships that exists among and between us, and when we see the strong commitment
to this error, we know that something must be wrong. This is notwithstanding the person who is
committed to error does not perceive his error but rather projects it onto those he considers out of
harmony with him.
That he may be in error never crosses his mind. How does this happen? What is it that perpetuates
this commitment to error? We know that once human loyalties once activated they are very difficult
to change, even when the object of the loyalty is error. Once the erroneous object of our loyalty
becomes our supreme desire, it replaces the true supreme desire, that desire which every other desire
is below and none are above it. It thus follows then that the concepts that we derive are based upon
this supreme desire, and when we relate to our fellows based upon this concept the result is error.
This error brings pain, suffering, and disappointment because the desire driving this error cannot be
satisfied, cannot be realized. The more disharmony that is caused, the more the desire remains
unsatisfied. Any attempt to increase the effort to actualize this self concepts of error only bring about
more unhappiness. But as this point there is a opportunity to change course and reconsider the whole
attitude. This happens in this way: when we set out to accomplish some purpose, we have an object
of satisfaction to be realized at the end of our efforts. We set our minds and our energies to
accomplish this purpose. As times goes by, we get a sense of whether o we are actualizing our
purpose.
For some this process takes longer than others, but eventually a time comes when we evaluate the
success of our efforts. At some point, we make a judgment about it. At some point we realize that
our efforts have not been successful and that we are in error. This is the Father’’s mechanism for
correcting the commitment to error. All normal-minded individuals have this capacity to discern
truth from error after adequate experience, but sometimes we refuse to acknowledge the error due
to pride. Sometimes we are so heavily invested in staying the course that we refuse to turn around.
This unwillingness to start over in terms of spiritual meanings and values, sometimes even
materially, may be too difficult. Thus insincerity is born, which is the attitude that knows the truth
but refuses to acknowledge and abide by it.
But how does this happen? When we discover religious error, it is not hard to determine its genesis.
Religious error occurs because we refuse to acknowledge that Jesus is the truth, the way, and the life.
There is no other truth, there is no other way, and there is no other life. We refuse to recognize the
Father in Jesus. The Father and Jesus are one. Jesus is more than our Savior. He is the personal
revelation of the heavenly Father, that wonderful spiritual being that we all seek. We refuse to
acknowledge Jesus as the ideal for mankind. We refuse to act according to his merciful character.
Only Jesus is the Truth, and when we place anything above him, no matter how well meaning or how
sincere, the result has to be error.
Refusing to follow where Jesus leads is error, and we can see immediately the consequences of this.
If we don’’t follow the unselfish, loving, merciful, and forgiving way——Jesus--then we follow
ourselves. There is a way that seems right to man (our way), but that way is death. Having turned our
backs on Jesus, we try to actualize our purely selfish desires, believing God is the author of these
desires. The consequences are pain, suffering, and disappointment. In fact when a divine impulse
does comes through, if it does not fit into our own self-concepts, we invariably reject it.
Unknowingly we worship ourselves. True worship is the worship of God.
By following Jesus, who is the way, the truth, and the life, we can avoid this religious error. When
we make Jesus the object of our supreme desire, we avoid the error of calling that which is purely
human, divine. How are we to determine whether an impulse, thought, or a desire is divine? Divine
impulses, desires, and thoughts are focused on other selves. Those desires that are just for ourselves
tend to be selfish in nature. To dig a little deeper, divine impulses are also good, beautiful, and true.
Now the word true is also related to the concept of Truth. For the time-being let us just say divine
thoughts are not only unselfish, but they are also good and beautiful.
Since the whole concept of religion is the quest for finding and acting on behalf of God, we must
know something about his character, and subsequently his behavior. We know that much of the
religious activity that we see in the world today is not reflective of His character, and therefore not
representative of him. We are told that God is love, and we behold how the life of Jesus
demonstrated how love behaves in relationship to others. To prevent the error of commitment, we
must acquire a firm concept of the Father’’s character, but even more so we must allow that character
to infiltrate us. We must dedicate ourselves to representing it. When we do this we recognize that
God is our Father and man is our brother.
We know that when we love someone divinely, we only want what is truly good for them. We only
want what will enhance their appreciation for the heavenly Father, and thus the concepts that we
develop about our responsibilities to our brothers and sisters will be based upon the intimate
relationship we have with him. Such an intellectual understanding is error free.
And while it may be true that we may lack perfect wisdom as we try to execute these divine
impulses, urges, and desires in our outer lives, we will display a benign and loving attitude towards
our now recognized brothers and sisters; our conduct will be characterized by love and mercy,
patience, and tolerance. Our attitudes (for want of an appropriate word) will be true. And our
commitment will be towards truth not error. Even so, the merciful Father has decreed that actual
experience will overthrow the commitment of error in his children who are true of heart and who are
really desirous of knowing the truth.
This concludes today's message on understanding the meaning of commitment to error. We hope you
find something in this message to ponder and pray about as you go about your day.
Until next time,this is Dr. James Perry.
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By Dr. James Perry
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Commitment to Error
