The language of the New Testament concerning leaders in Christian congregations who deny the central tenets of the faith as received from Jesus and his apostles is uniformly uncompromising and frankly less than polite.
In St Paul's letters they are called dogs (Philippians 2:2) and the gentle Jesus, no less, labels them as wolves and robbers (Gospel of John 10: 1 and 12).
Strangely, almost all of them are nice people. A friend of mine once debated on TV with an English bishop who denies Jesus is the only Saviour and is willing to ordain practising homosexuals. He told me the hardest part was sitting in the studio waiting area with such a nice, friendly man.
"We chatted away as if we'd known each other for years and I had to keep saying to myself, 'He is a false teacher, he denies the Lord and his Word,' " my friend recalled.
The sad truth is that the Faith is falsifiable, like anything else meaningful. If it could not be disputed or contradicted that would be a sure sign it made no sense.
In Ireland as elsewhere there are theologians and preachers who try to retreat to a sphere where their "gospel" is above contradiction, fleeing from the realm of facts to the realm of ideas in the forlorn hope this will place their faith beyond the reach of historical criticism and scientific research.
Such tactics, even within the walls of theological colleges and seminaries, contradict the very genius of Christianity. Christ, by becoming incarnate, made himself vulnerable to all that the world could hurl at him.
He took a position where men could mock his claims, vilify his reputation, spit on him and drive nails through his hands and feet. They could hang him on a cross and go away thinking that was an end of that.
Yet this is symbolic of Christianity itself, for it exists in the world exposed to the unceasing attempts of philosophers, historians, scientists and soi-disant theologians to falsify its claims.
Christianity would be falsified if it could be shown Jesus never existed for he is his own message: "Come to me. . .and I will give you rest" (Matthew, 11:28).
Christianity would be falsified if it could shown that Jesus sinned. Hunger, thirst, weariness and sorrow are inevitable if he was a true man, but if he sinned, his claim to be God and Saviour at once falls to the ground.
Christianity would be falsified if it could be shown that the Lord had performed no miracles. Miracles are thought to be a liability to faith, but how could God's Son come into the world without a ripple of the supernatural?
Christianity would be falsified if our prayers were never answered. Is there anyone there? Part of the proof is that the people of God have met him; and the crowning proof is that when they call, he answers. If he never did, their faith would crumble.
Christianity would be falsified if the resurrection could be disproved. Had Pilate's soldiers been able to produce Jesus's body, our faith would never have been born. If his bones could be produced today, the Christian faith would die.
If Christ hasn't risen, we can't worship him; if Christ hasn't risen, we can't be united to him; if Christ hasn't risen, we can't have communion with him in the Eucharist; if Christ hasn't risen, he can't be our shepherd.
Every local church in the land deserves an under-shepherd unreservedly committed to the Chief Shepherd, to Christ's person and his words. False teaching is quite as bad and as potentially terminal as foot-and-mouth disease in sheep of the woolly variety; yet whatever immediate, radical measures are needed to eradicate it, the long-term prophylactic always has been and always will be sound teaching. When congregations are taught truth week in, week out, they get a nose for the other and can sniff it out.
A busy agenda lies ahead in 2002 for those called to pastor and teach Christ's flock.
G.F.