Coping with Errancy

What to do when you’re in a Christian meeting and someone says something like this: “Perfect peace casts out all fear”. It is a trait of my personality to notice imperfections and inconsistencies (I’m an analyst!), and this is obviously a misquotation of scripture. In this case, what he was quoting was 1 John 4:18 where it says “perfect love casts out all fear”.

After hearing this, I got to thinking about how necessary it is for leaders and teachers to be correct 100% of the time. Is it so necessary? Is it even possible? I do not want to be a stickler or a disrupter of peace, nor do I want to be one who lets anything slide, and ignores even gentle manipulation.

So I got to thinking about motives, because I think that is really the key here. When there is something said to a group that is absolutely incorrect (I’m not talking about perception of truth here), one of these must be true:

> They are wilfully and knowledgeably lying (to whatever end)
> They are sincere and ignorant, for lack of a better word, and have good intentions.
> They are sincere and ignorant, but with a wrong motivation.

In which cases do we, who can see error, try to correct? How do we go about correcting? Do we even have this authority, as laypeople? On the flipside, do we have the obligation?

Maybe there’s a time to correct, and a time to leave it alone. That may depend on its severity; a simple misquotation versus an assault of fundamental doctrine.

Knowing some of the folk who frequent my blog, I’m sure there are some opinions out there on the subject. So comment away! I’d love to hear your thoughts.