Phil. #12

Text: Phill. 3:17-21, 4:1
Translation: NKJV

Alright, back to business. This is pretty much along the lines of discernment- Paul is essentially telling the Philippians that there are those who walk in the ways of the Lord and those that walk in the paths of the wicked, and to use Paul and other strong Christians as examples of how to walk and not those who aren't Christians.
Let's be blatantly rude to some of the practices of modern Christians. We are NOT supposed to use non-Christians as examples in our teaching, instructing, or how we base our values and where we get our examples of how we are supposed to live our lives. I am not saying that we cannot learn something from these people, what I am saying is that for the Christian to put the words of non-believers on par with that of the Bible is, at best, grave error and deadly mistake, and at worst heresy. Christianity claims and is the one true religion in the world; and besides that, is very specific in that ones personal worth and good deeds do not save you. Literally every other religion in the world says that one can save one's self. Also, In 3:19 Paul basically says that if you are not a Christian you are going to hell. This is yet another obvious reason to avoid using non-Christians as examples to us. Again, I am not saying that we can't learn anything from Non-Christians ( math, science, historians, etc. have proved this), what I am cautioning against is the use of non-Christians as on par with the Bible and other strong Christians. If we do, we are setting ourselves up to dilute the scripture, our witness, and our relationship with God.