Is it okay to study heresy? On the question of counterfeits and polemics
(Originally posted August 22, 2008) I cannot tell you how often I have heard the story told in a pulpit of how bank tellers spot a counterfeit bill. Apparently, the Secret Service has tellers study only true currency. The idea is in knowing the genuine article, a person will be able to spot counterfeit bills more readily. The spiritual application of this tale is that Christians should only study true things, rather than spending extra time learning about heresy. If the Christian only knows truth, then he will not be tricked by error. One problem: the bank teller story is a myth. Tellers are given counterfeit bills, as well, so they can learn some of the tell-tell markers of fakes. I'm currently reading Roger E. Olson's The Story of Christian Theology: Twenty Centuries of Tradition & Reform . He writes of this myth on pages 20-21. On checking with the Treasury Department's Minneapolis Secret Service agent in charge of training bank tellers to identify counterf...