2 Tim 3:14 tells us: ". . . continue in the things you have learned, knowing of whom you have learned them."
So much of what each one of us knows about God has been learned from someone else. The verse demonstrates this process is acceptable. It tells us to continue learning things. But we should always be wary of the sources of our learning. We should know, respect, be confident in those who are teaching us. We certainly should not carelessly believe everything we hear or read (specially from Facebook or other social media).
In 1 Tim 1 God has given the truth to men, like Paul the apostle, so that we can know what the truth is. Yet men for their own purposes corrupt what God has taught. They are supposed to “. . . teach no other doctrine. . .". I think this means if you cannot clearly get a teaching out of scripture, you should not put your complete trust in that teaching. Some teaching can result in questions rather than enlightening God's ways.
The Ephesians referenced in 1 Tim 1:3-4 were into fables and endless genealogies.
Fables are a story you make up to illustrate a teaching, like the “Tortoise and the Hare”. We should be very careful of illustrations that purport to teach what the Bible teaches.
Endless genealogies are in attempt to rank yourself in some status among men. There is no reason to mark any genealogy outside of scripture.
It is not that we should ignore the cultural setting in which God sets forth his principles, but if God has set forth a principle in one culture, and the principle is true since it is God’s principle, it is always true, everywhere. It will be true in any other culture. The principle may take different forms between cultures. For example, shamefacedness may mean a veil in Iran, shamefacedness means something else in the USA. But it still means shamefacedness, i.e. modesty, restraint.
The whole problem with taking what God has said beyond it’s true meaning is that we are saying God wrote an irrelevant book. Sections of it have gone out of date and have lost their meaning. Sections of it apply to those other people, but not to us. We think we can determine on our own what is the best meaning. If we can throw out this part of God's word, what other parts can we throw out? Which of God's principles can be selectively regarded - - or disregarded?
We must always keep ourselves grounded in what God says, what the Bible says. And how can we if we do not read it and think about it? Hopefully daily.
