Itching ears

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This formating may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please improve this article if you can. (March 2008)

Itching ears is a term used in the Bible to describe a person who seeks out messages that please them and fit their lifestyle, as opposed to seeking a truth that might make them uncomfortable. The term is used by the Apostle Paul in 2 Timothy:

2 Timothy 4:3-4: For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. (KJV)

Paul is advising Timothy to always preach the truth (here, the word of God as Christianity understands it) but warning him that those he preaches to will not always be receptive.