In Defense of Doctrine

As I sat down to write this post, I have been toying with the title, as I know just using the word doctrine in the title will probably lower the number of people who will ever read it. I thought perhaps I would entitle it “Tim’s Awesome Thoughts on Awesome Church Stuff”. But then decided I would be just as guilty of shying away from doctrine as much of the modern church today.

So, where am I coming from, you ask? Well I recently read a blog written by a good friend of mine, (Which I will link to at the bottom*). Now before I go any further, let me say this friend is a good Christian man, and one of the stronger Christians I know, but in his post he was getting caught up in the church’s current attacks against doctrine. I will say he, like many modern evangelical churches, has not thrown the baby out with the bath water, but he has downplayed the importance of doctrine in our lives.

In his main point, the writer seems to suggest that we should be wary that doctrine is dangerous because doctrine is constantly changing, as man (its writer) is fickle and double minded. However, core doctrines

have not changed aside from wording over the past 1700 years or so. The early church in the early years met to define things like the trinity, the deity of Jesus and the path of salvation. Men fought heresy and died for their beliefs. These beliefs were not fickle or double minded, they were inspired directly from the word of God.

I will concede that some churches have perhaps gone over the line; they place extra biblical things among their core doctrinal beliefs. But that doesn’t take away from the ultimate importance of having a foundation in Bible doctrine. As Christians, when we chose a body of believers we associate ourselves with them, we say we stand by them and support their beliefs.

Will a belief that faith alone in Jesus Christ will get us to heaven cause division? Yes! Will a belief in the Holy Trinity cause divisions? Yes! Will a belief in the virgin birth cause division among us? Yes! And you know what? That’s okay. There are core doctrines of the Bible that are foundational to being a Christian. We should remember, being a Christian is being a little Jesus. We must understand what that means; we must understand who Jesus is. It’s not just about a feeling we have when we read the Bible. It is about a relationship we have in Jesus. And how can we have that relationship, without an understanding of who he is? For us to say we are Christians without any desire to know or understand doctrine, would be like me telling my wife I wanted to marry her; but I didn’t want to know anything about her.

Today, many evangelical churches have done away with doctrine. In an effort to welcome everyone, they

have done away with core beliefs, instead allowing their members to just believe whatever they want. This seems to go hand in hand with the direction our country is taking as the church joins them in beliefs of post modernism, and moral relativism. And what happens when we get rid of church doctrine? Well, let’s start with the Prosperity Doctrine, or the Emergent Movement. When we get rid of the truth of doctrine, we allow any crazy belief to take its place.

As I close I would say, don’t trust me in the importance of doctrine, but trust the Word of God. In Acts chapter 2:14-40 we see Peter’s message at Pentecost. In verse 41, we see the start of the modern church.

41 Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.

42 And they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.

Notice what the early church thought was important. They were saved then started to gather together to study doctrine and pray. Let us continue to hold doctrine in the same light.

* http://still-unfinished.blogspot.com/2013/10/the-point-we-have-missed-it.html