In the previous post, "Why Doctrine Matters," we discussed the fact that doctrinal beliefs have real consequences in the life of the Christian. This reality demonstrates the significance of sound doctrine. What we as Christians believe about God, the bible, salvation, judgment, and a number of other topics deeply influence how we live out our faith. As I said, this is one reason why doctrine matters. But there's more to it than that.
On Doctrine and Pragmatism
Christians shouldn't care about doctrine merely because it affects how they live. That is to say, we shouldn't primarily be concerned with pragmatism. Pragmatism is a poor arbiter of truth. If you recall the two persons from the previous post you should remember that one was a Universalist and the other an Exclusivist. I argued that the beliefs of the former would likely lead to a life devoid of fervent evangelism and the latter would in many cases lead to a life characterized by an evangelistic disposition. Now it would be easy to say that the Exclusivist must be correct, because her position lead her to preach the Gospel to the ends of the earth. But that isn't necessarily true. You don't determine which doctrines are sound by examining what the individual outcomes of the doctrines are and by then choosing the one that leads to the outcome you most desire. Notice, I'm not saying that Exclusivism is false. The point is merely this: Just because a certain belief leads to a desirable outcome doesn't make it true. Telling a child that his face will be frozen into a permanent grimace if he doesn't stop making such ugly faces may lead to the desirable outcome that he believes the parent and behaves more civilly, but that doesn't make the belief that making ugly faces will cause your face to petrify true. Again, pragmatism is a poor arbiter of truth.
Inadequate Sources of Doctrine
What then makes a doctrine true? It's not the outcome of the belief, we know that much from the discussion above. It would be foolish to say that our personal opinion is the deciding factor, either. You've probably heard the old adage, "Opinions are like...", well you get the idea, everybody has one! But our opinions are just that: opinions, and they may or may not be based on fact. Well, let's consider another popular candidate: Tradition. Ah yes, as Christians we love tradition, don't we? Or at least we did until the 16th century when tradition entailed things like selling indulgences. Give money to the Pope and he'll knock off a few years of purgatory for your late uncle Friedrich. Then guys like Martin Luther decided that maybe tradition shouldn't be the authority on what's true about God after all. Spring forward about 4 centuries and now most protestants look to the traditions that developed during the reformation to tell them what sound doctrine is. Am I the only one seeing the egregious irony in this whole development? I can hear a well meaning minister saying, "You shouldn't look to human tradition to tell you what sound doctrine is. You need to forget all that an read the reformers!" Huh?! You wanna run that one by me again? I digress...
Theotrinsic - Growing in Spirit and in Truth out of a Love for God
Maybe, we should be looking somewhere entirely elsewhere. I don't know, like, the bible for instance. Now there's a concept! If you haven't figured it out already that's where this is going. We need to take off our tradition tainted glasses and lay fresh eyes on Scripture. Don't let your pastor tell you what to believe, he may have it wrong! And if he's worth his weight in gold he'll tell you the same thing! Scripture is God's holy Word to us. Shouldn't that excite us? The most powerful being in the universe, and beyond the universe, has a message for you. Wouldn't you like to find out what it is for yourself? Doctrine matters simply because it comes from God! True doctrine flows from his Word that he gave to us and if we really love him will we not inevitably want to know what doctrine he has communicated to us? Wouldn't we want to study it and defend it simply because we love the God from whom it comes? Why do you think godly Christian scholars, ministers and laymen spend countless hours pouring over commentaries, Greek and Hebrew manuscripts, theology and apologetics books and articles? Because they couldn't find anything else to do with their time? No! Because they love God and they want to know him more! Now you don't have to become a scholar to prove you love God, but every Christian should challenge himself to grow in the knowledge of God more and more until the King of Glory comes! Doctrine matters because it's the message of God and we should apply our minds to understand and defend it, because we love our King!
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Showing posts with label Theology. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Theology. Show all posts
Monday, July 18, 2011
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Why Doctrine Matters
Concerning Doctrine and Purpose
Doctrine. Why should the average Joe sitting in the church pews Sunday morning care about doctrine? The word itself wreaks of antiquity in minds of many modern Christians - perhaps even bigotry and intolerance. Christianity should be practical, and doctrine is thought to be anything but that. Some say Christians just need to be about loving people. But what about loving God? And isn't the assertion itself a statement of doctrine? Doctrine is like philosophy in many respects. One can try to ignore it and write it off as irrelevant, but the fact is the less aware you are of your philosophical or doctrinal beliefs the more they control you - for better or worse. Knowing what you believe gives you a sense of direction and purpose. It also empowers you to discern what beliefs and behaviors are compatible with your own. Without doctrine you're left without a clear objective and without the tools to discover what that objective might even look like. How do you know where your beliefs are taking you if you don't know what you believe in the first place?
A Brief Case Study
Let's take two people, for example. Let's say one is a Universalist, which is a fancy way of saying he believes everyone is going to heaven someday. The other is a strict Exclusivist, meaning she believes anyone that does not turn from their sin and place their faith in Christ will be subject to eternal punishment. The Universalist might very well conclude that evangelism is a noble activity, but not necessarily imperative since God is going to save everyone in the end, anyway. Not that all Universalists would reach this conclusion, but it's probably safe to say that some, if not many, would. Consequently, he spends his life practicing a deep personal faith, but nevertheless not a faith that is particularly concerned with evangelism.
The Exclusivist on the other hand believes that apart from explicit knowledge of the Gospel no one can be saved. This conviction coupled with Jesus' command to preach the Gospel to the ends of the earth cultivates a deep urge in her to engage in world-wide evangelism. She is outspoken about her faith, and anyone who has spent five minutes around her knows she's a Christian. She goes on to participate in international missions and preaches the Gospel to some of the most secluded people on earth.
The Humdinger
Now these two scenarios are admittedly somewhat stereotypical, and the Universalist reading this who is also a fervent evangelist will have to pardon my little indulgence. However, one must admit that at face value the actions of both of these individuals seem to flow effortlessly from their beliefs. And that is precisely the point. Beliefs have consequences. It's common sense! Why then is it so hard for modern Christians to apply this principle to doctrine? Beliefs have consequences, yes. And doctrinal beliefs have consequences as well. Doctrinal beliefs change how we think and act as Christians. And that is one very good reason why doctrine matters.
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Doctrine. Why should the average Joe sitting in the church pews Sunday morning care about doctrine? The word itself wreaks of antiquity in minds of many modern Christians - perhaps even bigotry and intolerance. Christianity should be practical, and doctrine is thought to be anything but that. Some say Christians just need to be about loving people. But what about loving God? And isn't the assertion itself a statement of doctrine? Doctrine is like philosophy in many respects. One can try to ignore it and write it off as irrelevant, but the fact is the less aware you are of your philosophical or doctrinal beliefs the more they control you - for better or worse. Knowing what you believe gives you a sense of direction and purpose. It also empowers you to discern what beliefs and behaviors are compatible with your own. Without doctrine you're left without a clear objective and without the tools to discover what that objective might even look like. How do you know where your beliefs are taking you if you don't know what you believe in the first place?
A Brief Case Study
Let's take two people, for example. Let's say one is a Universalist, which is a fancy way of saying he believes everyone is going to heaven someday. The other is a strict Exclusivist, meaning she believes anyone that does not turn from their sin and place their faith in Christ will be subject to eternal punishment. The Universalist might very well conclude that evangelism is a noble activity, but not necessarily imperative since God is going to save everyone in the end, anyway. Not that all Universalists would reach this conclusion, but it's probably safe to say that some, if not many, would. Consequently, he spends his life practicing a deep personal faith, but nevertheless not a faith that is particularly concerned with evangelism.
The Exclusivist on the other hand believes that apart from explicit knowledge of the Gospel no one can be saved. This conviction coupled with Jesus' command to preach the Gospel to the ends of the earth cultivates a deep urge in her to engage in world-wide evangelism. She is outspoken about her faith, and anyone who has spent five minutes around her knows she's a Christian. She goes on to participate in international missions and preaches the Gospel to some of the most secluded people on earth.
The Humdinger
Now these two scenarios are admittedly somewhat stereotypical, and the Universalist reading this who is also a fervent evangelist will have to pardon my little indulgence. However, one must admit that at face value the actions of both of these individuals seem to flow effortlessly from their beliefs. And that is precisely the point. Beliefs have consequences. It's common sense! Why then is it so hard for modern Christians to apply this principle to doctrine? Beliefs have consequences, yes. And doctrinal beliefs have consequences as well. Doctrinal beliefs change how we think and act as Christians. And that is one very good reason why doctrine matters.
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