I’m sitting on a deck attached to a beautiful house in a secluded area just outside Mont Tremblant. The family is sleeping, my sister is out jogging. I’ve just completed my devotions along with reading a chapter of the book I’m currently reading.
In this environment, what would you be thinking about?
I’m sitting here wondering, “Does doctrine truly matter?” Yeah, I’m that hardcore. Or, something …
I launched the Ask The Pastor series by answering the question, “How do we know we’re right?” (you can watch the Bikers’ Church version here or the City Church version here). In that talk, I suggested that on most things, we can’t be 100% we are right and other denominations are wrong. For that reason, we should tread with humility when discussion doctrine or our interpretation of a particular Bible passage.
Does that mean we shouldn’t bother trying to understand truth? Should we just accept whatever anyone is teaching and just roll with it?
Of course not. Hopefully that came across in the message.
And yet, I worry that far too many people do just that. Someone will give their opinion on a theological issue, and our response is simply, “Well, that’s what you believe. I believe something different. So, let’s just change the subject rather than get into a debate.”
I don’t believe for one second that should be our response.
I remember many years ago someone sharing with me how they believed the world was populated when aliens from another planet dropped off the original humans. Ultimately, we are simply an experiment orchestrated by beings far more advanced than we are.
Now, I could have simply left this person in their fantasy, or I could have taken the time to explain why I thought their view was full of holes. I used the Bible as the base of my belief and could have confidence that what it taught regarding humanity was truth.
I get very frustrated at how lazy most Christians seem to be. They never take the time to know why they believe what they believe. In the past few weeks, I’ve read a book called Hollow, that tells the story of one woman’s battle with anorexia. I’ve read a book called Doctrine to brush up on a few areas for the Ask the Pastor series. And now, I’m reading a book called God Wins, which is a respond to Rob Bell’s Love Wins (both give different views on the subject of Hell).
Why? Because I want to know why I believe what I believe in as many different areas of life. What about you? Does doctrine matter to you? Do you take the time to study and learn? If not, why not? If yes, what are you reading right now to help you learn?
