General Devaluing Doctrine

benadam1974

Well-known member
Nov 15, 2020
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I found this article from a religious news site National Catholic Report called: We must remember Christianity is Jesus, not a doctrine

It reads in part:
“Ultimately, truth in Christianity is not a doctrine, not a dogma, not a creed, not a papal bull, not what's said in a sermon, not even the words in the Bible.
Rather, truth in Christianity is a person, Christ Jesus.”
We must “acknowledge that all words are metaphors, pointing to meaning beyond themselves.
If we give ultimate allegiance to the words as they are used in official doctrines and creeds, we box ourselves in.
The effect is to miss God's glorious freedom.”

This type of reasoning is a result of the continued propagation of moral and ethical relativism in Western society.

The thinking has infiltrated the minds of many self-professed Christians when they say things like:
  • I don’t want organized religion Or;
  • Teach me Christian Living, not doctrine.
These statements are nonsensical since teaching = doctrine and waters down the precious truths found in the words of the Bible necessary for your Christian living. So to pit the one against the other runs the risk of being tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. This ultimately leads us to tricksters whose lies are so clever they sound like the truth, as the Apostle Paul warns.

For example, look at the effect this kind of thinking has had on what Jesus called the first and greatest of all the commandments in Mar 12.29:
Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord.

Sounds pretty simple and straightforward right?

The God of Jesus is one Individual, one Divine non-human Person, the Lord.

Well, who knew that words like "one" would actually turn out to be a minefield of debate and confusion?!

For example, we even have some Jews today circumventing the simple meaning of the word "one."

Messianic Trinitarian apologist Michael Brown argues in his book The Real Kosher Jesus.
“It is important to understand that the word echad does not point to absolute unity.
It simply means one as in one day consisting of night and day."

The Trini trick is exposed when you see that the meaning of the word one has actually not changed. In other words, scripture is still talking about one day not two days. The same is true of another favorite trini "proof text" Gen 2.24 where Adam and Eve become one flesh and not two fleshes, etc.

John Tillotson, the 17th century Anglican Bishop of Canterbury, was right when he said that:
The true ground of most men's prejudice against the Christian doctrine is because they have no mind to obey it.

I would add that anyone who sets words like "doctrine" and "Christian living" against each other does the same.
At that point you’re no longer appealing to reason, this leads to disobedience.