All About GOD - Growing Relationships with Jesus and Others
Doctrine vs Preference
We often see people existing in one extreme or another. There are some who would ignore doctrine for the sake of unity, but can there really be unity in the body if doctrine (teaching found in God's Word) is ignored? There is another group that has taken mere prefernces and elevated them to the level of doctrine, at least in their teaching. An example of this can be the style of worship. Some are more demonstrative than others, but neither is wrong if the heart is right. Style of worship is a preference, not a doctrine.
What do you think about the importance of sound doctrine in one's life and in the church? Have you seen things that are preferences turned into doctrine? If so, give an example, but leave names and organization names out of the comment. How do we stay centered on Christ in the midst of the chaos?
Lord Bless,
LT
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by a servant (Chris) on
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With tears in my eyes my Brother I stand in complete agreement. The fact that I am Loved, and it is based on His Choice. I am both humbled and I know I will be Eternally Grateful to Our Dad, to Jesus for His Choice, and Holy Spirit all 3 have chosen to Love and accept me. For me, even though my actions were known long before I was. Their decision was made. Unconditional which in a grateful heart means, only wanting to say Thank You Lord. And, knowing even it pales compared to His Actions to me. He Lovingly say you are Welcomed My son, I Love you so. Grace has no other comparison.
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Permalink Reply by feet breath on
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"Today, I am a little more balanced with my testimony yet I still do not believe there is anything that I can do to be separated from His love."
Read Romans 8:35-39. Brother Roy you are biblically correct.
King James Bible (Cambridge Ed.)
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
I took each verse from Romans 8:35-39 on http://bible.cc/ and put it together.
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Permalink Reply by RoyW on
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Yes, Chris, you are mightily loved. Before He ever made this world, you were in His mind. You are the reason He saved Noah and the other seven that survived the flood. Before He made this world, He knew He would have to come and submit His life to evil. Yet, nothing could stop Him. He fixed His face like flint on the cross for us. How do we respond to Him? How do we take any credit? He did it all. For God so loved...There is nothing left for us to say other than we are forever grateful. We praise for there is nothing else. Praise comes naturally forth. Those who know Him and His love give Him all the praise and all the glory. We praise Him not because we must, we praise Him because it just pours forth. Blessed be the name of our Lord!
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Permalink Reply by Leonard T on
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Michelle,
Understood. This is the type of stuff I was looking for. We need to be very carefull to keep doctrine doctrine and preferences as preferences.
Lord Bless,
LT
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Permalink Reply by Amanda on
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Baptism is very important and is usually the first step we take in being obedient to Jesus our Savior and honoring Him as our Lord. However, I did not receive baptism until three years after I was saved. The little holiness church where I accepted Christ did not really push baptism. Maybe once a year or so they held a service in a creek for believer's baptism but I never understood my need for it until I was 19 years old and after I left that church and was in another someone took the time to explain it to me face to face using Scriptures. Good point, Michelle. I am happy for your daughter.
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Michelle,
Are you from Kansas? I attended a Kansas campmeeting (however, that would have been in the 60's) where one of the great saints of God (I really mean that) preached a sermon on sanctification as a second DEFINITE work of grace. He preached that he had been sanctified forty years ago (he was old at that time) and had never committed one sin since. I was a young guy at the time and felt there was no use for me to even try. Anyway, he would later come to the church I was pastoring and stayed a week preaching a revival. I realized then that he and I had a different vocabulary especially when it came to sin. He was selfish and arrogant (among just a few weaknesses) but he had never sinned in now over 40 years. I think sometimes we all have a different vocabulary when it comes to the different terms used in doctrine.
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Back in the days when I was young sanctification meant you didn't sin anymore. Sanctification took the carnal desires right out of you. That does not agree with the Word but it is what I thought was true. Therefore, I continually fought the idea that I had really never really been saved. When I was a young boy they preached hell hot and I was sure I was headed there. I may not have been listening carefully enough but I was sure getting the idea of a works-based salvation. When I think back I think surely it could not have been that bad. Yet, that is the way I remember it. No one who has seriously asked God to save him should have to fear hell fire. That is not the reason Christ came. If Christ doesn't have the power to save and a willingness to save them that ask, then we are all in a heap of trouble.
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Roy,
Just for clarity, back in the day there were others who taught sanctification as a second work of grace and did not teach that it meant sinless perfection in this life. I say this not as a correction, but for clarification to those who might read this.
Lord Bless,
LT
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Yes, LT, you are correct. I don't think most of the preachers in the conference I was in agreed with the gentleman that was teaching sinless perfection. I think he was trying to make a point to those that did not agree with him. Most did not believe (that was in the decade of the 60's) that he was correct.
I have come to believe that sanctification is a act of God separating us to His own purposes. It is an act to which we respond. Since it is by His grace, there is nothing we can do on our own to procure or obtain it. A sanctified vessel was not necessarily the purest nor the most elegant. It was a vessel chosen by God to just get the job done. It might not be the best, but it is God's. I consider myself to be sanctified simply because He took me and separated me unto Himself. It is a humbling understanding not a boastful one. Sometimes He chooses the weakest among us for His own purpose.
I am a very strong believer in the doctrine of sanctification. I do believe it is a work of God's grace in the setting apart of a vessel for His purpose. My response is to do the best I can to be worthy of that work but I still rely so heavily upon Him. I think I am one of the weakest.
Even though I am a believer in that doctrine, I find some would disagree. That does not bother me.
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I am a very strong believer in the doctrine of sanctification. I do believe it is a work of God's grace in the setting apart of a vessel for His purpose. My response is to do the best I can to be worthy of that work but I still rely so heavily upon Him. I think I am one of the weakest.
Even though I am a believer in that doctrine, I find some would disagree. That does not bother me.
Agreed. I view sanctification as an important doctrine, but will not break fellowship with someone just because they see it differently ... well, I guess that depends on how different :-)
For me the key to being set apart for God and empowered to live for Him is a life of surrender. Though we will battle the flesh the rest of this life, we must aspire to full surrender so that we could say in all things ... not my will, but Your will be done.
Lord Bless,
LT
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But is any of it really possible? Is it possible to love God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength? Is it possible to be 100% surrendered? Is it possible to be wholly sanctified when it comes to our own righteousness? We have the righteousness found in Christ which is perfect because He is perfect. Is it realistic though to think we could get to the point of saying in all things not my will but Yours? Or is that just preference? Scripture tells us we all fail in many ways. But it also tells us to be holy and perfect.
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