Truth is ancient; it's grey hairs may make it venerable;
it comes from Him who is the ancient of days. --Thomas Watson

 

13 May, 2007   comments: (0) Unity At What Cost?   "Truth and Doctrine Are Not That Important" Thanks to Tom Pique for creating this cartoon as a response to the one from Dan Kimball's website, which is reposted in these comments. Tom's cartoon makes a suitable backdrop for a comment that was recently posted here, calling for everyone to "Love and accept one another" under these terms: "I am always saddened when 'Truth' and 'Doctrine' are held to be so important. Were this so, I doubt that many of us would be Christians, for Jesus chose to save us while we were sinners." [read more] I'll re-post the rest of the commenter (Charlie's) remarks below. I do wish that he would have addressed some of the points that Martyn Lloyd-Jones was making in the post that he left his comment on. But to avoid having two sides continue to talk past each other with their own set of points, I'll make an attempt here to respond directly to Charlie's objections. Charlie said: "I am always saddened when 'Truth' and 'Doctrine' are held to be so important. Were this so I doubt that many of us would be Christians, for Jesus chose to save us while we were sinners." While it is true that Jesus chose to save us while we were sinners, He did NOT however choose to save us aside from the 'means' of salvation. In other words, it was His plan to save us through the Gospel, and by faith and repentance. All of those things are based on truth and doctrine, as I will continue to explain below. Charlie said: "...The whole point of the Letter to the Galatians was to remind people to walk in grace and Faith in Christ!" What do you mean by "grace", and what do you mean by "faith"? To know the answer to those things we rely upon biblical doctrine. And what Jesus Christ are you talking about? TD Jakes' modalistic Christ? The infant Jesus that you find in religious shrines who said and did things that are not in the bible? The Jesus that's described in the Koran? The truth of who the Jesus is that we are believing in is crucial to be known, as He himself said: "I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins". (John 8:24) Charlie said: "Sadly in this article there don't seem to be any quotes from Jesus himself." I ran into a liberal a while back who didn't believe that Paul's writing belonged in the bible, as he simply preferred what Jesus had to say instead. I hope you are not likewise suggesting that Paul's words are any less inspired than Jesus' words, are you? That question aside, I still don't think an appeal Jesus' words are helpful in any attempt to devalue truth and doctrine. Jesus taught that salvation hinges on hearing and believing his Word (John 5:24). He said "The words I speak to you are spirit and they are life" (John 6:63). He never left any room for someone to imagine that His truth claims and the content of His teaching is optional so long as we mimic his behavior. Charlie said: "Mark 9:33-41 shows along with many other verses that Jesus places little importance on doctrine and instead calls us to Love and accept one another as he has accepted us". Well first off, I hope you agree that the passage you cite can be taken to absurd extremes if we are not careful. It's true that it does contain warnings for us against being abusive towards true believers who (for example) may not be a part of our same denomination, etc. Frankly, it contains warnings that I wish some in the Emerging Church would heed before calling traditional Christians "arrogant" (or worse). But I wonder how many times this passage has been used by Mormons, for example, in an effort to gain acceptance by "other Christians". It gets absurd when any false teacher simply pulls out this passage as if to say "lay off me, and don't condemn my teaching". This is why JC Ryle, in his expository notes on the Gospels commented: "One qualification only should always accompany our use of this passage of Scripture. We must not allow it to make us indifferent towards doctrine." Also, I think you may be reading more into this passage than what's really there. The assumption made by many with an ecumenical agenda, is that the man casting out the demon in this passage is not a believer in Jesus' teachings. But Jesus speaks of him as one "who does a mighty work in My name". To imply that this man was teaching any doctrine that was somehow contrary to Jesus, or that he had some belief that was incompatible with the teachings of Christ, simply goes further than the passage allows. I'm not sure if Charlie will stick around to talk with us further, but I hope he will note these things: There is but one faith (Ephesians 4:5). Paul told Timothy to "charge some that they teach no other doctrine" (1 Timothy 1:3). Paul warned: "If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain." (1 Timothy 6:3-5). The bible is emphatic in it's charge for us to adhere to the exact teachings of Jesus and the apostles. 1 Corinthians 1:10 tells us to be "united in the same mind and the same judgment". That will never happen by assigning truth and doctrine to the back seat, while making peace and unity the priority, as JC Ryle warned against nearly 150 years ago. And as Martyn Lloyd-Jones said in the article that Charlie left a comment on, true unity comes as a result of a shared belief in true doctrine. Posted by: Jim B.   Link: http://www.oldtruth.com/blog.cfm/id.2.pid.677   Be the first to post a comment about this article        Home  |   About  |  RSS Feed  |  Contact