Embracing Doctrine

I think we should embrace doctrine. Hence the title. CS Lewis described becoming a Christian as entering a long hallway with multiple doors. Each door was an entrance to a room representing a varied doctrine. He said to grow in our faith that we must enter one of those doors, developing ourselves along the structures of the chosen doctrine. [Forgive the lack of specific quote, the book I recall isn't with me. I think the paraphrase captures the intended point]

I suppose my desire for your entrance to a specific room is because I floundered in my faith while waiting in the hallway. I accepted some basic reasoning because I was afraid that whichever particular doctrine might say something about God I wouldn't like. That changes who God is, in our minds. Hear me, God doesn't change---our understanding of who He is does. I wasn't ready for that, sadly.

As a guy who came to know Christ in my late-teens, I was at an age when I was trying define my manhood by not asking questions. Real men have all the answers, don't they? Since I didn't seek to root myself in any doctrine, I tried to marry the perception of my childhood's Sunday school, flannel-graph Jesus with that of a handful of miscellaneous teachings. Not good.

By embracing a particular system of beliefs, we find a richness and heritage that gives us a sense of smallness and truth. Smallness in that we're not in the new, hip wave of trend-setters and truth in that these beliefs have stood the testing of many generations. Heritage in that we pray as similarly minded followers have prayed for centuries and richness of abiding in an unchanging Christ.

We can follow the same Christ in love, I might add. As a young Christian, I wanted to solve all of the inter-denominational bickering by getting everybody together to hammer out our differences. That's because I'm a peacemaker who avoids conflict. I still don't like conflict, but I'm more of a realist. I think healthy disagreement is valuable. Learn what you believe and know what your fellow brother believes and be ready to tell him how he's wrong!! Obviously, not to just fight about something. As we try to understand our brother's "wrongness" (can you believe his stance on worship and pre-destination???), we'll be in the Word studying our beliefs to compare them.

And if you hear nothing else from me, pursue doctrine and debate in love. The "greatest of these" isn't doctrinal soundness. Align yourself in the heart of our Lord and His Spirit will guide your studies. As with any multitude of seemingly 'good' things, doctrine is wasted in the mouths of those lacking Christ's love.