Dogma
1. a system of principles or tenets, as of a church.
2. a specific tenet or doctrine authoritatively laid down, as by a church: the dogma of the Assumption.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Doctrine
1. a particular principle, position, or policy taught or advocated, as of a religion or government:
Catholic doctrines; the Monroe Doctrine.
2. something that is taught; teachings collectively: religious doctrine.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Simply stated, it is what an organized religious group, church, ministry, cult or sect claims you must accept and believe
in order to belong to the group.
There are some doctrines which are generally universally shared by all Christendom. A few examples:
Jesus is the Christ, Kristos, Anointed One, Messiah.
Having risen from the dead He sits at the right hand of God.
Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary in fulfillment of prophecy.
He was crucified, died and was buried, then rose again and ascended into heaven.
He will return and reign on earth for a thousand years.
At the end of our world He will judge between the living and the dead.
Heaven and hell are real places and every person ends up in one or the other.
My list is not exhaustive but it illustrates the important points on which Christian churches of all stripes agree. So why
are there more than 300 different denominations calling themselves Christian ?
Look in any telephone directory under churches and see the list. You may see: Adventists, Alliance, Assembly of God,
Baptist, Missionary Baptist, Catholic, Church of God, Disciples of Christ, Episcopalian, Lutheran, Presbyterian,
Methodist, Wesleyan, United Church of Christ, and on and on and on, and I've left out hundreds from this list.
The differences among them are not in the essentials of faith but rather in minor issues having little or
nothing at all to do with salvation as defined in Scripture.
Some think drinking alcoholic beverages is a terrible sin.
Another believes it is wrong to have musical instruments in church ... only the human voice is allowed.
Others condemn activities such as dancing, seeing movies, playing cards, using dice. (Dice incidentally, are used in
Christian family board games but are called numbered cubes lest anyone think it involves the vice of gambling.)
Then there those, as an old friend described his upbringing, who believe in salvation by not wearing lipstick or
jewelry. And so on.
The Protestant Reformation came about because of excesses and overt corruption in the then dominant Roman
Church. It is popularly thought that a priest named Martin Luther brought it about. He did his part but it was happening
all over Europe with different religious uprisings lead by Zwingly, Knox, Calvin and others. They attracted followers
who formed new Christian denominations with rules to prevent the corruption they found so odious.
Each of them can point to some verse in the Bible to justify their doctrinal statement. Far too many of them regard infant
baptism as automatic entry into the Body of Christ then proceed to treat the members as confirmed Christians who must
live by certain standards. Some of them are extreme in their requirements.
Why am I telling this to you ?
I am telling you this because as a new Believer you will come in contact with organized Christianity and be exposed to
lists of do's and don'ts. If the people I am describing posess ed the TRUTH, they would be FREE of much of the baggage
they carry in the name of Christianity. If you already belong to a church or religious organization which is not teaching
what Jesus taught, you're better off elsewhere.
There are some church officials and so-called pastors who would hate me for saying that. The again there are those who
are faithful stewards of the Word trying to bring it forward within their structural confines.
I once knew a saved Catholic priest who said to me, "It's too bad so many of us had to leave our church to find our God."
The Greatest Commandment
Make no mistake. There ARE commandments to be followed by whoever would be Christ's disciple
as revealed to us in Matthew 22:35-40
Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying,
"Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?"
Jesus said to him, " 'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.'
This is the first and great commandment.
And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'
On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets."
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How do you or I love God completely in heart, soul and mind ?
I can only tell you that my definition of the kind of love Jesus gave us is a love that puts the OTHER FIRST.
For example, if I truly and unreservedly love my child, I will sacrifice my very life to save his/hers.
Truly loving God with all my heart, soul and mind means God has first place in my affections.
If I must choose between a beloved person on earth versus God, I choose God.
Abraham chose God over his son but it was a test and child lived.
I choose God above my family members if it comes to a test.
I choose God above my business success.
I choose God above my property and possessions.
I wonder about the test Abraham endured by attempting to sacrifice his son to comply with God's request. Was God
seeking to discover if Abraham truly placed Him first above all ( you would think God already knows everything )?
Or, more plausibly in my thoughts, to have ABRAHAM discover that he treasured God above all. I believe the latter.
Loving God involves agape [ uh-gopp-ee ] love.
(wikipedia.org: Agape, is one of several Greek words translated into English as love.
The word has been used in different ways by a variety of contemporary and ancient sources, including Biblical authors.
Many have thought that this word represents divine, unconditional, self-sacrificing, active, volitional, and thoughtful love. )
This not brotherly love [ philos ] or romantic love [ eros ] that you "feel". It is love born of a decision to place the other above
yourself. It is selfless love. And for you to reach that condition will take time and the leading of the Holy Spirit who will gladly
fill you with such love if you ask and are open. You can simply recite in your mind or with your mouth, "lord, teach me to
love you fully and completely."
If you are good soil as in the sower parable, the seed of the Word will grow and prosper in you. As time passes you will
become aware of your own failings and sinfulness and the degree of forgiveness God has showered upon you. This
knowledge will engender in you such gratitude that you will become capable of loving God above all and at any personal cost.
This seems a good place to confess what happened to me.
I am the good soil.
I was plowed and harrowed many years.
In 1976 I received the word with gladness.
I was high on Jesus and devouring as much of th word as I could get from books, people,
and radio evangelists and teachers. I spent all my free time in the company of Christians and could not
get enough church and meetings.
The first sin not of the flesh to entrap me is the one of PRIDE. It fell into spiritual arrogance.
I had studied and learned. I prayed every day. I was convicted.
I saw myself as well qualifies to tell other people what they should do and how they should serve the Lord, and so forth.
I was filled with the Holy Spirit as evidenced by speaking in tongues. I believed every believer should do likewise and
if they did not, they were not filled with the Spirit. I received useful spiritual gifts.
I would lay hands on a person and pray in unknown tongues and marvelous things would happen in their lives.
I was drunk with spiritual power.
It came to a crashing end one day in a hospital. I laid hands on my daughter-in-law's abdomen swollen with child.
Her husband my son and my wife and I agreed in the Name of Jesus that the baby would be born healthy even
though the obstetrician had told her there was no heartbeat from the foetus. The next day the baby emerged stillborn.
What had gone wrong ?
If Jesus could command Lazarus to come out of his grave, why could not I with all the promised gifts
call this child into life ?
Firstly I recognize I was and am not the equal of Jesus even if I thought I was getting pretty close to being god-like.
I was living half in the flesh and half in the spirit. I had listened to too many preachers and teachers telling us about the believer's
rights and powers and so forth. Fact is, we have only what God chooses to give us from His bounty and I am grateful for every
tiny morsel. Truly, old things are passed away.
Some ten years ago, when I was least prepared, the vines and nettles in the Sower parable sprung up in my life and choked out the
joy the Good News had brought me. I was unable to pray in a way that satisfied me, my spirit. Every prayer was asking God
for something. Do you know the Janis Joplin song, "Lord, Won't You Buy Me A Mercedes-Benz?". For a that was me.
Lord won't you make this other person change to be like I want them to be ? lord won't you send me more customers ? Lord won't
you heal this pain in my shoulder ? Lord give me this. Lord give me that.
I reached a point of moral and philosophical crisis and I needed a remedy.
This is what He gave to me.
Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth !
[ Psalm 46:10 ]
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I became still and listened for the Spirit to speak to me, to show me. I discovered what is important to me in life.
First is my relationship with God through His son Jesus Christ as the Holy Spirit empowers and illuminates me.
Second is my relationship with my loving faithful spouse.
Third is my relationships with my children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, siblings, cousins, and all in my family
with whom I have interaction.
Next is personal interaction with friends, acquaintances, customers, and strangers. In this area the Spirit continues to
lead me toward kindness and a desire to be a blessing to all I encounter.
Finally are the suffering and ignorant people on our planet who do not have eternal life guaranteed or even a next meal
for certain.
In the natural realm I care about our nation, your nation, the economy, politics, and so forth. But in the spiritual realm
I find these matters to be of no significance. The vines of business troubles that were choking me have withered and fallen away.
The troubles are not gone but they no longer choke out my joy.
The nettles of annoyances have dried up and blown away on the wind of the Spirit's movement.
I still do not want to hear some idiot's booming speakers when next to me at a traffic signal, nor do I want to hear my
neighbor's dog incessantly yapping. But the things which annoy me have no power over my psyche. I am enjoying the
peace that passeth all understanding. Thank you Lord.
The Second Greatest Commandment
"And the second is like it:
'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'
On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets."
[ Matthew 22:39-40 ]
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The 'law' He is talking about is the Mosaic Code commonly known as the Ten Commandments.
The very first commandment proscribes any relationship with any other god being or deity ( if any others exist ).
Depending on who does the numbering, Protestants or Catholics, the first four or three commandments address the
relationship between each person and God.
The remainder of the commandments all deal with person to person interactions. How to treat your parents, spouse,
neighbors and strangers, and the property of others. All of these are unnecessary and taken care of by the Second
Greatest Commandment as Jesus stated. We do not need to argue over what constitutes
a neighbor, for it means everyone other than yourself, including your spouse, children relatives of every stripe,
people next door, people waiting for a bus with you, people at church or school, co-workers, bosses, subordinates,
everybody, even your enemies.
If you love your neighbor, meaning truly care what happens to him or her, you will avoid all the enumerated sins of
dishonoring parents, killing someone, stealing from them, committing adultery, bearing false witness, and coveting their
spouses and their goods. It's simple. I didn't say easy ... I said simple. All you need do to understand this commandment
is turn it around so that you are on the receiving end of dishonor, murder, theft, adultery, false witness, envy. If you care
enough for yourself that you do not want these things to happen to you, care equally for others.
Let's take this a little deeper.
You care enough about yourself that you desire eternal life.
Do you care whether or not others gain eternal life too ?
If you do, we will discuss in a different section what, if anything, you can do about it.
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