The Importance of Sound, Biblical Doctrine

With the explosion of communication and technology the last twenty years more information is available to more people than at any time in the history of mankind. Satellite images from any place in the world give us real time access to events and situations. The internet has us connected in ways we never dreamed of. The things we had to do personally, like banking, shopping and research can now all be done online in the comfort of our homes, cars or the nearest Starbucks.

Christians have also taken advantage of the technology to spread God's word across the airwaves and fiber optics lines. In many ways, we are becoming a global community. However, with all the means of communication at our disposal, there are all so some very grave and serious concerns that we Christians must also come to terms with. One, we are on an even footing with all the other religions and world views that have existed for centuries and the new ones emerging on a daily basis. Secondly, which we address in this article, is the large and growing number of divergent and heretical Christian doctrines that have been growing at an alarming rate as well.

The church has had to deal with heretical and false teaching since the very early days of church history. One simply has to read the book of Acts and many of the Epistles to find that the early church leaders had to constantly warn people and defend the faith against these false teachers and prophets. As the church began too grow, people quickly realized that they could make a lot of money, and achieve some measure of importance, by mixing some false hood with truth. Amazingly, and predictably, history always seems to keep repeating itself. Many of today's false prophets are riding the same gravy train mix of good sounding, positive thinking crowd manipulation to pad their pocket books and receive fame and prestige. In many cases, sound doctrine and biblical teachings are being subverted to make people feel good and be materially successful. Some rarely mention Jesus Christ and his great sacrifice and atoning work on the cross.

So how can we, as true believers in Christ, take a stand for true biblical teachings and sound doctrine? In this super charged information age, where we are bombarded with news, images, how to guides, self help gurus, life coaches and internet everywhere, how can we promote the real message of Christ? I believe the first thing we must do is become so familiar with the truth, that we can detect error whenever we see or hear it.When financial institutions hire people to work with currency, they are trained to study the real money so well, they would immediately be able to tell a counterfeit bill from the real thing. So the first thing we as steadfast Christians must do is become acquainted with and study the scriptures thoroughly.

Secondly, we must be sound doctrinally. I've heard so many Christians say "I rely on the Spirit" or "The letter kills, but the spirit makes alive". Verses supporting this notion are taken out of context. Unless you have your spiritual backbone fortified by sound doctrine, you will not be able to effectively stand and proclaim God's work to this cynical generation. A doctrine is a codification of beliefs or a body of teachings. Biblical doctrine therefore is a body of teaching related to what God presents to us in His Word. As the Bible is read, we can ascertain certain key doctrines based on God's revelation to us. We read scripture in light of scripture and doctrines are forms based on referencing and cross referencing scriptures so that we can confidently see what God is telling us. Documents like the Apostles Creed and the Westminster Confession of Faith offer great insight into what the key doctrines of the bible are. Since there are no new revelations apart from what is known and taught in the existing and completed bible, we are to use this as the basis for all our doctrines. II Timothy 3:16-17 say "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work."

Don't let anyone tell you that doctrine is just for pastors or professors. It's the responsibility of every Christian to become knowledgeable or skilled in doctrine so that the can "rightly divide" the Word of Truth. Nothing will go further to strengthening the church than to have its members strong in prayer and fortified in doctrine! Make a commitment today to reading and understand the key doctrines of the bible!

S.T. Woods