by Jacob Ninan
Some Christians take a position that they don't want to get involved in discussions regarding doctrines, preferring rather, as they say, to live a simple life before the Lord. This has possibly come from watching some of the endless discussions that go on among different groups of Christians, mutual abuse and the resulting separations. This reaction is understandable, and it is a sad reflection on the church as a whole. At the same time, these people are making another mistake of assuming that doctrines are not important.
Doctrines are teachings that we derive from the Bible concerning different aspects of who God is, our relationship with Him, how He wants us to live, what He says our priorities should be, etc. They are not to be considered as theoretical points that are only fit for arguments among scholars but as the pointers or guidelines for our practical life. God who created us has laid down rules for our life and paths for us to walk on. We can easily imagine where we would end if we follow other paths that we consider right and either neglect or are ignorant of what God says. Doctrines tell us what to do, what not to do, what to value, what to give up, what to aim for, about love for God and man, faithfulness, how to overcome sin, etc.
Paul said, giving instructions for young Timothy to follow after his time, "In pointing out these things to the brethren, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, constantly nourished on the words of the faith and of the sound doctrine which you have been following" (1Tim.4:6). We can see here that our constant nourishment has to come from words of faith and sound doctrine. We know how much we need words from God that give us faith as we go through difficult times in life. We must also see that we need 'sound' or healthy doctrine to guide us to the paths we need to walk in. It is only as we follow words of sound doctrine that we can be protected from other paths that are open in front of us and which Satan would like to draw us to.
Paul warns Timothy not to be deceived by different doctrines that came his way, but to check if those doctrines would lead him to godliness (1Tim.6:3). If we follow good doctrines, they would lead us to a godly life. By following them, we would become more like Jesus in His character. Or, putting it in another way, we would partake more and more of the fruit of the Holy Spirit (Gal.5:22,23). Shall we make this our benchmark with which we will check all doctrines?
As times draw near to the end of this world, God has predicted that more and more false teachings would appear, because people in general would not be interested in listening to sound doctrine, but only to preaching that sounds interesting (2Tim.4:2,3). God says here that people would rather have their ears tickled than listen to words that would lead them to godliness. Let us look at a few examples. Someone came out with a teaching that for God, 12 is the number for government, management, etc. Are we to follow numerology, assigning value or power to special numbers, imagining, for example, that if our committee has 12 members, God would be more pleased with it than with any other number? This idea tickles our ears, but does it have anything to do with godliness? Another example is when someone used a computer to search through the letters of the text in the Bible to come out with combinations of letters to form sentences, and then claim that these sentences are secret codes God has hidden in the Bible. But then, why did this person use the text in a particular translation in English and not go back to the original Hebrew or Greek? But people get excited when such ideas come up!
When it comes to prophecies about the future, false teachers immediately get a large audience. Whether someone talks about blood moons or harbingers, there are more than enough people to follow them. If someone brings out yet another clue for identifying the Antichrist, his mark 666, or a prediction for the date of the second coming of Jesus, his messages or books become popular. People do not take care of the warning not to listen to doctrines that only lead to speculation (1.Tim.1:4). These people could have spent their energy and time better if they had been walking a little more seriously towards godliness.
"But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons" (1Tim.4:1). V.3 mentions examples such as forbidding marriage or avoiding certain foods, which can be seen in certain denominations now, which we may not recognise immediately as having originated in demonic influences! The former practice of forbidding marriage for leaders in the church or claiming that celibacy will make a person godly has led to the downfall of many. The latter has become a major focus in certain churches, even to the extent of side-lining the doctrine of salvation.
Did you know that the recent wrong doctrine that is referred to as the word-of-faith teaching was brought in when a preacher mistakenly assumed that a deceiving voice he was listening to was from the Holy Spirit? Following this doctrine, which essentially assumes that our words have a power in themselves so that we can make things happen by speaking words aloud, people have gone on even to believe that they are gods, with power similar to God Himself. Another false doctrine that is now called the seven mountains mandate also came from three Christian leaders who assumed that the idea that came into their minds around the same time was from the Holy Spirit. They thought that the best way to evangelise the world was by Christians getting into top positions in the seven areas of government/army, business, education, religion, art/entertainment, family and media. Isn't this a top down approach, in contrast to the bottom up approach that Jesus taught, where each disciple who becomes the salt and light of the world slowly influences the world around them? Several people who came across this idea took it in different directions such as dominion theology, kingdom now theology, reclamation theology, etc., moving subtly away from following the Great Commission.
After we have listened to a new idea, whether it came from a preacher or a writer, don't we need to check with the Bible whether that idea would lead us in the direction of godliness? Ask ourselves these questions. Do we have a greater love for God? Do we have a stronger desire to follow Jesus? Do we have a greater zeal to overcome sin? Do we have a greater desire to improve our relationships? Do we have a greater compassion towards the needy? Etc. Or, did the idea just sound interesting, give us some entertainment, make us applaud the preacher/writer, etc.? Let us not allow ourselves to be side-tracked. Our time is certainly limited, and generally uncertain too. Let's not believe every preacher or writer even if they have a great name or skill. Our safety is to check for trustworthy, godly preachers, and also to check for ourselves everything we hear or read with the Bible.