Questions of Doctrine.
Now first, let me explain that faith and doctrine are not
necessarily sitting together out on the front porch sharing a nice cold glass
of Southern sweet tea. From Wiki: “Doctrine (from Latin: doctrina, meaning "teaching, instruction") is a codification of beliefs or a body of teachings or instructions, taught principles or
positions, as the essence of teachings in a given branch of knowledge or in a belief
system.”
Faith is the substance or assurance of things we hope for,
but have not yet received. Faith (confidence, belief, trust) is also our evidence
of that which is not seen—the invisible spiritual things. Faith comes before a
prayer is answered or before an individual has received what he or she has
requested from God.
Some conversations and reading have made
me consider lately what my beliefs have been based on and how much of those
beliefs are backed up by scripture. From before we could read, our parents had
us memorize John 3:16: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten
son, that whosoever should believe on Him should not perish but have
everlasting life.” Now Dear Hearts, that is scripture. Now then, Satan himself
knows that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God. He believes that. But he does
not believe ON him. Satan would not look to Christ for salvation. In the first
place, not that my guessing is all that great, but eternal life without God
would be hell in my estimation. Separation from God, from the light of the
world, would be the worst kind of life if one had to live eternally. Better to
go up in ashes than to live without God and His love.
Now it amazes me how my mind works at
times—or doesn’t work. My “compassion” caused me to want to believe that
everyone would eventually come to Christ. But is that backed up by proof? One
person mentioned the rich man and the beggar who died and went to separate
places. The rich man went to suffer; the beggar went to heaven. When the rich
man asked Abraham to send someone to his brothers “from the dead,” he was told
that they would not repent: “If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither
will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.” AH! Who was it that
rose from the dead?
It bothers me that so many “religions”
consider themselves to be the way of truth, yet they do not rely on the Word of
God or the sacrifice of the Son of God. These folks have doctrines, ways of
believing, teaching, and positions that fortify their knowledge. In all of my
reading, the old ways that men lived before they learned of the Son of God held
them to certain principles. Can you sin if you do not know the law? Did the
pagans of old know how to love, how to give full measure, how to help his
fellow man? You can bet that they had a code of conduct, even if it was not
based on the ten commandments. In literature, (Robert Browning) there was a poem
about Caliban Upon Setebos. Caliban was the earthly, slimy portion of paganism.
Setebos was Caliban’s idea of his god. Caliban tries to infer from his own
experience of anger and hurt what his god must be like. Sometimes that exact
problem shows up in our thoughts—even among Christians. We think what we feel
must be what God feels. Guess what. That is not scriptural, not even relevant,
for the most part. If we really want to look at a perfect man, we have to look
at Christ. If we want to see the nearest thing to a perfect man other than
Christ, we have to look at Job. Job had to forgive those who blamed him for his
own troubles.
Ah, we have so much to consider when we
attempt to know what God wants of us. But let us keep trying, keep praying,
keep being the type of love that we see in God’s way. When we fail, let us
repent. Let us ask for forgiveness. We have a loving father.
Rest well, my friends. You are loved.
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