At some point, after saying goodbye to the institutionalism, as I saw NOT being dogmatic is a fashion among liberals, I foolishly tried to follow them. I tried to be 'liberal', tolerating and accepting by being non-dogmatic. I thought biblical doctrines weren't that fashionable, especially when we hear stuff like 'Oh..don't be too dogmatic on that'.
If doctrines weren't that important, why did Apostle Paul write 14 Epistles?
At the same time, I don't want put some big theological words out there and see everything in life through the eyes of a 'theologian'. That is not my point.
I am still not dogmatic (and don't want to be) in so many issues of daily life but when it comes to SALVATION, I have to be dogmatic. There is no other way we can understand what salvation truly is. I have observed among those who practice Christianity, evangelical Christianity, only a very few percentage truly knows what 'Salvation' really means. For some, it's being in 'nirvana', for some it is escaping hell and for some it is getting our sins forgiven, for some it is a way to achieve sinless perfection, for some it is finding God in 'everything', for some it is charity, social activities and good works. But, what truly is salvation in the light of New Testament and how can we explain that without being dogmatic?
Is it time to get back to some of the fundamentals of Christian faith?
I am seeing the stuff like, universalism, Calvinism etc and I truly think all these theologies are the result of a poor understanding of the fundamentals of Biblical Salvation in the light of Gospel.
No matter how beautifully we can build, if the premise (foundation) is not right, we miss the point, right?
7 comments:
I hear ya, Bino. I've been sort of afraid to sound dogmatic or like the typical fundamentalist lately, but not anymore. I'm not going to conform to religion or liberalism. I will stick to the Scripture whether or not it's the 'popular' thing to do. Screw 'em.
lol~ good thoughts Bino- I remember I wrote a blog a while back about the status quo christianity and I find this journey of grace is nothing like the status quo or as you would call typical liberalism.
Amazing thoughts!
I second that Matt, Screw 'em...
In Freedom, Nicole~
I agree Matthew.
There are these two extremes of biblicism and liberalism.
I think both are wrong.
Christian biblicism is no different from Jewish legalism. Which I think, is a result of seeing Bible as a rule book rather than seeing it as a book where God expresses his heart (love).
Where as liberalism, I think it says that there are no absolute truths. Pretty much we can believe what we think is right. Nothing could be further from the truth.
While we are free in Christ, walking in the Spirit, totally free from the law, it is the doctrines (primarily Pauline epistles) what gives us that knowledge.
How do we understand the difference between law and grace (for example) without Paul explaining it to us?
In the similar line, our total forgiveness in Christ, our identity in Christ etc are all so very important to have good grasp. And it is that understanding what really frees us.
Nicole,
Thanks! Isn't it interesting that people see us as liberals? But in reality, it is the proper understanding of the basic doctrines of Bible is what really made us liberals (free from law)?
Amen to that Bino,
Free from law that binds and takes control. It's absolutely freedom not to be tide down...
Bino,
Hello, again! Nicole emailed me and mentioned that she, you and Matt like to IM eachother. Cool! I'd love to also, except that I'm on-and-off the internet so much, that I don't have a block of real time to.
It's neat, it seems that you, Matt, Nicole and I are around the same age and have many of the same beliefs and heart.
Feel free to email me from my MySpace page (www.myspace.com/amyinsurprise). If you don't have MySpace, feel free to ask Nicole for my email address. Just tell her about this Comment in case she asks.)
Enough about that.
As for your Blog entry here...excellent! I SOOOO agree with you. I've been visiting The God Journey forum, and while I love each and every person whom comments, I have noticed a dangerous and unsettling pattern of several people talking about their beliefs in Universalism and Calvanism.
I agree with you...that we, as Free Believer's, who've stepped outside the institutional church to instead walk daily in the guidance of the Holy Spirit...we must be careful not to go "overboard" and begin to fathom extremest beliefs. For such beliefs (I believe) quite very well are subtle ways to entice us into beliefs that are not of God.
~Amy :)
Amy,
I don't think I can any longer bear the pressure to start a Myspace profile :)
I have another social network profile on orkut.com (google's) and quite frankly, I don't like the crowded nature of myspace, all those blinking ads and stuff.
But that's not stopping us being friends. Nicole, Matthew, Joel and Aida are all in yahoo and sometimes we do meet there as a group (all credit goes to Nicole). If you have yahoo, pls. add my id (bino_b) to your buddy list.
I don't know what Nicole is talking about we are all around same age. I am only 22!
Just kidding...:) I am going to be 33 (divine age) in August.
Btw, Do you have a blog? When I click on 'AmyC' it's not taking me to your profile. so I was just wondering...
As far as this post is concerned, I like all grace-emphasized teachings grounded in Scripture. I am just concerned about the people who are in the border-line universalism, which is a danger we can fall into if we are not grounded well on the doctrines.
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