The Dog's Blog
Watch your life
and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if
you do, you will save both yourself and your
hearers.
I Tim. 4: 16
Little progress can be made by merely attempting to repress what is evil.
Our great hope lies in developing what is good.
Calvin Coolidge
Subject: Italian
Golfer
An 80-year-old Italian goes to the doctor
for a check-up. The doctor is amazed at what good
shape the guy is in and asks,' how do you stay in
such great physical condition?'
I'm Italian and I am a golfer,' says the old guy,
'and that's why I'm in such good shape. I'm up
well before daylight and out golfing up and down
the fairways. I have a glass of vino, and all is
well.'
'Well' says the doctor, 'I'm sure that helps, but
there's got to be more to it. How old was your
Father when he died?'
'Who said my Father's dead?'
The doctor is amazed. 'You mean you're 80 years old
and your Father's still alive. How old is he?'
'He's 100 years old,' says the Old Italian golfer.
'In fact he golfed with me this morning, and then
we went to the topless beach for a walk and had a
little vino and that's why he's still alive. He's
Italian and he's a golfer, too.'
'Well,' the doctor says, 'that's great, but I'm
sure there's more to it than that. How about your
Father's Father? How old was he when he died?'
'Who said my Nono's dead?'
Stunned, the doctor asks, 'you mean you're 80 years
old and your grandfather's still living!
Incredible, how old is he?'
'He's 118 years old,' says the Old Italian golfer.
The doctor is getting frustrated at this point,
'So, I guess he went golfing with you this morning
too?'
'No, Nono couldn't go this morning because he's
getting married today.'
At this point the doctor is close to losing it.
'Getting married!! Why would a 118 year- old guy
want to get married?'
'Who said he wanted to?'
[I am grateful to my brother in Christ, Randy Birch, for sharing this story with me. OGD]
Assumptions are dangerous things. We assume seminaries prepare people for the pastorate. We assume pastors know what the Bible teaches. We assume people go to church to be equipped to do God's work. None of those assumptions are warranted.
Renewal in the Mainline denominations has been ineffective because doctrine seems to be a dirty word. Consequently, we think we are in Church when we are really someplace else.
Without the
teaching of sound Biblical doctrine, we are just
trying to get "maple syrup" from Oak trees.
John Piper offers us a particularly clear
insight into this problem. Depart from the
doctrine, and you depart from Christ. Or,
better, keep watch over your doctrine and “you
will save . . . yourself” (1 Timothy 4:16).
That's high praise for good doctrine. You would
think evangelicals would agree. But we are
more likely to hear things like, “Christ unites;
doctrine divides,” or, “ask, ‘Whom do you
trust?’, not ‘What do you believe?’”
The minimization of biblical doctrine is
common. (Liberals are not the only ones practicing a
theology of accommodation.) But if we are not
willing to get a high estimation of doctrine from
God, perhaps we can get it from George Barna. He has
been surveying American evangelicals to see if we
practice what we preach. He is finding that we don't
preach doctrine from the Bible, and therefore don't
practice differently from the world. According to
Barna’s definition an “evangelical” is
willing to say, “I have made a personal
commitment to Jesus Christ that is still important
in my life today.” In addition, they agree with
several other things like:
*Jesus lived a sinless life; eternal
salvation is only through grace, not works;
*Christians have a personal responsibility to
evangelize non-Christians;
*Satan exists.
Barna says that 7 to 8 percent of the US
population is in this group. And they do not live
substantially differently than the world. But Barna
has now developed a new set of criteria that defines
a group within evangelicalism who has a “biblical
worldview.” This means they say that “the
Bible is the moral standard” and “absolute
moral truths exist and are conveyed through the
Bible,”
*In addition they believe that God is the
all-knowing, all-powerful Creator who still rules
the universe, and that salvation cannot be earned by
their deeds, and that the Bible is totally accurate
in all it teaches.
This group is substantially smaller than the
broad evangelical group. For those who belittle
doctrine as troublesome, it may come as a surprise
that this group lives differently from the world.
Ronald Sider, in his book, The Scandal
of the Evangelical Conscience, describes the
difference:
They are 9 times more likely than all the
others to avoid ‘adult-
only’ material on the Internet. They are 4
times more likely than
other Christians to boycott objectionable
companies and products and
twice as likely to choose not to watch a movie
specifically because
of its bad content. They are 3 times more
likely than other adults
not to use tobacco products and twice as
likely to volunteer time to
help needy people. Forty-nine percent of all
born-again Christians
with a biblical world view have volunteered
more than an hour in the
previous week to an organization serving the
poor, whereas only 29
percent of born-again Christians without a
biblical world view and
only 22 percent of non-born-again Christians
had done so.
The conclusion is that doctrine matters.
Sider puts it like this:
Barna’s findings on the different behavior
of Christians with a biblical worldview underline
the importance of theology. Biblical orthodoxy does
matter. One important way to end the scandal of
contemporary Christian behavior is to work and pray
fervently for the growth of orthodox theological
belief in our churches.
Who would have thought that the very survey
system that lures so many to
The Church does not need a platitude
adjustment. In needs leaders who know sound
doctrine and can teach it to others (II Tim. 2: 2).
The Westminster Fellowship states clearly,
unequivocally what it stands for and what it expects
its members to believe:
Total Depravity--Man in his natural state
is dead in trespasses and sins.
Unconditional Election--God the Father has
sovereignly chosen those who will be saved.
Limited Atonement--The Lord Jesus died for
all whom the Father had given to Him, and for them
only.
Irresistible Grace--The Holy Spirit
sovereignly and effectually applies salvation to the
elect.
Perseverance of the Saints--Those who are
truly saved will never be lost.
The members of the Westminster Fellowship
subscribe to the following vows:
Do you believe in One God, Father, Son,
and Holy Spirit -- and do you confess anew the Lord
Jesus Christ as your Saviour and Lord, and
acknowledge Him Head over all things to the Church,
which is His Body?
Do you believe the Scriptures of the Old
and New Testaments to be the Word of God, the only
infallible rule of faith and practice?
Do you sincerely receive and adopt the
Westminster Confession and Larger and Shorter
Catechisms as containing the system of doctrine
taught in the Holy Scriptures?
Do you promise to be zealous and faithful
in maintaining the truths of the Gospel and the
purity and peace of the Church, whatever persecution
or opposition may arise to you on that account?
Do you engage to be faithful and diligent
in the exercise of all private and personal duties
which become you as a Christian as well as in all
relative duties, endeavoring to adorn the call of
Christ by your conversation, and walking with
exemplary piety?
Don't believe that
winning is really everything. It's more important
to stand for something. If you don't stand for
something, what did you win?
Lane
Kirkland
Renewal
will not come to the Mainline denominations until
the teaching of sound doctrine is more important
than accommodating our friends and culture. What
good are new wineskins if you haven't
anything to put in them?
*Barnabas and Paul
equipped the saints for the work of ministry. They
knew the Truth and were qualified to teach it.
*The Mainline denominations today, may hold
the form of religion, but they choose to avoid
sound doctrine in order to accommodate their
culture.
A man --
[or denomination] -- who trims himself to suit
everybody will soon whittle himself away.
Charles Schwab
O God, whose
blessed Son was manifested that He might destroy the
works of the Devil,
and make us children of God and heirs of eternal
life:
Grant us, we beseech Thee,
that having this Hope we may purify ourselves, even
as He is pure,
that when He shall appear again with power and great
glory, we may be make like unto Him
in His eternal and glorious Kingdom.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen
James E. Tuckett
The Old Gray Dog