CHURCH DOCTRINES discussion 4

  Greetings in the name of Jesus:



   Doctrines of the Church are among the most difficult things to deal with because we all claim to follow God's word, but in a great many cases this is where we begin to add to what God has told us from His original message as we put in the things that make God's word become unique to our own desires and beliefs.

  In most cases this is the area where just like the Scribes and Pharisees of Jesus time laws and creeds are written as to how to obey God's word become so prominent  in our beliefs that they take over the importance of what God's message really was to us.  What interests me is that almost none of these things by themselves are harmful until they are made into a doctrine that begins to cause separation between believers in fellowship with one another.  This kind of separation is seen in almost all churches in the mainstream doctrines today, and they are almost always carried around as proud banners in the way we tell one another apart.  Such areas center around subjects like  Baptism, communion, gifts of the Spirit, and personal likes or dislikes in social culture.  When I say social culture it has to do with movies, dancing,and entertainment.  In every case these become personal matters of belief or adoption in life that we believe in.  As an example in some circles we would not dare to go to church without dressing up, where in others we would never think to put on so much as a tie today to go to a service.  These are personal preferences that really have nothing to do with God word to us but that we adopt in life as personal preferences..

  Some of these key areas that cause the greatest friction between the fellowship of believers have nothing to do with what Jesus preached.  Baptism; as an example was originally done as a way of proclaiming one allegiance publicly to Christ because He did it with John as a declaration of the beginning of His ministry through John the Baptist work even before the New covenant was established in Jesus sacrifice.  We have taken this act out of context in many different ways, and although Jesus did not baptize Himself it has been used to serve as a public recognition of joining the church since that time.

 Communion was established as a remembrance of what Jesus was giving to us as His sacrifice for our sins. I am surprised really that no one so far has tried to tie communion in with our salvation as well...I should not hold my breath on that one!  The gifts of the Spirit are only for those who allow God the control of them to be used in our lives, and God does not publicize that kind of thing nearly as much as man does.  God only uses the gifts of the Spirit for a purpose and it is never done to give glory to men.  The actual doctrines of the church that Jesus established were simple in that they followed Jesus teachings.  Everything that we have done since that has been to establish our own brand of belief.  Correct me if I am wrong but I have only found true following of the doctrines of what Christ established in very small church groups, and not so much the major and established denominational churches of today; at least not the ones I have seen in the USA.  If we could get back to obeying the simple commands Jesus gave the church from the start; like loving God with our whole heart, mind, and strength and loving one another as we love our selves we would neither have time or room for creating ways to be separate from one another.  May you richly bless God through your life in Him.


THE UNWORTHY SERVANT