Comments on: Where Is Your Doctrinal Statement?

By: Rich/luthsem

Rich/luthsem — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 16:13:22 +0000

The Apostle’s Creed is pretty straight forward and all Christians agree with.
I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.

I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried;
he descended to the dead.*
On the third day he rose again;
he ascended into heaven,
he is seated at the right hand of the Father,
and he will come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic Church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen.

Catholic means universal church so some substitute it for Christian Church. I know it was not written by the Apostles but an earlier baptismal creed.

By: Kelly

Kelly — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 12:49:10 +0000

I think people look for that doctrinal statement because they’re afraid of what they may find. When I was growing up, I would carefully check out even the Christian authors I read and decide whether or not I wanted to put something they had written into my heart/mind. We try to protect ourselves by not accepting everything we read unless we believe we can trust the person who wrote it. This is our idea of “discernment.” I think it is only in our learning to walk in the Spirit that we are able to set aside this fear and lay whatever comes into our lives before Him to approve.

By: Clifton

Clifton — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 02:39:27 +0000

This is kinda funny. I wrote a blog entry awhile back about the “What We Believe” pages on church websites. The title is “What We Believe and What We Reject”. What’s funny is that entry gets five times more clicks than anything else. I think people assume it’s the doctrinal statement for the blog. I used to do the same thing though so I shouldn’t laugh. I understand the temptation to run a doctrinal background check on people before listening to them.

By: Phil Hawkins

Phil Hawkins — Sun, 10 Jun 2007 22:48:02 +0000

I’ve been reading your articles and blog for several years now, and didn’t need a doctrinal statement to tell me where you stood. I reached the point a long time ago that I was not that impressed by how much Bible a person knows, I want to know how much they live!

Back around 1980 I read a book called “Disciple” by Juan Carlos Ortiz, an Argentine AG pastor. Apparently he would teach on a Bible topic, the small groups would follow up on it, but he wouldn’t move on to another topic until the groups could report they were living it. The church could use a lot more of that approach.

By: Steve Sensenig

Steve Sensenig — Sun, 10 Jun 2007 21:35:41 +0000

Thanks for the post, Wayne. I've linked to it on my blog here.

By: Theological Musings » Speak It, Or Live It?

Theological Musings » Speak It, Or Live It? — Sun, 10 Jun 2007 21:33:09 +0000

[...] on an issue which has been batted around some here on this blog. His post is entitled “Where Is Your Doctrinal Statement?” and is in response to a question he received via [...]

By: Clifton

Clifton — Sun, 10 Jun 2007 18:12:53 +0000

Sorry Jim. I was being facetious.

By: Jim

Jim — Sun, 10 Jun 2007 12:56:21 +0000

I heard that John Wesley once said that mental assessment would soon replace faith. For my personal observation I see that doctrinal statements have replace living for many. Keep up the great work Wayne.

By: Peter

Peter — Sun, 10 Jun 2007 03:48:34 +0000

Funny me, I thought your page under “Our Passion” was your Doctrinal Statement. I stand corrected. Oh well — Live Loved and Love.

By: Jim

Jim — Sat, 09 Jun 2007 21:33:09 +0000

Clifton:

You know the heretics when they volunteer themselves as such.

So, let me step right up. I’m a heretic! That is, if conforming to standard ideas of doing church and relating to God makes one that.

There, I made it easy on you!