Warning! I am about to use an eight letter word which may offend some. In fact, you may insist I wash out my mouth with soap. This word used to be important to many and widely used, but our feelings about it have changed. Once, it was cherished and used proudly, but now it is used with apologies if at all. What is this dreadful word you ask? The offensive word is, “doctrine”. Come back and finish reading after you recover from passing out….I will wait for you.
Why is this word considered so bad? Just the other day I heard a Christian from another church bragging, “We don’t have doctrine!” It floored me. What they were saying is that they do not believe and teach anything! In their defense, he did hold up a Bible and said, “This is all we need.” I think the problem is a misunderstanding of what doctrine is. I even agree that man made statements of belief with no basis in Scripture is wrong. But the word, doctrine, is a Biblical word, Paul tells Timothy “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” (II Timothy 3:16-17 NKJV). In other words. The Bible is good for doctrine. The word doctrine means teachings, and in newer verses it is translated as such. God’s word is the basis of all we believe and do. Doctrine is what the word teaches us.
There is no reason to be scared of doctrine! God wants us to teach us how to think and act so that we will “equipped for every good work”. We need doctrine as well as reproof, correction, and instruction to reach maturity in the faith.
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Ramblings by James 