Essential Doctrine

For whatever reason, my mind has been dwelling on the concept of essential doctrine. Essential doctrine is a core set of beliefs that we, collectively as Highland Heights Christian Church, state as unequivocally and indisputably true. An example would be that Christ was born in a virgin birth and came to the world to live a perfect sinless life and die for our sins. If you don’t know what the essential doctrines are for our church, the website has them.  Here is an example:

We believe in Jesus Christ, who is God incarnate (in the flesh), is the promised Messiah, who died for our sins on the cross of calvary.

Luke 23:46; 1 Peter 2:24; Colossians 1:15-20

I hope that I wouldn’t be able to find anyone that would argue against any of the essential doctrines. If you are in doubt about any of them, please reach out to Patrick or one of the elders (or me if you’ve figured out who is writing this). This is very important.

Beyond those essential doctrines, there are lots of things that theologians have debated for centuries and are still not fully resolved. For example, when I got married, I joined the Lutheran Church (Missouri Synod) because that is the denomination that my wife grew up as. I had to go through a catechism class. I remember paying close attention, being unfamiliar with the Lutheran denomination, that there wasn’t some tenet that I adamantly disagreed with. One aspect that caught my attention was that the Missouri synod Lutherans believed that the bread and wine of the sacrament transfigured into the actual body and blood of Christ.

“Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” - Matthew 26:26-28 ESV

That wasn’t my understanding from my Presbyterian upbringing nor from my more recent nondenominational church teachings. However, as I thought about it, I wasn’t being asked to affirm that transfiguration and I didn’t consider it an essential doctrine, so I let it go.

There are two things I learned from that experience. The first is that we, as Christians, don’t know or understand everything. That’s okay. I don’t have any more than a vague understanding of how my television works, but I turn it on often. 

“But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” - 2 Peter 3:8-9

As humans, we deceive ourselves by thinking we understand everything or at least most things but I’d bet that we don’t. The second thing that I learned is that, in many situations, reasonable people can disagree, and we may never definitively know the correct answer. I have assigned the concept of transfiguration of the sacrament into that category. The most difficult task is determining which doctrines are essential and which aren’t. That is where reading the Bible for yourself is so important. Almost every topic I’ve ever researched, I have been able to find reasonable people that argue both sides of the issue. Eventually, you’ll need to apply your own discernment, ideally supported by the Bible and the Holy Spirit, to determine which to believe and apply.

“So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcision party criticized him, saying, “You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them.” But Peter began and explained it to them in order: “I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision, something like a great sheet descending, being let down from heaven by its four corners, and it came down to me. Looking at it closely, I observed animals and beasts of prey and reptiles and birds of the air. And I heard a voice saying to me, ‘Rise, Peter; kill and eat.’ But I said, ‘By no means, Lord; for nothing common or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’ But the voice answered a second time from heaven, ‘What God has made clean, do not call common.’ This happened three times, and all was drawn up again into heaven.” - Acts 11:2-10

What was the kids tv show tagline from the 70s?  “The more you know…knowledge is power”