Selected Responses to “Tim LaHaye is coming to Town”

 

 

QUESTION:  On what other doctrines “is the Bible not absolutely clear” and we shouldn’t require members to believe one particular way?  How far will you go?  What other doctrines would you make optional for membership and empower the people to have a multiple choice doctrine?  Or don’t you even think they should have this freedom on the end times?

 

 

 

 

Humming “When we All** get to heaven”)

 

Baptism

            Dunk, Sprinkle, Pour.

Alcohol

            Did anyone ever notice that Jesus’ beverage choices would not have let him be a Wesleyan member?

Speaking in Tongues

            If you have an interpreter and it is in order, I can’t find cause to prohibit or promote this gift.

McDonalds

            It’s all grease, so why order from anywhere besides the $.99 menu?

PS. Nice thoughts. I think the “multiple-choice-with-more-than-one-right-answer” kind of thought sits well with my “Post-Modern” Teenagers/Young Adults. Except some of them still overpay for grease at McDonalds. Good thing too many didn’t think like this a few centuries ago. Burning all of the heretics would have really accelerated global warming.

 

 

The doctrine of church government should be open:

*       Episcopal

*       Presbyterian

*       Congregational

All are found in Scripture, can be defended with Scripture, and I believe, are appropriate for different situations and spiritual maturity of believers.

 

The doctrine of divine sovereignty should be open:

*       Free will

*       Complete sovereignty

*       Combatibilism (a paradoxical combo of the two above)

Again there are references to all in Scripture and working it out requires more philosophy than theology.

 

I also think we need to be open theologically on cultural issues, such as:

*       Alcohol consumption

*       Dancing

*       Playing cards

*       Movies

Too often we have tried to set limits and laws on these issues. I believe God calls us to holiness, but we have a freedom, and a conscience, in responding to that call.

 

 

 

Here’s my list

 

And these aren’t necessarily theological issues, but sometimes we sure act like the Christian faith rises or falls on them Women in ministry leadership – Whoever God calls to lead His people I’m going to stand up for, whatever the gender

 

 

Several issues that you have brought up in the past would fall into this category.  Speaking in tounges, abstinence from alcohol (drunkenness is prohibited), some questions of dress, jewelry, TV watching, game playing.  One of our local churches you can easily spot a female member because they all wear blue jean skirts(ankle length) t-shirts and long hair. Musical styles have been the subject of many church wars, but are a matter of  taste, not right and wrong.  I have had some big arguments over end-times, mostly because of insisting that the scriptures they use mean what they say rather than what they get twisted to mean, and asking "how do you know it means that?"  Come to think of it, most of the things I get in trouble over fall in this category.

 

 

 

Here's one for the list:

Whatever in the world (or hell) Jesus was up to between death and resurrection.

 

 

 

Here’s my list.  I would place a position in the matters below firmly in the non-essential category:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here are a few we leave in the "gray" area:

After growing up in the (United) Methodist, joining Presbyterian as a college student, moving to Free Methodist, and finally Covenant Evangelical - all moves unrelated to doctrine or theology - I've found the Covenant to be an interesting place.  We have regular adult baptisms in the nearby lake, infant baptisms in the sanctuary, perhaps with infant dedications at the same time - just as an example of not creating positions where Christians can honestly disagree.  It's rather refreshing.  Doesn't prevent the usual squabbles over color of the carpet, use of the gym for worship, or drums in the worship service, but I rather enjoy the chance to leave certain, umm, uncertain dogmas behind.

OK -- I'm not saying that these are my views.  I'm saying that there are some things that by reading only the Bible and by not having any other basis for determining doctrine, the Bible doesn't give a clear answer to the following:

 

Baptism (including mode of baptism, age a person must be prior to being baptized, and meaning of baptism);

The Lord's Supper/Holy Communion (is it simply a representation of Christ's Body and Blood, is Christ "present with, in, and under" the elements, do the bread and wine somehow actually turn into the Body and blood of Jesus Christ, etc...);

·        Monogamous Marriage;

·        Dancing;

·        Republic/Democracy as the preferred form of human government;

I could probably think of more, but I'll stop there for now.

 

Interesting article for a couple of reasons

REASON #1

I am currently teaching through Revelation 1 hour each week during our Sunday night services. Instead of teaching the popular pre-millenial/futurist view, I decided to teach all four views of Revelation (futurist, historicist, preterist, spiritualist). I've been SUPER surprised by the response of the congregation. While 99% of them started out as futurists like LaHaye, most of them now seem to like that view LEAST of all, preferring instead a combination of the preterist/spiritualist approach. They'd simply NEVER heard an alternative before!

 

REASON #2

I have thought a lot about what doctrines one MUST believe. I think the best answer comes from Scripture. What does Scripture say we MUST believe:

 

 

Those are the doctrinal MUSTS that I've encountered in Scripture. There may

be others, but those seem to be the essentials in God's book.

 

 

 

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