Opinion

We hear very often those in the leadership in the church say that they are in full agreement on the idea of the authority of scripture, and they say that certain behaviors don't violate "core" or credal doctrine.

 

Those are nice high sounding phrases but what do the people using those high sounding phrases actually mean by them? So long as people don't clearly and unambiguously define the phrases and we all put our own meaning to them, then everybody is fine thinking that the other one is seeing it the way you do or more nefariously wanting people to think they are meaning what they mean.

 

I find that a lot of people use those phrases to give the argument more validity then they actually have. Once you start putting flesh on the bones of those phrases, people start getting their hackles up.

 

They don't want them defined, for once they are defined they must defend their position on what the phrases actually means.

 

Personally I feel that this particular argument is a symptom of a problem that is a lot deeper and a lot more serious, one that is eating at the foundation of the church.

 

If we really start looking at the core or credal doctrine and explore what is meant by authority of scripture, virgin birth, bodily resurrection, divinity of Jesus, sin and redemption, etc., you would see where people really are in what they believe.

 

A proper evaluation of the basics of Christian faith is essential in building a healthy faith. If we get some of these basics wrong we can have our whole world view skewed resulting in a different gospel from what was preached by the Apostles, more of a social gospel, not a saving Gospel.

 

We know what Paul said to the churches in Galatia "But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed." Paul thought that he repeated it again to the Corinthians (2 Cor. 11:3-4).

 

I listen to people in the church preaching and teaching about the gospel and about Jesus, I have to wonder, what is this gospel and who the heck is this Jesus character they are proclaiming? What they preach is not the Gospel and the Jesus one finds in the pages of the Bible but another gospel and another Jesus.

 

Someone said in a commentary, "If there are parishes and dioceses that cannot accept the full inclusiveness of diverse sexualities, let them go."

 

Who are the ones doing the leaving, those departing from the faith once handed down from the Apostles or the ones still abiding in the faith once handed down?