College. A time of "owning".
- Owning our choices
- Owning our future
- Owning our education
- Owning who we really are
And most importantly
-
Owning our beliefs
The problem is, you have to truly believe something AND know why you believe it before before you can truly own it.
Of course, you have to actually study the Bible in order to own and defend what you believe it says.
Ah. There's the rub.
Which brings me to a frustrating and disappointing trend I have noticed among my fellow college students. I like to call it the "The Gospel According to The Beatles" trend. It is also known as the "All You Need is Love" trend, which probably explains it a little better.
I was first introduced to this trend my freshman semester of college. Being enrolled at a Christian liberal arts college, known for its fine arts departments, I was expecting some "out there" theological standpoints among my peers. I was not, however, expecting the prevalence and intensity of this particular viewpoint.
Followers of this particular trend are easily recognizable. Simply bring up a theological discussion, and they will quickly reveal themselves. Normally, they will not even participate in discussions and/or disagreements involving doctrine. Sometimes, they may contribute one of these statements:
~ "Well, we all love the same Jesus, and that's all that really matters!"
~ "I'm sure that (insert controversial topic here) is just a grey area. I mean, if it was really a big deal to God, He would have made it more clear."
Or even
~ "Doctrine is detrimental to the church. It just divides us! As long as we all read the same Bible and love the same God, what difference does it make?"
Basically, there's a rather large population of "non-denominational" college students. They're not really Baptist, Presbyterian, or anything else [or, at least, they don't think they are], and they are quite adamant about it.
"So what?", you say? "They don't want to call themselves anything, and they're concerned about the unity of all Christians . . . I don't see a problem."
But you see, there is a problem. A rather large one . . .
Let's start from the beginning . . .
What makes different denominations different? No, it's not whether they have an organ or a worship team. It's not whether they have a youth group or not. It's not even simply whether they baptize infants or adults [though that is rather important]. All these outward workings of the church reflect the true difference between, and the reason for, the various denominations.
That difference is doctrine.
Doctrine. Theology. The basis for your system of belief or 'creed'. Whichever term you use, it is an essential, not some divisive thing that Presbyterians invented, as many seem to believe. Why is it essential? Well, to use the rather over-used saying, "If you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything."
Cliche, yes, I know. But still true.
Let's pretend for a moment that the followers of "The Beatles Gospel" are right. So, all we need is love, right? We all love the same God, and He loves us, and we are going to stand on that common ground and not let doctrinal disputes divide us. Alright, so . . . what about the Mormons? They love God, and Jesus is a saint, right? Or what about the Muslims? Maybe Allah is just their term for the same God? And who knows, maybe the atheists are partially right, and evolution is true! Maybe God used evolution to create the world!
"Woah, hold on!" you say. "This is a little extreme, don't you think?"
Well, yes, it certainly is. And most of the people I know who hold to "The Beatles Gospel" would never agree to any of that. But, you see, without doctrine, you have no reason to say that those other worldviews are wrong.
"Are you sure you're not just over-exaggerating?" you ask.
Yeah, I'm pretty sure.
Look at it this way . . .
[True] doctrine is not just something we add on to the Bible. It is directly taken from the Bible. Theological works such as The Apostles Creed, The Westminster Confession, The Westminster Catechisms [Yes, I am Presbyterian by the way, rather passionately so] - these are all just documents we use to summarize, organize, and make easily accessible the truth found in the Bible. God's Truth, I might add. They are landmarks that help us to measure our lives, sermons we hear, churches we attend, advice we receive, and temptations we face against the Truth, that we might not be led astray.
{Because, let's be honest - The Bible is a long and complex work, with ideas demonstrated and explained over the course many books, writers [there's only one Author], and even centuries. It is immensely helpful to have a resource that condenses and organizes all of that information, to make it easier to see how it all relates and fits together, i.e. "We believe such-and-such because of these verses and how they relates to these verses in this context, etc."}
So, if you don't study doctrine, also known as Biblical truth, then what do you have left to stand on? We all love God? Great, yes . . . but don't the Muslims love god? Or what about the people who worship the earth as divine? It's not the same God, you say? Really? What makes Him different? Wait. Stop there. If you are about to answer me, you are about to state your personal system of belief, your creed, what you believe about God. Ah, a creed, doctrine . . . wait, I've heard this before!
You see, there's something else I haven't told you yet. Everyone has a creed of some kind. If you believe anything about anything, you have a creed. You believe in God? Wonderful, so do I! What about Him? Ah, there's that creed again! Your system of beliefs. You can't escape it; everyone has one. So the question becomes not whether or not you need a 'creed', but whether or not the creed that you - consciously or unconsciously - follow is a sound one.
"Well fine," say you. "But you said that your doctrine is Biblical. How do you know that it is? And how can you imply that others are not?"
Ah, see . . . here we come to what I think is the heart of the matter for many followers of "the Beatles Gospel". To answer the question, I believe that Covenant Theology is Biblical because I've studied the Bible, held Covenant Theology up to it, and found it to be in line with what the Bible teaches. [When I say studied, I mean to the extent that I have been able to, being a fallible, young (20-ish, birthday soon) Christian who most definitely does not have all the answers.] But then, when you study the Bible and come to stand firmly in the belief that your doctrine is Biblical, what must you think about the other systems out there? Does the Bible change, or say multiple, contrary things? Of course not! But then, if you are Presbyterian, are the Baptists wrong? Nobody wants to say that they're right and another denomination is wrong.
Well, of course not! That's dogmatic!
Well, yes, it is a delicate issue. Does the argument over infant baptism mean that the opposing side is not saved? No, I don't think so. We are all at differing points in our Christian journey. God is constantly revealing Himself to us, and someone else may not yet have been confronted with the truth of a particular doctrinal point that you feel strongly about. But does that mean that we smooth things over and simply say, "It's ok; it doesn't really matter." Absolutely not! You can respectfully disagree and stand for what you believe is Truth without judging or condemning your fellow Christian.
I guess the difference for me is when I see someone truly seeking the truth and standing up for what they believe the truth to be, I greatly respect that. Sometimes, I think it's worse to not take a stance than to take a wrong one. But we are so indoctrinated by our politically correct, 'tolerant' culture . . .
It's no longer politically correct to say that something is wrong. Therefore, it is sadly no longer politically correct to say something is indisputably true.
So, now that we've come to the end of this ridiculously long blog post that took me a ridiculously long time to write, my plead is that you please, please not become a wishy-washy follower of "The Gospel According to the Beatles." They may have written some fantastic, timeless music, but their theology was most definitely questionable . . . at best.
Stand up for the Truth.
