WE MUST STOP TRYING TO EARN OUR WAY INTO A CLOSE WALK WITH CHRIST (ie Sanctification). By living this way we are acting as if Christ death DID NOT MATTER.

Gal 2:21 “I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly.”

So lets ask ourselves some questions:

• If you make a resolution & or vow with God, what are you trusting in?
• If you commit to a spiritual discipline, and vow to hold to it, what are you trusting in?

Some Principles

• There is nothing we can do or devote to Christ to help us grow spiritually.
• There is nothing we can do or devote to Christ to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

What is essential to a Spirit-Filled devotional walk? Not I, but Christ, simply resting and abiding in His work and grace.

Note, today many churches have names that may be in this list and may believe something completely different regarding sign gifts, but this would reflect the average church under the listed names.

Hard-Cessationist
Supernatural gifts (such as healing, tongues, prophecy) were only active in the early church, for the purpose of authoritating the message of the apostles and have completely ceased from purpose of use today. They should not be practice and cannot happen in todays age.

Traditions: Very few mainline churches. Some conservative independent fundamentalist churches.

People: Some would say John MacArthur, though I don’t know if he would be this hard any more.

Soft-Cessationist

Supernatural gifts (e.g., tongues and prophecy, healing) functioned only in the early church for specific purposes of authenticating the apostles’ message, and ceased as the church became founded and the apostles died out. A soft cessationist would believe that these gifts have ceased in the sense of a person being “gifted” with it, and would not encourage their use, however a soft-cessationist would realize that God is sovereign and could so choose to have a person excercise a supernatural phenomena such as tongues or healing if he so willed. However this would be considered a miracle, not the norm, and a soft-cessationist would not expect or promote such gifts.

Traditions: Many Southern Baptists, Fellowship Baptists,  Brethren, Reformed Churches, and many conservative Evangelical churches.

People: James MacDonald, John Piper, Mark Driscoll

Charismatic (Continuationist)

Supernatural gifts are available to people today, and can be practiced so long as they follow the guidelines in scripture. Many Charismatic churches might simply be open to it, or not take a stand on it but would not practice them at all or downplay their importance, and some might encourage individuals to see if they possess the gifts.

Traditions: Church of God (Anderson, IN), Missionary Alliance Church, Church of the Nazarene, often many “Full Gospel” churches, Word of Faith, some Lutherans, some Anglicans, some Baptists, many Wesleyan churches, some Reformed churches.

People: Wayne Grudem, J.P. Moreland

Charismaniac (Continuationist)

Supernatural gifts are available to every generation and all people. Contemporary revelations are, in effect, equal to Scripture, and should be encouraged/promoted.

Traditions: no mainline traditions, some independant pentecostal churches.

People: Benny Hinn, Kathryn Kuhlman?

Pentecostal (Continuationist)

Essentially the same as the charismatic position, but as a proof of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, a Christian WILL speak in tongues, just as the believers did in Acts 2. Tongues are NOT necessary for salvation, but they WILL result. Some Pentecostals might not hold to the requirement of tongues after salvation, but most do. The line between pentecostal and charismatic is often blurred, but all pentecostal churches are charismatic, not all charismatic churches are pentecostal.

Traditions: Pentecostal Churches, Vineyard Church, Open Bible Churches, many “Gospel Temples/Tabernacles”, some Wesleyan “Holiness” Churches, Church of God in Christ, Hillsong Church

People: Rex Humgard, George Jeffreys, William Seymore

For more information & research see bible.org.

“Paying attention to those who disagree with us and taking them seriously, even if we’re pretty sure we’ll still disagree, is part of what it means to be in the body of Christ. It’s humbling; it sanctifies. It will make us better husbands and wives. It will make us better Christians…”

Biblically, should we apply this in our interaction & discussion with believers from denominations with which we may disagree on issues we deem important? What about in our conversation with other religions, skeptics, or cultic “christian” groups?

- Was the baptism of John from heaven or from men? (see Mark 1:4-5)

The leaders begin to reason with themselves on whether they should say from heaven or from men. If they said it was from heaven then they would be guilty of not believing John, if they said it was from men then the people of Israel would have been angered as they believed John to be a prophet.

Instead they replied “We do not know” and officially took no stand.

Does this look like many churches today?

Officially not taking a stand on something scripture is clear about because it will make them unpopular, or perhaps it will offend members, or other believers. I am not just talking about doctrines essential to Salvation, but doctrines which are very important to the spiritual growth of a believer, and important in regards to following God’s Word.

If I can quote from James Gibbons’ post at Theologica: “21st Century Church—committed to doctrine-free living. I would rather know what we believe and agree to disagree than happily go along agreeing not to know what we believe.”

Psalm 119:160 says “the sum of Thy Word is truth, and every one of Thy ordinances is everlasting.”

Let us take a stand for the truth in love.

Theology is the study of God. God has revealed Himself in two ways: Generally (through nature/creation), and specifically (through His Word the Bible). Theology generally focuses on his specific revelation, the Bible as it specifically reveals to us information about Him, and His plan for mankind, which ultimately is to glorify Himself.

I like theology…

I really enjoy learning about God through His written Word, and studying it to find out more about Him, and the nature of His saving grace! Therefore I really enjoy studying His Word and the doctrine contained within it, because the more I learn about Him, the more I learn about myself and how undeserving I am of what He did for me.

Importance of Theology

I believe that it is important for every believer to study God’s Word and know & speak sound doctrine (Titus 2:1) and be able to quickly identify false teaching. (2 Cor. 11:1-4, 13-15).

I believe it is important to be able to not only give a reason of the hope that lives in you, but be able to give a defense of it (1 Peter 3:15, Phil 1:7, Titus 1:9).

I believe it is important to accurately apply scripture, and accurately challenge & teach others (2 Tim 2:2, 2:15, 4:2)

It enables me to analyze my heart’s spiritual emotions and personal experiences and see if they are based on truth. (Jer. 17:9)

so that I might glorify God in every area of my life.

Essential vs. Non-essential
I love learning about all different aspects & viewpoints of doctrine and theology, however it is true that some doctrines are essential (ie. Diety of Christ, depravity of man, salvation by grace through faith, etc…) and some are less essential, or non-essentials (Are the Nephelim an evil race of man-angel children? Were we physically present with Adam when he sinned, or did he represent man in the “original sin”?).

The ratio of essentials to non-essentials varies in all denominations, from the Fundamentalists, some of whom place most doctrines as absolutely essential, and take a stand on everything, to the Emergents who loosely hold to a few core doctrines, but let all else slide since “who can know truth?”…and even as far as the Liberals who hold to virtually nothing.

The core-doctrines essential to Christianity are known as “orthodox truths” and are held to by the majority of denominations.

Sound Doctrine divides, it always will. It is my goal through studying God’s Word to glorify Him, and therefore divide on certain issues relation to God’s holiness, scriptural reliability, salvation, and following commands found in His Word.
Read this great article looking at the relationship between Fundamentalism & Liberalism.

Sincere Godly Christians, Different Viewpoints
So how can I come to a conclusion on true doctrine within the Bible when there are so many “godly” christians who have very different opinions on different doctrines (ie election, women in leadership, etc..) and seem firmly convicted of their position as truth?

Well it all starts at how you interpret scripture. Therefore the foundation to studying Theology is your hermeneutics, your method of interpreting scripture, so that you may properly exegete, or “get out” an interpretation of the text.

Therefore foundational in your study of Theology is Bibliology, or the study of the bible, and consequently your hermeneutics. How you interpret the Bible will lead to you settling on different conclusions on doctrines.

Personal Note: I really like discussing theology, different viewpoints, and ideas, but on non-essential issues I really don’t want to argue! I may have an opinion on certain non-essential issues, and enjoy discussing them, but they are NON-essential! I discussing non-essential things can be healthy and fun, but it should not divide.

I believe we should divide on essential and important truths, but that being said I fully acknowledge that many people I believe to be seriously inaccurate in their interpretation of scripture are just as much saved as I am! What is scary is that people who may be accurate in their interpretation of scripture have missed the application and may not be saved at all!

I simply pray that all I do & say will glorify my Father in heaven.