Category Archives: doctrine
How’s About a (Mostly) Free Course on Doctrine??? (2nd Notice)
Friends: I’ve written four books over the last few years that I believe are worthy of an online course. Here are those four books:
If a total of ten to twelve sign up for this online course, we will study the first book, DocTALK, together for ten Sunday nights. We will meet every other Sunday night for one hour on Zoom beginning on September 5.
Although most of us appreciate what we’ve paid something for, there is no charge for this course. If you wish to make a donation, that money will be sent to Christian workers in Ethiopia or Myanmar.
You may purchase a copy of DocTALK directly from me for $10 or on Amazon. If you and a friend together sign up for this course, I will send each of you a copy of DocTALK free.
If this first course is “successful,” I would consider moving on to the next book (DocWALK) for the next online course.
Interested? I need ten to twelve signed up and committed to do this online course by August 15th. To sign up or to ask questions, email me at theoprof@bellsouth.net. Or call me: 803-201-9745.
How’s About a (Mostly) Free Course on Doctrine???
Friends: I’ve written four books over the last few years that I believe are worthy of an online course. Here are those four books:
If a total of ten to twelve sign up for this online course, we will study the first book, DocTALK, together for ten Sunday nights. We will meet every other Sunday night for one hour on Zoom beginning on September 5.
Although most of us appreciate what we’ve paid something for, there is no charge for this course. If you wish to make a donation, that money will be sent to Christian workers in Ethiopia or Myanmar.
You may purchase a copy of DocTALK directly from me for $10 or on Amazon. If you and a friend together sign up for this course, I will send each of you a copy of DocTALK free.
If this first course is “successful,” I would consider moving on to the next book (DocWALK) for the next online course.
Interested? I need ten to twelve signed up and committed to do this online course by August 15th. To sign up or to ask questions, email me at theoprof@bellsouth.net. Or call me: 803-201-9745.
Know WHAT, WHY, and IF You Believe (A Course in Basic Doctrine): First Things First!
Friends: I am developing a survey of Bible doctrine course I’m calling “Know WHAT, WHY and IF You Believe.” Here’s my first class video (which is just over 11 minutes’ long). I would really appreciate any feedback you care to give me!
Know WHAT and WHY and IF You Believe (Introduction)
Friends: I am developing a survey of Bible doctrine course I’m calling “Know WHAT and WHY and IF You Believe.” Here’s my introductory video (just over four minutes’ long). I would really appreciate any feedback you care to give me!
Some Thoughts on the Book “What’s the Least I Can Believe and Still Be a Christian?” (Post #6) BAD PEOPLE WILL BE “LEFT BEHIND” AND THEN FRY IN HELL
The next chapter of the book by the United Methodist 
minister Martin Thielen (entitled What’s the Least I Can Believe and Still Be a Christian?) is entitled Bad People Will Be “Left Behind” and Then Fry in Hell. He subtitles this chapter “Left-behind rapture theology is neither a biblical nor a historical Christian belief and should be left behind by mainline and moderate evangelical Christians.”
In this chapter Thielen attacks two end-times’ doctrines: the doctrine of a secret rapture and the doctrine of eternal conscious punishment (ECP). He rejects the secret rapture doctrine, arguing it was invented by John Darby (I did my Ph.D. dissertation on Darby, and it’s difficult to prove that he “invented” it). I agree with Thielen that some who hold to the left-behind view have tended to not care about the environment or social issues. But that should not automatically eliminate the possibility that Jesus can return at any moment. There does seem to be some support in the Scriptures for the secret rapture view.
Concerning the fate of “the wicked” (those who die without faith in Christ), Thielen lists the three alternatives to ECP: universalism, after-death opportunities to repent, and annihilationism. I’ve examined each of these views extensively in my first book The Other Side of the Good News and find each lacks biblical support.
MY RESPONSE: Thielen says the ECP view is “fiercely debated” (but that’s also true with the doctrine of the Trinity, isn’t it?). He rejects the idea of eternal conscious punishment because it presents God as One who “ultimately loses” (if many are condemned) and that He is guilty of giving out “a highly disproportionate penalty.” If God’s ultimate goal is His own glory — and if human beings deserve God’s eternal wrath — then those who go to hell are evidence of man’s poor choice, not God’s poor planning. The disproportionate argument misses the point of the seriousness of sin against a holy God. Stealing from a stranger is bad. Robbing one’s mother is quite different. Rejecting the Son of God merits the worst possible punishment — banishment in hell separated from God and His redeemed people.
After examining the three “alternatives,” Thielen comes out as an agnostic about what will happen to the lost. Such agnosticism is not warranted by the Word of God. I appreciate the terror he felt as he watched the “Left Behind” movie as a teenager, but fear can sometimes lead people to trusting Christ! And suggesting that each of the three “alternatives” to hell have some biblical support and that we “simply have to trust God to do the right thing whatever that is” fails to take the Bible seriously.
Here’s one popular picture suggesting what might happen at the rapture.
How Important is DOCTRINE? (Time for a great cartoon)
The early church devoted itself to “the apostles’ teaching” (Acts 2:42). We need solid teaching — and we should pray for our spiritual leaders that they will feed us the nourishing truths of God’s Word!
Dorothy Sayers, a powerful defender of Christian doctrine, once wrote: “It is worse than useless for Christians to talk about the importance of Christian morality unless they are prepared to take their stand upon the fundamentals of Christian theology. It is a lie to say that dogma does not matter; it matters enormously. It is fatal to let people suppose that Christianity is only a mode of feeling; it is vitally necessary to insist that it is first and foremost a rational explanation of the universe.” See the excellent article entitled “How the Loss of Doctrine Makes Christianity Boring” found here.
Some Thoughts on the Book “What’s the Least I Can Believe and Still Be a Christian?” (Post #2) DOUBT!
In his book Martin Thielen, a United Methodist pastor, challenges us to give up certain beliefs which many Christians hold. Some beliefs ought to be jettisoned. Others, not so much.
The book is divided into two sections: Part 1 lists “Ten Things Christians Don’t Need to Believe” and Part 2 is entitled “Ten Things Christians Do Need to Believe.” Let’s think about the second belief Christians don’t need to believe.
2. Good Christians Don’t Doubt: Thielen subtitles this chapter “Doubt is not the enemy of faith but part of authentic Christianity.” Thielen talks about being “all prayed out,” meaning one begins to have doubts about God’s existence and care. He gives several examples, such as Abraham and Sarah praying for a son, Moses becoming frustrated in leading the people of Israel through the wilderness, Job in his sickness and loss, Jeremiah in his anger and anguish. [Thielen mentions the Apostle Paul’s praying for healing {presumably in 2 Cor. 12}, but feeling “prayed out” in not receiving his healing. I would disagree with this example].
Thielen says that “even Jesus felt all prayed out” (p. 10). Hmmm. Jesus’ prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane does reveal the Lord’s struggle with dying, but He concludes His prayer, “Not my will, but Yours, be done.” That doesn’t seem like being “prayed out” to me.
MY RESPONSE: I agree that some of the early Christians had to work
their way out of their doubts (“Doubting Thomas” is a classic example), but remaining in doubt certainly isn’t the answer for the disciple. Doubt, honestly faced, can lead to CONFIDENT FAITH or UNGODLY UNBELIEF. Perhaps my diagram will help a bit. Doubt can lead to one or the other.
But God doesn’t want us to stay in DOUBT. I appreciate Timothy Keller who challenges those still on the way to faith to “doubt their doubts”! The writer Frederick Buechner refers to doubt as “the ants in the pants of faith; [moments of doubt] keep it awake and moving.” (Frederick Buechner, Wishful Thinking). Alister McGrath states that “Doubt is probably a permanent feature of the Christian life. It’s like some kind of spiritual growing pain. Sometimes, it recedes into the background; at other times it comes to the fore, making its presence felt with a vengeance.” (Alister McGrath, The Sunnier Side of Doubt). The Christian writer Phillip Yancey confesses, “I have found that petty disappointments tend to accumulate over time, undermining my faith with a lava flow of doubt.” (Phillip Yancey, 
Disappointment with God, p. 23). I have found a lot of help here from Os Guinness’s book In Two Minds: The Dilemma of Doubt and How to Resolve It. As one reviewer says, “Doubt is an untenable position because it is to be in two minds, not choosing one position or another. But humans cannot live this way, claims Guinness. Eventually you have to make a choice.”
For me the issue often is, Do I choose to believe God — or myself (and
my doubts)? We need a godly conviction about the truths declared in God’s Word! Here, the famous statement by G.K. Chesterton is quite helpful. He writes: “But what we suffer from today is humility in the wrong place. Modesty has moved from the organ of ambition. Modesty has settled upon the organ of conviction; where it was never meant to be. A man was meant to be doubtful about himself, but undoubting about the truth; this has been exactly reversed. . . . We are on the road to producing a race of men too mentally modest to believe in the multiplication table.” (G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy, pp. 31-32).
Why Should We Believe Anything at All? (Part 4)
Friends: I’m looking forward to preaching at Cedarcroft Bible Chapel on January 27 and February 3. My topic will be —
Of course, we all believe many things! But when it comes to God and man and sin and forgiveness, of the four sources for one’s beliefs that are typical (REASON, EXPERIENCE, ECCLESIASTICAL TRADITION, and SUPERNATURAL REVELATION), we believe we should allow the Scriptures, God’s Holy Word, to be our final authority.
The doctrines of the Bible are typically divided into ten areas of study. Those ten areas are:
INTRODUCTORY MATTERS BIBLIOLOGY THEOLOGY PROPER CHRISTOLOGY PNEUMATOLOGY ANTHROPOLOGY HAMARTIOLOGY SOTERIOLOGY ECCLESIOLOGY and ESCHATOLOGY
We drew several conclusions about the first five areas of doctrine IF the Bible is true! Let’s think about the second set of five areas. If God’s Word, the Bible, is true (and I am allowing it to be my final authority in my life), then —
1. In the area of ANTHROPOLOGY (the doctrine of man), the Bible is right that man is of value, has been made in the image of God, and exists to glorify and serve His Creator!
2. In the area of HAMARTIOLOGY (the doctrine of sin), the Bible tells us the truth about man’s fall away from God. Temptation and sin are real. There are no small sins against a holy God. And all of us are in a lot of trouble with the God who is holy.
3. In the area of SOTERIOLOGY, the Bible teaches that God has done something about our sin. Free forgiveness is an act of God’s mercy because of Christ’s sacrifice of Himself on the cross to pay the debt of our sins. The one who repents and believes in Jesus begins the process of sanctification (becoming holy like the Lord).
“Want to join me in building my church?” (Jesus)
4. In the area of ECCLESIOLOGY, the church is the one thing that Jesus Himself is actively building! And I am to join Him in His building project. The Bible spells out the church’s mission, priorities, leadership, ordinances, discipline, gifts, and other issues that help it to be a light in the world!
5. Lastly, in the area of ESCHATOLOGY (the study of final things), the Bible says that God will wrap up history through several climatic events, judge all men (those “in Christ” and those “not in Christ”), and that Christ will rule for 1000 years on the earth. The Bible then teaches that all people will either live with God in the New Heavens and New Earth (if they are redeemed) or exist separated from Him forever in the Lake of Fire (if they are not redeemed).
So, why believe anything at all? We have 
every reason to believe all that the Bible tells us, for it alone is the Word of God! And its instructions are very specific — about the cruciality of faith, the character and works of God, the truth of God’s revelation to man, the Person of the Lord Jesus, the reality of the Holy Spirit, the value and nature of man, the problem of sin, the merciful provision of salvation, the importance of the church, and the specfics about the end of history!
Why Should We Believe Anything at All? (Part 3)
On Sunday January 27 and February 3 I will be preaching at Cedarcroft Bible Chapel in New Jersey. I want to do a two-part series entitled —
Of the four sources for one’s beliefs (REASON, EXPERIENCE, ECCLESIASTICAL TRADITION, and SUPERNATURAL REVELATION), we believe that the 66 books of the Bible ought to be our final authority for what we believe about God, man, sin, etc.
The following conclusions flow from such a commitment to God’s inspired Word, the Bible.
1. In terms of Introductory Matters, faith makes sense and is based on God’s Word.
2. Concerning Bibliology, we have every reason to believe that God has 
communicated truth about Himself to everyone (general revelation) and has given us His Word (Special Revelation). God is there — and He is not silent!
3. Concerning the area known as Theology Proper (the study of God), we can have confidence that the God of the Bible is real, displays certain attributes (love, justice, mercy, holiness, etc.), and is One with Whom we can have a personal relationship through Jesus Christ!
4. Regarding the area of Christology, we can study the Person and Work of the Lord Jesus, confident that He is both fully divine and fully human. As the saying goes, if He is not Lord of all, He is not Lord at all.
5. Concerning the doctrine of the Holy Spirit (Pneumatology), we can be certain that He is personal and fully divine, the Third Person of the Trinity. And the Holy Spirit works in believers (leading, filling, illuminating, convicting). He is One with Whom we can have an on-going relationship.
In summary — Why Believe Anything at All? The answer is — we already believe many things. Our job is to figure out why we believe certain things, submit ourselves to the final authority of the Scriptures, and REJOICE in the truths about reality which the Bible, God’s Word, gives us! Are you rejoicing this morning? (we will ask what conclusions follow in the second set of five doctrines in our next post)
Dr. Larry Dixon
larrydixon.wordpress.com 