Which Parts of the Bible Does Your Doctrine Make Invisible?

Written by Tony Cooke

I was recently pondering all of the conflicting views that Christians have about a wide variety of doctrinal issues. While I believe that unity regarding the essentials of faith is...well, essential, it never ceases to amaze me how many become hyper-rigid over doctrinal positions that the Bible doesn’t really seem to be all that rigid about. 

Since the first time I heard Blaise Pascal quoted, I have appreciated his statement, “In essentials, unity. In non-essentials, liberty. And in all things, charity.” Of course, such wisdom is quite different than the attitude I had following a wonderful encounter with the Lord back in 1977. Possessing more zeal than wisdom, I was eager to not only defend my new-found beliefs, but also to correct anyone who disagreed with me and to convince them just how right I was.

Your Salvation Is Secure

“Lead me not into temptation; I can find the way myself.” —Church marquee

“Forbidden fruit creates many jams.” —Church marquee

Hundreds of years ago, one of the great church fathers, Martin Luther, patterned his whole day around ensuring that he didn’t sin. He was terrified that if he sinned, he would lose his salvation. Every evening he’d wrack his brain, trying to remember if he did something, said something, or thought something sinful.

Have you ever done that? It’s pretty miserable just to think about, isn’t it? If you believe that by sinning you can lose your salvation, tons of questions come up. How many sins do you have to commit to get booted out of the family? Or is it qualitative? Is there a “badness scale” of sin on which we can rate ourselves? Where is murder? Rape? Suicide? Adultery? Child abuse? Lust? Stealing? What about laziness or procrastination? How do we know if something is really a sin or not?