Recently we've been reconsidering many of the things we thought we understood regarding doctrine and faith. We have begun to question certain beliefs, church structures, and practices of the western church. Too often we have discovered what we think are unbiblical doctrines and activities. This causes us concern. We have deemed this our “Rethink.”
Our questions include, how did we arrive at our doctrines? Does the Bible really teach what we think it teaches? Why do churches do what they do? What is the biblical basis of church leadership structure? Why do certain traditions get entrenched?
It's easy to be spoon fed the conventional wisdom, but it's an entirely separate thing to search these things out for one's self. In the past we have read the Bible with these unexamined understandings and interpreted what we read through those lenses. We were too lazy about our Bible study, assuming that pastors and theologians were telling us the truth, but we rarely checked it out for ourselves.
Therefore, these Rethinks are our attempt to remedy the situation.
We should note that there is more than one way to interpret doctrine, more than one way to think about the faith, and more than one way to read the Scriptures. We would not suggest that our way is the only way, or the right way; we are not Bible scholars. But we believe that one doesn't need to be in order to rightly divide the Word of God.
Introduction
There are some Christians who dedicate themselves to rooting out false teaching, calling themselves "discernment ministries." We call them the Doctrinal Police. They have exacting standards of doctrine, so any deviation is viewed as heresy. They are frequently abusive and sarcastic, while assiduously maintaining that they are loving. They also tend to assert that they know the eternal status of others, condemning various "false teachers" to perdition for a plethora of doctrinal offenses.
Because they are well-armed with their doctrine, they micro-examine the statements of various pastors and teachers, looking for signs of false teaching. If error is discovered, then the pastor, the church, the worship music it produces, and any person who has associated with them are deemed wolves. In other words, nothing good can proceed from the ministry of people who have different doctrines.
Is this the Biblical standard? No.
The Bible Standard
In Hebrews chapter 11 we find what has been fondly deemed the "hall of faith." The writer of Hebrews lists many personages from the OT who were commended for their faith. Among these are Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Samson, David, and Moses. What we do not find here are perfect men, with the possible exception of Abel, where no sin is mentioned, and Enoch, who walked with God (Ge. 5:24).
The ones commended for their faith were murderers, cowards and weaklings, adulterers, and liars. Some of these men were sinners of such a magnitude that it's a wonder they appear in Scripture at all. Yet there they are.
We do not know these men's doctrines. We don't know if they were Calvinists or Arminian, pre-trib or post trib, or allowed women to teach men. We have no record of their view on tithing or the aseity of God. We cannot tell their soteriology or if they believed in impassibility. We lack all this "important" information.
What we do know is they were flawed men with great faith:
He. 11:2 This is what the ancients were commended for.
Faith
There are at least two definitions of faith in the Bible:
He. 11:1 Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.
Ro. 4:21 [Abraham], being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.
Faith is pistis:
From peitho; persuasion, i.e. Credence; moral conviction (of religious truth, or the truthfulness of God or a religious teacher), especially reliance upon Christ for salvation; abstractly, constancy in such profession; by extension, the system of religious (Gospel) truth itself -- assurance, belief, believe, faith, fidelity.Faith is not simply believing. Faith takes us beyond believing something is true into the realm of forming a basis for living our lives. We can believe something is true, but reliance upon that belief as a central point for organizing one's life is where faith differs from belief.
He. 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please God...
Some Christians place a high value on the intellectual pursuit of doctrine. A church is determined to be excellent if the preaching is highly doctrinal. Emotionalism is dismissed. Worship is not the act but rather the processes and decorum of a Sunday service. Doctrinal perfection is the highest goal.
But these Christians don't seem to understand that not everyone is built for intellectual pursuit. The details of doctrines, the theological deep dives, the systematic theology, these are not everyone's cup of tea.
- Some Christians are just more inclined to center on emotion, not intellect. They tend to feel rather than analyze.
- Other Christians are doers rather than thinkers. They enter the situation with the idea of getting things done rather than figuring things out.
- Some Christians are less practical, they're dreamers. They love to imagine what things could be like.
The way these various Christians approach their faith is based on how they were made. But the common denominator is faith. We should not equate the fact that Christians have various ways of expressing their faith with heresy.
Faith and Holiness
One would think that faith would always be confirmed by holiness. That is, a person's behavior ought to reflect the faith he has. But that isn't always true, even though we tend to evaluate other Christians by their behavior. The problem in part is that every man is flawed, but we have categories of sin. Some sins are more serious than others. Adultery is worse than envy. Theft is worse than lying. Murder is worse than gluttony.
This means that certain sins are viewed as disqualifying, while others are not viewed as not as important for being a good Christian. Some sins are indicative of false teachers, while others are just part of life in this fallen world. Some sins are "damnable," but others are tolerable.
Faith and Doctrine
Does God require excellent doctrine as a measure of our faith? Does the Bible tell us what the things we believe are indicators of our faith? Are doctrines connected to salvation? Some would say that there are doctrines we must believe in order to be saved. But there is nothing in the Bible about doctrine being connected to salvation. Certainly there are things we must believe in order to be saved, but "things we must believe" is not the same thing as "doctrines we must believe."
A newly-saved person is doctrinally ignorant. He put his faith in God and God saved him. But he knows next to nothing about anything. All he knows is that God revealed Himself, and so he saw his sinfulness and knew he had to repent and believe.
Salvation precedes knowledge, which means knowledge is not an indicator of salvation. Which means that doctrine is not connected to salvation. A person can go through his entire life without knowing a single doctrine. That does not speak to his salvation.
So we know that faith is not about doctrine, which means that anyone in any church, cult, or false religion can be saved, in spite of the the false teaching that surrounds him. Doctrines do not save, Jesus saves by grace through faith (Ep. 2:8).
So although we can certainly evaluate and reject the doctrines of Catholics or Jehovah's witnesses for example, we cannot ascertain the salvation status of anyone simply because they're in one of these groups.
Bad Doctrine Equals Bad Fruit?
All this leads up to the crucial equation: Can a Christian be fruitful with bad doctrine and/or active sin? Yes and yes. It's not a good thing, but it is possible. God can and does move powerfully in and through any vessel. The quality of their doctrine and the holiness of their lives does not come to bear on God's purpose for them.
Kevin Prosch is a worship leader. At a church conference he pulled up a chair to the edge of the stage and told his story. He told of how he traveled with worship teams all over the country, putting on worship clinics and leading worship for conferences. His story was one of sordid sexual sin. He had women in each city, and at times would hop out of bed and go straight to the church to lead worship. Despite this, God would move powerfully.
He was honest about his past, and opened himself up to questions to conference attendees. Nowadays he keeps a close eye on his life, and has men with him who keep a close eye on him as well. So he has returned to ministry with appropriate checks and balances, having gained wisdom from his moral failures.
Despite his flaws, God used him.
Lonnie Frisbee has been in the news recently, mostly because of the recent movie "Jesus Revolution." A deeply flawed man, Frisbee's troubled life and homosexuality has been well-documented, and some have tried to use this to disqualify or explain away what God did through him. Further, he was also a charismatic, so both his doctrine and sinful life trumps everything in the eyes of some. God nevertheless used him to birth a movement, the effect of which reverberates down to present day. Many lives were changed, and many were saved.
Despite his flaws, God used him.
Todd Bentley is another distasteful character. He is yet another in a long line of failed pastors, evangelists, and revivalists. His flaws are well-documented. We frankly don't know if he really has had a come-to-Jesus moment since his fall. He seems to plow headlong into new ministries as if nothing happened. Has he truly repented? It doesn't seem so. Has he gotten his life together? It's doubtful.
Does that mean everything he did was fake? Does that mean no one got saved? Does his hucksterism means that God didn't move through him? No, no, and no.
Despite his flaws, God used him.
The Scripture Shows...
Why are we being charitable to these and others who have done much to sully the name of Christ? Because the Scriptures do the same. Think of the grievous sins committed by David. Murder and adultery. Consider the life of Samson, who apart from a single, final righteous deed, was a depraved mess. Gideon was a coward. Moses was a murderer. Jonah ran away, he hated Nineveh so badly. Paul was a murderer and a persecutor of the Church. Peter was two-faced. Balaam did not want to bless Israel.
The Bible is full of people who we would disqualify, yet God used them. We don't know why. They simply don't measure up according to our standards. They had bad doctrines and sinful lives. They lied and get rich. They deceived and God blessed them.
Just like today.
Should we not defend good doctrine? Yes, we should. Should we not lead careful, holy lives? Yes, we should. Should we not study the Scriptures and grow mature in faith? Yes, we should.
However, we should not think that a blessed ministry or a blessed pastor is holy or trustworthy. But we don't know what eternal benefits God might be bestowing through their ministry, so we should not put ourselves in the position of denigrating someone else's servant (Ro. 14:4).
Conclusion: Discernment
When one considers all the Scriptures regarding false teachers, wolves, and opposing those who bring another gospel, one will find that every single Scripture is in the context of the local church. There is no Scripture that grants a Discernment Minster permission to dissect the statements, practices, or beliefs of a pastor or church 1000 miles away.
We cannot mark and avoid someone (Ro. 16:17) we've never met. We cannot teach anyone not to blaspheme (1Ti. 1:20) if they don't even live in our city. In the final analysis, we simply don't have proximity or even enough information to pass judgment on such men.
We are to care for our own house, the church we go to, the men and women we see in the pews every Sunday. This is where discernment ministry is supposed to happen.
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