Is it appropriate to teach ‘Minor Doctrines do not affect Salvation’?
[ Disclaimer: This piece of article is not written with any
intention to hurt learned Christians or denominations.]
While I was doing research for my Position Paper, I became
so thoughtful with pain and anxiety that I had to write it down all things which
came up in my mind. In addition, remarking a special day today, let me try best
to relate with it at end as well.
Christianity has vast growing denominations today. According
to Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, there exist roughly 43,000 Christian
denominations worldwide in 2012. That is up from 500 in 1800 and 39,000 in 2008
and this number is expected to grow to 55,000 by 2025. Currently, they estimate
that a new Christian denomination is formed every 10.5 hours, or 2.3
denominations a day.[1]
‘Unity in Fundamentals, liberty in non-essentials, but
charity in all’ has been typically implied when it comes to disagreements in
case of Minor doctrines. It has been recent years I learned about all these
differences among denominations. I don’t know how much you know! But I cannot
stop myself from sharing this! The hostility among denominations is greater
threat than growing heresy and cults. The skepticism, agnosticism, exclusivism
and relativism lie within Christian circle today. Just forget about science,
philosophy and world religions. The more joy and happiness you will receive in
Christ, the more pain and tears you will also receive in issue of clashes among
denominations. The degree of trauma is greater than any illness you’ve ever
suffered or any failures you’ve ever suffered in exams time to time. The more
you learn to love your neighborhood as you love yourself under Jesus’ command
[Luke 10:27], the more you will began hating your own brothers and sisters in
Christ due to doctrinal differences and denominational afflictions.
Don’t believe me? If you’re from Pentecostal church, try
attending one service at Baptist or Reformed church. You shall then find tragic
differences. Just pick up a simple question such as ‘What the Bible says about
Dinosaurs?’, immediately you will find terrible arguments among your brothers
and sisters in Christ. Just try asking if your life is predetermined or you
have your own will, there will be a terrible environment with clashes on
Sovereignty vs Free will. Or, pick up the subject of Rapture, creation, etc.
The harmonious devotional environment shall immediately turn to Civil War. If
you haven’t faced it ever. You must taste this. Otherwise, your non-Christian neighborhoods
shall be in great confusion in case if they visit different churches.
Many Christians love to talk about context, exegesis[2] and hermeneutics[3] but these are not possible
for Minor doctrines[4]. Simply
check out for obvious context for Genesis 1-3 and 6. Go for it and taste yourself.
I bet you’ll have to take medicine. Moreover, when learned ones talk about
context, exegesis and hermeneutics, they already presuppose the criteria of
explanation as per their dominant doctrinal position. The interpretation is
based on their presupposed doctrinal stand of their mind. Theological dogmatism
then flows out like wildfire. Everyone thinks they are right and the other is
in error. Tug of war flourishes.
This is a serious reality today and my intention is not to
dissemble the ongoing miserable situation among denominations. Someday, we can
have a serious thought what to teach our growing children? Yeah, it is true
that people have differences of opinion. If the case is such, should not we
also clarify what we mean by ‘Inerrancy, infallibility and sufficiency of
scripture’? We are taught the scripture stands as Final authority in whatever
it speaks. The scripture is the only basis for everything (2 Timothy 3:16?).
This proclamation about the Bible is taken so seriously that many Christians
are led by Biblicism. For instance, in field of science, the evidence is pretty
obvious for billions of years old universe and earth. However, certain groups
of Christians remark it as unbiblical and argue strongly that the scripture
clearly says God created everything in 6 days about 6000 years ago.[5] Even in the early church
history, our great reformers like Martin Luther and John Calvin also did error
regarding science as they supported Geocentric view.[6] The root issue here is
about what does it mean for the scripture to be inerrant and infallible? Should
we not teach this clearly to our generation? Else our growing children will
obviously have questions like: How can the scripture say the Moon has light?
How can Joshua command the Sun to stop? The question goes on.
The case of Minor doctrines is not that simple to ignore by concluding
it doesn’t affect our faith. Why not? It affects more than any heresy and
cults! There are many topical issues where the scripture doesn’t explicitly or
implicitly give any particular solution. When we have a dogmatic stand and
exclusiveness in Minor doctrinal subjects then it is devastating than cults. The
tension lies here: What shall we teach our growing generation and how? Do we
want them growing their hatred towards others just on these matters? Please be
alert, doctrinal differences have also caused many to cut off friendship and
network with their friends. Christians have been involved in sarcastic work
against their brothers and sisters in Christ. Evangelism is less but
exclusivism and doctrinal clashes are growing more terrible. We cannot close
our eyes and turn our deaf ears towards this issue.
I wanted to share this since I’ve observed great misery
within Christian circle. I have network with many Christian friends from
various denominations and doctrinal positions. We stand up together
hand-in-hand when it comes to worship but we are divided like galaxies going
far from one another in the universe when we discuss theological subjects where
we differ. This situation might not be solved but we cannot let theological
dogmatism to have its dominion over us. It is essential for churches to teach
these issues. Don’t conceal anything. The more incompatible beauty we find in
Christ, we also find the greatest degree of sadness, trauma and stress due to
doctrinal differences.
Just as Paul emphasizes, Love [1 Cor. 13], unity and
tolerance [Eph. 4:1-3] are to be focused. Today, the hatred among denominations
can make future situation terrible. We might need theological openness on Minor
doctrines and theological dogmatism on Fundamentals. Realizing there is great
gulf, uncertainty, vagueness and scriptural silence even in many secondary theological
subjects, whatsoever positions we hold, we need to learn loving our brothers
and sisters to preserve our fellowship. Sometimes we need balanced take on controversies
without compromising Fundamentals of our faith.
We cannot say: Minor theological issues and doctrinal
subjects doesn’t affect our faith. It is terrible than heresy and cult. Maybe
theological openness can somehow bring harmony or maybe not. Despite of all
terrors, we need Love, Unity and Tolerance [Ephesians 4:2].
Thank you!
Note: Regarding the second paragraph, a recent (published on 5/30/2022) analytical video from Ready to Harvest channel has concluded that the vast numbers of Christian denominations such as 45,000 as a myth. The video has provided 4 reasons why we cannot consider such vast data of Christian denominations as accurate calculation. Link: Here!
[1] https://www.churchrelevance.com/2012/06/22/qa-list-of-christian-denominations-and-their-beliefs/,
11.21 am, 2/14/2022
[2] To
study what the text says rather imposing our own thoughts and understanding on
it i.e. Eisegesis
[3] A
method of interpreting the verses, chapters and books in the Bible.
[4] In
theology, Minor doctrines are any subjects apart from our Fundamentals of faith
that doesn’t affect our salvation nor they generate any heresy. In these subjects,
the Bible itself is usually not explicit or implicit about particular position,
information or instruction. They can lead to division, error in understanding
or difference in opinions among believers. However, holding a dogmatic
exclusiveness position on any side and trying to rule it creates great chaos
and major issue of concern at church. Visit my blog for more on this: https://apologeticsimpact.blogspot.com/2022/01/recommended-book-review-theological.html
[5] Go
to my blog: https://apologeticsimpact.blogspot.com/2021/07/creation-views-package.html,
12.38 pm, 2/14/2022
[6] https://biologos.org/personal-stories/why-im-reforming-my-views-on-evolution,
12.35 pm, 2/14/2022
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