When confronted with questions about your faith, are you able to articulate the basic foundational principles of Christianity? When listening to a message are you able to discern whether or not what is being taught is truth? Are you equipping your kids to be able to defend their faith? Can you?
Why are there hundreds of thousands {maybe millions} of people out there who identify themselves as bible-believing Christians, yet they say they don't believe in hell...satan...or that Jesus is the only way to heaven?
Is doctrine important?
Right now, the cool thing to preach about is love..it is all about love. Jesus said the most important commandments are to love God and love your neighbor...it is all about love.
But, how do we love God? love our neighbor?
By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. 1 John 5:2-3
His commandments reach beyond the big 10. We have to know His commandments in order to obey them. We have to believe in His teachings and know what we believe in order to be compelled to obey.
Christian doctrine is defined as a set of beliefs based on the teachings in the bible including such things as creation, the Trinity, spiritual gifts, heaven and hell, God's sovereignty, free will, etc.
I am not talking about denominational doctrine. I am talking about the doctrine of Christ's teaching.
According to God, Christ's doctrine is more than just a little bit important.
Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house nor greet him; for he who greets him shares in his evil deeds. 2 John 9-11
Before a few years ago, I hadn't considered the importance of knowing bible doctrine. When faced with questions about my faith, most of my answers were based on my experiences, my testimony. While I believe that is a good place to start and can be very emotionally compelling, it doesn't hold up as proof positive that God is real...who He says He is...and the only Way. It falls flat in the face of tough questions. I have to know what I believe and be able to articulate it. And..we have to be able to teach our kids what we believe in order to equip them to be able to defend the faith and fulfill the great commission.
The great commission is to "go and make disciples of every nation, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything He has commanded. It isn't just about being nice to people, sharing our testimony and getting people to join our "Christian club." If we leave out the teaching part, how are we to make disciples? We are just making nice people.
Doctrine is important.
The word of God is the most important thing we can teach ourselves, our children, and our neighbors.
Why did God make me? To love, serve and obey Him.
Maybe at the time, he was just memorizing catechism questions and answers not really understanding what they meant, but when faced with a real life tough decision, he recalled this simple Q & A and it had meaning...powerful meaning for this major life decision.
I always associated catechism with the being something only the Catholic church emphasized and I kind of thought it was dry, pointless, memorization with no connection to the heart. Until...I started studying the early childhood developmental stages again when choosing curriculum for my own kids.
Children who memorize anything, {whether it is scripture they can't comprehend yet, a foreign language they don't yet speak, math facts with no conceptual background, or lyrics to songs,} are much more likely to associate or connect meaning to experiences as they occur because they have this previous foundational framework and information floating around in their mind. A light bulb flashes on in their brain because it was already plugged in and ready to use, unlike the child who has never memorized an answer before the concept is presented. It isn't that individuals cannot learn through experience, but those who have a foundation pick up concepts so much quicker. There have been so many times as an adult that I have had an experience that made a scripture I have memorized come to life for the very first time. Had I not known the scripture to begin with, there would have been no connection to make. The experience would have had no impact.
A foreign language teacher and master linguist once told me that allowing babies and toddlers to watch movies in French or Spanish (without translating) provides what is called scaffolding in their brain so that when they are taught the language as they get older it will come much more naturally to them.
It is the same with scripture...with doctrine. Many people are against teaching their kids to memorize anything related to the bible because they are afraid it will be dry or turn them away from God because it is just boring repetition. {well, that all depends on the spirit in which it is taught} Denying them the opportunity to build that scaffolding as a child is doing them a huge disservice.
We have 2 books we love that teach biblical doctrine to kids. They have been packed away for a while, so I hadn't used them as much as I had originally planned, but we got them out a few weeks ago and dusted them off to start reading to the kids. The first one is Big Truths for Little Kids by Susan Hunt and it is catechism lessons with a story relating to what is being taught throughout. A few days a week during lunch, I ask the kids a handful of questions and have them recite the answers back to me. We discuss the meaning behind what is being memorized and have a lot of fun racing to see who can answer first. The second one is Big Truths for Young Hearts by Bruce A. Ware, and it is a much more in depth look at all of the foundational truths of our faith. I have learned a lot from this book right along with the kids. I'd highly recommend both books to parents who take discipling their children seriously.
