Post
by jriccitelli » Thu Feb 09, 2012 9:08 am
Each theologian may have his own canon of theological firsts, and I know some will disagree with me also, but I feel God gave us 'His' firsts in Genesis. And I think many of our major doctrines are founded in Genesis 1-6 (1-6 also includes marriage, grace, the fall, the test, the curse, the answer, the serpent, the answer to why there is suffering, and more).
(I feel that teaching a foundation is more important than getting someone to accept a creed (Or a statement of faith) that they may know nothing about. That’s why I always seem to have to 'go back' to the following first 3 doctrines with someone before I go any further, although I spend most my time on numbers 5 and 11, below)
The following would be my list of primary / foundational Doctrines;
1. That God exists. That He is the only One. That other gods are false. That He is real, thinking and knowable. That He is 'all knowing' as 'witnessed to' by the fantastic design and phenomenon of 'Creation'.
2. That He is our Creator. That humans are created by God, along with everything else. (Although some Christians seem to be able to believe in Evolution, this is one 'huge' crack in their foundation)
3. That God has not kept silent. It is necessary that we 'believe' He has given us His 'Word', and that it is 'truth'.
(So it is that without establishing Gods Word as His, all of the following doctrines fall, or fail, having no foundation)
4. That we are not God, nor are we like Him. We are 'created' by Him; beings made only in His 'image'.
(You would think this is obvious, but Christians have 'also' been embracing the eastern thought of men becoming like gods)
5. That we are sinners, even the best of us sin (And that self'-improvement is not the answer).
6. That sin is destructive. That sin matters a lot to God. That sin is no small matter, and that sin is the reason we experience death. Death is a reality, because sin is a reality.
7. That there is a penalty beyond death for sin. That we should have a fear of God, and of Judgment day. Which means punishment (Because; see #5), for what is judgment without penalty or reward.
8. That there was a payment for sin; The Cross, His Atonement, His Sacrifice.
9. That we must Repent, and turn to God. That repentance must be sincere, for God is not mocked.
10. This Jesus was not just a man, but was also the Son of God (Or, God the Son).
I agree that maybe you don’t have to 'comprehend' His Deity, but it is of ultimate importance to know he was 'Gods' favored, provided, pleasing, promised, anointed, and 'only' offering for our sins. Jesus did say that you 'must'; "believe that I Am He" (John 8:24, 58).
11. That we are not saved by works, but we are saved by Grace.
That it is not by works that we are made righteous, but it is by faith that we are pleasing to God. And by faith it means to Believe and to Trust God, and His Word. And yet, works are the purpose and evidence of faith.
12. That there is a Hell, and a second death. The alternative to this reality would be that there needs to be a second birth, there needs to be a new life in Christ, a new heart and a new Spirit.
13. The doctrines of Heaven and Angels, and things to come are all of relatively equal importance but it seems that they mean nothing if the aforementioned are not established first. This is the case if we focus on salvation as foremost instead of peripherals. It seems we need to see a change of heart, before we see a change in behavior.
Millennialism, Nephilim, What color the church carpet should be, the length of men's hair and women's skirts, what style of music in church, these are essentially the most common church debates, but you can decide their order of importance.
Last edited by
jriccitelli on Fri Feb 10, 2012 9:49 am, edited 1 time in total.