DOCTRINISM (Doctrinal Rigidity) by John N. Todd III, M. D. ( www.terrific-tabs.com ) Click HERE for Quick-Print format of this "tablet" on DOCTRINISM (This "tablet" interrelates closely with TRUTH; God's Truth (link) And: A SIGN for the front door of EVERY church (link) AND: Circumventing and Restricting God (link) AND: The OMNIPRESENCE of God (link) SEE also an antithetical position: Religious SYNCRETISM (link) Acts 17: 24 (NRSV) The God who made the world and everything in it, He who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by human hands, 25 nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything -- since He Himself gives to all mortals life and breath -- and all things..... 28 For 'In Him (God) we live and move, and have our being'; as even some of your own poets have said, 'For we too are His offspring.' 29 Since we are God's offspring, we ought NOT to think that The Deity is like gold, or silver, or stone.... an image formed by the art and imagination of mortals.    Which one of the world's countless "religious" doctrines is correct, and "true".... in the eyes of God? How do you and I know whether (or not) we are pleasing and satisfying God, in what we claim to believe. Are "the others" wrong -- those "others" who do not believe as we believe -- and are they therefore not satisfying God.... and are they hence omitted from the "benefits" that come with God's favor? Which one of the numerous rigid "religious" doctrines should you accept? Whom should you consult, for your "decision" -- your parents, your "church", your pastor or priest or rabbi or imam, your friends? Which of your several sincere and caring teachers and advisors should you "believe"? Should you study the great religions, and the great preachers of old -- and thereby try to "design" a system for yourself.... a "religion" that will help you to be spiritually comfortable -- and religiously correct? Or, should you just give up, and not seriously believe anything -- since you feel that you haven't been able to decipher the mind of God? Which way do you turn when humanly "wisdom" doesn't give you all the answers -- and when "pretend" belief and superstitious "hope" do not "make sense" to you.... and do not satisfy you? How can you ever be certain that you have committed yourself to the "correct" doctrine -- and to God's accepted church (link)? How do you know you have memorized and recited the correct creed? Suppose you have chosen wrong.... in the eyes of God? Does an "incorrect" earthly choice -- a "decision" that you thought you were making sincerely -- lead you to eternal damnation, and to separation from God? Will your "incorrect" choice mean that you will never enter into the favor of God, or that you will not ever be admitted into God's Kingdom (link).... because your humanly ignorance led you (or "allowed" you) to accept the "wrong church", and a "doctrine" that is unacceptable to God? I have been led to ask myself these questions, once again, because of recent worldly events (1/96); specifically, the hateful circumstances in what used to be "Yugoslavia".... and more specifically, the chronic war in what is now (January 1996) called "Bosnia-Herzegovina" -- a war between Croatia, "Serbia", and the Bosnian Muslims. In that war-ravaged area, where U. S. troops are now stationed, attempting to stop the chronic fighting between ethnic and religious groups, much of the controversy has to do with differences in "religious" beliefs between three dominant, rigidly doctrinal groups: the Roman-Catholic "Christians", the Orthodox-Catholic "Christians", and the Muslims. In addition, now, the largely-Protestant United States has interjected itself between those three east-European "religious" groups -- those "church-groups" that are willing to KILL each other, because of a variation in their sectarian beliefs. Furthermore, we must now also include the Jews, who have always hated the Muslims (the sons of Ishmael), and who are now called upon to help finance the war between these different, non-Jewish "doctrinal" groups. So now, in the Bosnian situation, we have at least five "religious" groups (Roman Catholics, Orthodox Catholics, Muslims, Protestants, and Jews).... each claiming to worship the "God of Abraham".... and each claiming to have the ultimate "truth" from God, and about God.... and each willing to maim or kill members of the other "doctrinal" groups -- all in the name of what each "doctrine" has dogmatically accepted to be the one-and-only genuine spiritual truth (which is, of course, each group's own perception of "truth" -- a set of beliefs that denies and excludes the spiritual understandings of all other doctrines). And in the United States.... try to count the number of "Christian" divisions.... each claiming a strangle-hold on ultimate theological reality -- and "truth" -- and "salvation". So.... what does God think about all this? Which "church" is "doctrinally" sound -- in the opinion of God? Who else's opinion matters..... that is, whose opinion other than that of God Almighty really makes a difference? Do we humans have anything at all to do with the "requirements" that God has laid-out for His people ("God's Doctrine")? Can we mortals mold or change God's expectations of His accepted individuals, according to our own worldly beliefs and understanding? Or is God immutable, and "responsive" only to His own counsel and wisdom? I don't have all the answers. Maybe you do! But.... it is my belief that the Almighty Creator of the Universe is bigger and wiser than any-and-all of these rigid, humanly doctrinal struggles.... this superstitious obstinacy -- and I believe that God's opinions and decisions ("God's Doctrine"; that is, the Gospel of God; see link) are not predicated on human notions and concoctions. That is to say, God's truth is truth, regardless of who believes... and regardless of who does not believe..... and regardless of doctrinal opinions, variations, claims, and decrees. God does NOT wait helplessly for humans to "accept" Him -- or to attempt to re-shape Him.... according to HUMAN design. (Or, as quoted at the top of this essay, from Acts 17: ..... "We ought not to think that The Deity is like gold, or silver, or stone -- an image formed by the art and imagination of mortals.") Consider the following references from God's Bible, concerning what we humans believe.... or are led to believe. Read these out loud -- so that you may "hear" the words of God: Isaiah 29: 13 (NRSV) The Lord said: Because these people draw near with their mouths and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their worship of me is a human commandment..... learned by rote; 14 so I will again do amazing things with this people, shocking and amazing. The wisdom of their wise shall perish.... and the discernment of the discerning shall be hidden. 2 Timothy 4: 3 (NRSV) For the time is coming when people will not put up with sound doctrine, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires, 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth -- and wander away to myths. Ephesians 4: 14 (NRSV) We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro, and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people's trickery -- by their craftiness in deceitful scheming. 1 Thessalonians 2: 3 (NRSV) For our appeal does not spring from deceit or impure motives or trickery, 4 but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the message of the gospel, even so we speak, not to please mortals, but to PLEASE GOD -- who tests our hearts. 5 As you know, and as God is our witness, we never came with words of flattery, or with a pretext for greed; 6 nor did we seek praise from mortals -- whether from you, or from others. Same (NEB) "We do not curry favor with men. We seek only the favor of God. We have never sought honor from men") Romans 1: 22 (KJV) Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, 23 And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man. John 1: 11 (NIV) He came to that which was His own, but His own did not receive Him. 12 Yet to all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God -- 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of HUMAN DECISION, or the will of the flesh -- but born of God. Romans 8: 7 (NIV) For this reason the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God's Law -- indeed, it cannot, 8 And, those who are in the flesh, cannot please God. 1 Corinthians 2: 12 (NRSV) Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit that is from God, so that we may understand the gifts bestowed on us by God. 13 And we speak of these things in words not taught by human wisdom, but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual things to those who are spiritual. 14 Those who are unspiritual do not receive the gifts of God's Spirit, for they are foolishness to them; and they are unable to understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. JAMES 4: 12 There is one Lawgiver and Judge who is able to save, and to destroy. So who, then, are you to judge your neighbor? In my understanding, the above scriptures state very clearly that our acceptance, by God, is not predicated on a human's "doctrine", or upon one's claimed "beliefs", or upon the recitation of a specific church's creed.... or upon an individual's "decision" or effort -- or upon the "will of the flesh". No, the choice -- the "decision".... belongs to God. We humans do not choose God. The sovereign Creator of all mankind designed each of His people according to His own plan.... for His own purpose. I say that whenever a "religion" or a church-doctrine claims to have deciphered the "one way" (the "only way") to be accepted by God.... then God Himself has been "by-passed", or circumvented. If God cannot "save" any individual He chooses to save.... regardless of that individual's church affiliation; and regardless of human approval or disapproval.... then God has effectively surrendered His sovereignty to human-beings. (Surely, no one believes that the restrictive doctrine of a church-of-men can supercede the will of God. See link Chosen by God.) (See also: Some call it "The Great Commission".) Another question for the reader: Are your spiritual beliefs the same now as they were 5 years ago?.... or 10 years ago? Is your doctrine as "fixed" as it was in your younger years.... based on what you were told, then, to believe? Are you not now less "frozen" in your spiritual conclusions? Don't you now "appraise" your understanding of life and spiritual matters with a more contemplative and "informed" attitude? Don't you now ask yourself more questions.... without depending on someone else to dictate their opinion of what your faith "should" be? Haven't you "evolved" in your understanding of God.... as you have aged, and studied, and prayed, and listened, and learned.... and as you have been led-along, by God, in God's own timing and mechanisms of enlightening you? If you are honest with yourself, I'll wager that you will agree that you have "matured" in your beliefs, and that superstitions have decreased; and that Santa-Clausian opinions have been revised. My understanding is that "religious" maturing is a lifelong process for each of God's people (link).... and always under God's own oversight, guidance.... and revelation. What do you say? I conclude that God claims or "accepts" those who satisfy Him -- according to God's criteria, and God's Doctrine -- for God's own reasons.... reasons that we humans cannot now fully know -- or understand. "It is all God's doing". Ultimately, all will agree.... the ONLY WAY to get to God, is through God.... not through a specific church, or by recitation of a creed, or because of a personal promise, or because of certain "deeds".... or because of "baptism". Repeating from above: JAMES 4: 12 There is one Lawgiver and Judge who is able to save, and to destroy. So who, then, are you to judge your neighbor?

"BAPTISTS hope to convert JEWS" The following essay, by John and Phyllis Todd, was printed in its entirety in "The Tuscaloosa News", in June 1996, in response to a lengthy Tuscaloosa News opinion-piece which stated that "The Baptists" wanted to "convert the Jews".... to Christianity. Click HERE for Easy-Print format of this essay We Methodists love the "Southern Baptists" -- but sometimes the zeal and fervor of the Baptists may seem, to us "outsiders", to be a bit "pushy". Last year, after their annual convention, the "Southern Baptists" adopted a resolution apologizing to the Black citizens of America for 200 years of mistreatment of Blacks -- presumably by American Baptists. Before that, in 1993, an article entitled "Baptists count the lost", appeared in a Birmingham newspaper. The gist of that article was that the Alabama Baptists had counted the "Christian" church-goers (the "saved") in Alabama, and subtracted that number from Alabama's total population -- and had come up with a huge number of Alabamians that the Baptists decided were "lost". At that time, many of us non-Baptist "believers" smiled at the smugness of a doctrinal church that would arrogate to itself the authority to decide, for God, who is "saved", and who is "lost" -- based on the Baptists' presumption that their interpretation of what God has allowed us humans to understand, is correct -- and the Baptists' belief that all other denominations and religions are wrong, in the sight of God..... and hence "lost", and excluded from God's favor. Now this: recent articles in the New York Times and in the Tuscaloosa News report that at the 1996 annual convention of Southern Baptists, a resolution was passed "calling for efforts to convert Jews to Christianity". The Baptist "domestic missionary agency has appointed a missionary to undertake such work." The plan, according to the article, is to "direct our energies and resources toward the proclamation of the Gospel -- to the Jews." Jewish spokespeople have responded predictably, with remarks like, "The Baptists should talk about a mission to the Christians, because it was in Christian Europe that the holocaust occurred." A rabbi speaking for the American Jewish Committee on interreligious affairs is quoted as saying, "Singling out Jews as a target for conversion is a great disservice to Christian-Jewish relations." My reason for writing this response is to pose a few questions for readers of the Tuscaloosa News, as follows: Is the Baptist "Christian" doctrinal variation correct, in the eyes of God? Are Baptists the only ones who are accurate in their interpretation of the Bible -- and the "truth" of God? If so, should the rest of us then conclude that, for example, the Roman Catholics are "left out"? What about the Presbyterians, the "Mormons", the "Eastern Orthodox" Church, the Church of Christ, or the "Assembly of God"? Are some of these church-groups "in" -- and the others "out? Is there a solitary doctrine that God accepts.... to the exclusion of all others? What about various alternative "Protestant" doctrines? Are those of the Arminian persuasion correct in their beliefs? If so, are the followers of Calvin, or Luther wrong.... and thus omitted from the salvation that comes from God (link)? The readers of this article, and I, may think that we know the answer to the next question, but I will ask it anyway: Are the Muslims, the world's largest "religious" group (who are also "children of Abraham", and whose mantra is "There is but one God") irretrievably "lost".... because they do not agree with the Baptists? Here's the big question: Who are we humans to decide whom God can accept, or "choose" -- and "save"? Do human-beings have the authority to force our earthly restrictive "religious" doctrines on other humans -- or on God? (See link, "Doctrinal Rigidity".) I am not a Jew, and I am not a Baptist, but I can understand Jewish disdain when a non-Jewish organization tells the Jews what "religious" beliefs they should accept. Turn the insult around -- suppose the Jews told the Baptists that the Baptists are wrong, and that they should accept Jewish beliefs, and rites, and ceremonies. Can you just imagine how the Baptists would respond ! Many God-fearing "spiritually-minded" individuals would declare that it is God alone who decides who is acceptable to Him, and who will enter the Kingdom of God -- irrespective of the divergent opinions of humans. As Jesus (God-Incarnate; God-the-Son) says in Luke 16: 15 (NIV) "You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of men.... but God knows your hearts. What is highly valued among men is detestable in God's sight." And from Paul, in Acts 17: 24 (NIV) "The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth, and does not live in temples built by human hands. 25 He is not served by human hands, as if He needed anything; because He himself gives all men life, and breath -- and everything else." James 4: 12 (NRSV) There is one Lawgiver and Judge -- who is able to save, and to destroy. So then, who are you to judge your neighbor? I can only hope that God has accepted me, just as He created me.... and, "Just as I Am". If God can't get me into Heaven without my being a Baptist, I've got a problem.