“ONCE SAVED, ALWAYS . . . “

“Once saved, always . . . ”

That partial line is just one example of many (think of your own favorite), to illustrate the following point:

When we start with a man-worded statement of doctrine, we get people to listen and think about those words of man first—and then, both the theologian and the layman spend all their focus on defense of the doctrine, and they miss the Holy Spirit teaching the whole counsel of God.

Where the Bible seems to make statements on opposite sides of an issue, we do well to give attention and learn from all the verses, rather than trying to ‘make them fit’ our prepared doctrine statement (or explaining why they don’t ‘fit’).

I first started observing this 48 years ago, and recently began to understand this clearly.

I noticed then that the doctrine books started with a statement, which had to be explained, which in turn had to be defended and explained more, including elaborate lists and explanations of rejected interpretations.

This results in extreme polarization by church leadership as various doctrinal mindsets claim exclusive correct interpretations.

So, common lay people without the ‘expertise’ of the theologically educated, are left to blindly follow leaders who ‘seem’ to know it all because they ‘claim’ to know it all.

This repeated pattern through church history tends to draw people away from seriously studying the Bible for themselves—digging deep to find truth.

And, just maybe, we don’t have to force an explanation and create and defend a ‘position’ on every verse in the Bible, often just so we can be different and stand out.

 

Here is one, common, hazardous example of stating a position first and then using selected Bible verses that back it up, while avoiding other verses that don’t:

+Financial advice expecting a small percentage of Christians who have money beyond their needs, to develop and grow a portfolio for retirement—presented as though it should apply to all Christians.

Selected verses to back it up—“little by little wealth grows”—“the ant stores up food”—“safety in many counselors”

Verses avoided—“do not lay up treasures on earth”—“where your treasure is, your heart will be also”—“hard for a rich man to enter heaven”—“take no thought for tomorrow”—“your heavenly Father takes care of the birds and flowers, and you”

And, over 99% of all Christians cannot apply or remotely relate to the prevailing financial advice given to American Christians.