Whatever happened to DOCTRINE in the Church?

I am just your average person in the pew, but love Jesus and believe that Christianity is the ONLY, one true "religion." I further believe that Christianity is very, very exclusive, rightly so, and causes discord and strife (rightly so).

Now, that being said, am I the only one out there that had just about lost hope with the average church and what you learn in those places? I had to search, and search to find a Church home where the teaching was based on the -- oh no, here comes the D word -- DOCTRINE taught by the Apostles and the Bible.

What I ran into was most churchs are heavily involved in the trendy psychobabble of the day. I'm sure most of you have heard it. Instead of talking about sin, repentance, hell,forgiveness etc, the pulpits are filled with prattle about self-esteem, I'm ok, you're ok, psychology, counseling, success, name it and claim it, oh no, I'm a "victim," etc.

People don't SIN anymore. They just make mistakes. My opinion is that all this has come about because DOCTRINE is not taught from, no not THUNDERED from the pulpits anymore. Maybe I'm wrong, but if I want to hear the latest trends of what the world thinks about life I can read the newspapers or the so-called "Christian" psychologists and counselors, or attend the majority of the churches.

When I go to church I want to hear about the basics of Christianity: Justification by Faith, faith, salvation, repentance, forgiveness, heaven, hell, sin, the Trinity, and all the other doctrines that the great men of God gave their lives for.

I don't know, maybe I'm living in the past and should be happy with a "feel-good", self-esteem, go along with that latest trend type of Christianity.

Anyone else feel the way I do? What are your thoughts?

God Bless
James2

[ December 05, 2001: Message edited by: JAMES2 ]

 

Thomas:
I'm very happy now. I finally found a church that is very sound in doctrine, teaches the fundamentals, and really feel at home with. But it took me along time to find it.

Praise God that you didn't have to go through that long search. I don't know what type of church you are in but I settled into an independent Baptist church. I love it.

I just find it really sad that so many of the churches are either off-base, teaching really watered-down type of theology or just plain in error.

Thanks for you thoughts. You too, ddavis.

 

Don and Brian:
Brian, thanks for the input. So you see what I mean. I don't mean to put down SBC's at all because I have been in the Southern Baptist Church most of my life. I was just expressing my frustration with some of the things being taught. I'm not saying ALL was wrong, but enough to make me uncomfortable.

I have now found a Reformed-Indedpendent Baptist Church that is so wonderful I can't WAIT to get to church, Sunday School, and on Monday nights they have something called the Trinity Bible Institute that meets for 3 hours. The whole course takes 12 years and covers a whole range of subjects. It is great!!!!

Don, what I found disturbing in some of the cases was a case where most of the elders, including the preacher belonged to the Mason's. I don't want to get into a debate about that because it has been gone over and over in another place. Just to say that I find, after talking to Mason's and reading their material, that they have their own false religion -- and it is a religion with it's own plan of salvation, etc.

Do you hear about the great doctrines of Justification by Faith taught from the pulpit? I did not, even tho that is a major doctrine of the Church. What I heard was a lot of secular psychobabble and a self-esteem philosophy instead of sin, hell, heaven, repentance, the Trinity the great Creeds (1689 Baptist Confesson for example), the salvation by grace alone, scripture alone, faith alone, the Sovereignity of God, and much more.

Now, Don, you may have lived in an area where that didn't happen to you, but I had a terrible time filtering through some of these mega-churches, and others, including Southern Baptist, who taught the Bible and could care less about the lastest trends of a fallen society.

Brian said he had the same problem and I have talked to alot of people that agree with me. I just brought up the subject to let people know that if they are having the same problems, not to give up. God will lead you to the right place. God is good and I am now in a church that I will never leave. If a person is not being fed spiritually in a particular place, then by all means leave it as soon as possible. Don't put up with less than God's best.

Don, you have a good idea about stating the basics. A place to start is with the Southern Baptist Confession of Faith found on their web site, or even going back further to the 1689 Baptist Confession. Their web site is: http://www.npbcwebsite.org/confession.html

The Southern Baptist web site for their confession of faith is:
http://www.utm.edu/martinarea/fbc/bfm.html

I said my church is a Reformed Baptist/Independent because they lean heavily to the Reformed tradition, but are not formally associated with them. They are technically Independent. Either way, I am hearing the pure gospel taught without compromise and I thank God for leading me to that diamond in the rough.

Everyone have a great day.
God Bless
James2

 

Katie:
I didn't say that I found wrong doctrine. I said I found a lack of sound teaching of doctrine. Please read my posts to Don and Brian. I'm in Colorado.
Have a great day

 

Chris:

Thanks for the GREAT websites!!!! May I suggest to any of you good people out there that you check these websites out.

James2

 

Ernie:
Well, thanks so much but I think I'll stay in that ugly state of Colorado (Boy, what a sacrifice). Actually, I like ND and SD. I like the wide open spaces. I bet the prices of houses are a little more reasonable also.

I lived in LA for 6 years and that was enough for me. But, thanks. I'll sacrifice myself and stay in the Rocky Mountains.
James2

 

Ernie:
I was in Los Angeles in the late 60's. Went to Long Beach State. I hated it, but had a good job and it took me 6 years to arrange a decent job back in Colorado Springs. I love Colorado although Colorado Springs is getting so big. Sometimes I actually look at ND so I can escape to a small city, but I have lived here for most of my life and my kids are here, so ........

The other thing is I have finally found a church I really like. It has terrific teaching and great people. It is small but it's the quality not the quanity that counts with me.

I remember one time getting caught in a snow storm on a major highway between Grand Rapids and Fargo. But I like the wide open spaces. I bet you have some pretty good churches there also.

Have a great day.
James2