Which do you believe are more important? Which do you believe God thinks are more important?
I have some thoughts but will wait for others to respond.
Deeds or Creeds
Discussion in 'Other Christian Denominations' started by Rebel1, Dec 25, 2017.
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Charles Spurgeon, Nothing But Leaves:
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I also tend to agree that the two are not mutually exclusive...despite the fact some are prone to taking extreme positions that make it appear such. If the chief end of man is to glorify God then perhaps the answer to your question is that both are equally important to God.
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On top of that, it matters what one's creed is, and why one's deeds were done. The Pharisees had both deeds and creeds, yet Jesus called them sons of Satan.
These matters are complex. -
The following is my perspective, which has changed over the years. Theology is probably my greatest interest, so of course doctrines and beliefs are very important to me. And yet I have come to realize that actions are more important. I believe that how we treat others -- people, animals, the creation -- is what's most important to God. I base that on the emphasis on love presented in the NT. We can be wrong in our doctrine, but if we love, we have fulfilled the greatest commandment. -
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I do not write these things to shame you. I write them to admonish you to have a right view of God and His word. God wants us to believe right and act right. Right belief results in right actions and love is an action. To elevate one over the other is to display a serious misunderstanding of the word of God. James writes, "But prove yourself doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves" (Jas. 1:22). James is not saying that hearing is less than doing, he is saying do both.
Paul wrote to Timothy, "As I urged you upon my departure for Macedonia, remain on at Ephesus so that you may instruct certain men not to teach strange doctrines," (1 Tim. 1:3). Later on in the chapter, he tells Timothy, "This command I entrust to you, Timothy, my son, in accordance with the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you fight, the good fight, keeping faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith" (1 Tim. 1:18-19). Lastly, Paul issued a dire warning that we see has already come true in our world, "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance with their own desires, and will turn their ears away from the truth and will turn aside to myths" (2 Tim. 4:3). -
Charles Spurgeon, The Common Salvation:
"You shall take a high churchman who is a truly spiritual man—and there are such people—and you shall set him down side by side with the most rigid member of the Society of Friends and when they begin to talk of Jesus, of the work of the Holy Spirit in the soul and the desire of their hearts after God, you will hardly know which is which! The nearer we come to Him, who is the salvation of God, the more plainly we see that among the children of God the basis of agreement is far wider than the ground of division." -
Doctrine matters. -
You can't say, "I just love Jesus" without first answering at least a dozen questions, starting with, "who is Jesus?" -
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