Wednesday 4 November 2009

5 deeply de-Christian doctrines

I received the tag from Gary- List 5 doctrines that are taught within the Christian church that you believe to be deeply de-Christian.

Like Gary I'm going to interpret "within" as not necessarily meaning "throughout" so this only applies to some churches; (nevertheless I have heard it said...) And I'm going to re-interpret this to describe practices I have witnessed and teaching I have heard, rather than universally accepted doctrine (is there such a thing?)

So I am going to list:

1. Individualism. The idea that having achieved personal salvation we can then remain unchanged and somehow become separated from society. So we can trash the planet, watch people suffering and be concerned about the state of their souls without ever concerning ourselves with their need for clean water, food, dignified work, safety and a home. When did our confession become a purely personal statement of failure?
2. The 'great commission' as the only statement of God's mission, and Jesus' only instruction to us.
3. Fuzzy generic spiritual 'continuity' in place of the Resurrection of the Dead and the Life Everlasting. (How's that for nailing colours to the mast?). Your loved one is not in the next room, nor is your loved one twinkling in the sky at night, or blowing through the leaves of the tree outside your door - at least I don't think so. Sorry.
4. That God is exclusively male.
5. I'm going to pass on 5 - there are rather a lot of minor teeth-grinding moments in our worship services and many of these are to do with my character rather than my theology, so I won't propound them as doctrine ;-)

Can't think of anyone to tag who hasn't already been tagged so will watch with interest.

2 comments:

  1. Number 3's very un-liberal...

    "I'm only in the next room" is quite reasonable if they're on the mantelpiece, mind. More common these days.

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  2. Twinkling in the sky could be temporarily true if the firework option is chosen too.

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