What Christianity Is All About. How You Can Know and Enjoy God (1999) is a highly readable book of apologetics which talks about God, revelation, the Bible, Jesus, salvation, man, the Holy Spirit, the Church, Satan, and eschatology. The main thing I took from the book is the idea of categories of belief, which the author defines using biblical references. To quote the author, Alan Scholes, "The New Testament writers themselves held more than one category of belief. They held some beliefs as non-negotiable for all Christians, others as matters of individual conscience on which believers could have diversity of understanding without disunity, and other beliefs as solely matters of personal preference or style."
The three categories of belief outlined by Scholes are convictions, persuasions, and opinions. He gives several examples.
Convictions: the Trinity, the deity of Christ, and salvation by grace through faith.
Persuasions: millenial views, the age of the Earth, the exact nature of Heaven and Hell.
Opinions: the best Bible translation, the proper model for church government.
Holding every belief on a conviction level is divisive and unbiblical; it may even be idolatrous and heretical. Understanding that Christians may disagree on some subjects and still be recognized as legitimate Christians is one basis for Christian unity.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment