Doctrinal Arguments

By Fred Pruitt

I wrote the letter below to a group of young believers with whom I had been in contact for a while. They had started out all together, but trouble arose over “doctrines,” and this is my reaction to their situation.

Dear __________,

Years ago, in the mid-70s, the ministry I was in had a show on a cable TV station. I was the director, and we did some pretty good gospel shows back then.

One particular afternoon, we brought our crew down to the station to tape a show. There was another group in the studio at the time, a group of Mormons, there to do a show of their own.

While some of them were in the studio on camera, a number of us (about 10 or so) had to stand out in the hall to wait for them to finish. Standing with us were the Mormons who were not in their show. So, while we were waiting, a conversation between our two groups started up.

Now, all of us were very young, both physically and spiritually, be we were ON FIRE, and firmly convinced of our rightness in doctrine and faith. So were the Mormons.

The conversation started kind of peaceably, but what followed, all in front of the whole crew of TV station people, office staff, etc., was one of the most horrendous violent arguments you’ve ever heard in your life. The Mormons were yelling at us, out in the hall outside the studio, and we were yelling at them. We were each of telling the others how wrong they were, how deceived, how each was going to hell, etc.,etc.

Not only was it NOT a pretty sight, it was done in front of those to whom we were called to minister, i.e., the “unbelievers.”

It was AWFUL! And of course, nobody proved anything to anybody or changed anyone’s mind. To the staff of the TV studio, what they witnessed probably just cemented them in their already prejudiced minds about “religious” people. To them, we were arguing about stuff that they couldn’t relate to at all. Definitions, doctrine, theology, Christology, etc.

But hey, we felt justified, because we REALLY TOLD those Mormons! We told ‘em like it was!

And believe me, that is not the only time I have been involved in something like that.

Now pay attention to these words, written by a man named Sebastian Castellio, for a time of protégé of John Calvin, though Calvin repudiated him when Castellio didn’t agree with him on certain points. He was writing to a “Royal” person of his time.

“If thou, illustrious prince, had informed thy subjects that thou wert coming to visit them at an unnamed time and had requested them to be prepared in white garments to meet thee on thy coming; what wouldst thou do, if, on arrival, thou shouldst find that instead of robing themselves in white they had occupied themselves in violent debate about thy person – some insisting thou wert in France, others that thou wert in Spain; some declaring that thou wouldst come on horseback, others that thou would come by chariot; some holding that thou would some with great pomp, others that thou would come without train or following? And what especially wouldst thou say if they debated not only with words but with blows of fist and strokes of sword, and if some succeeded in killing and destroying others who differed from them? ‘He will come on horseback.’ ‘No, he won’t; he will come by chariot.’ ‘You lie.’ ‘No, I do not; you are the liar.’ ‘Take that’ – a blow with the fist. ‘You take that’ – a sword thrust through the body. O Prince, what would you think of such citizens? Christ asked us to put on the white robes of a pure and holy life, but what occupies our thoughts? We dispute not only the way to Christ, but of His revelation to God the Father, of the Trinity, of predestination, of free will, of the nature of God, of angels, of the condition of the soul after death, of a multitude of matters that are not essential for salvation, and matters, in fact, which can never be known until our hearts are pure, for they are things which must be spiritually perceived.”

I could go on, but I’m going to get right to the point.

I am really more and more grieved in the Spirit about this that I hear of your accusations toward others and refusal to fellowship with some because you accuse them of heresy and false doctrine. This is grieving me to the depths.

Now, brethren, I don’t agree with everything you’ve said or written to me over the past few months. I would imagine you don’t agree with everything I have said or written as well. Neither do I necessarily agree with everything those “others” say and write to me. What does it matter? Which of us has ascended to heaven and has completely seen the fullness with our own eyes?

Have you? Have I? Have those others?

I see through a glass, darkly. That means I have a dim image of things. I see something, and to the best of my ability I describe it, but I cannot say I see absolutely clearly with no impediments every single aspect of the Truth. What about you?

Lately some of us have been accused by some others of teaching “universal salvation” or “ultimate reconciliation,” terms which mean that everyone will ultimately be delivered from the wrath of God. Some have even withdrawn fellowship with us because they believe we teach it.

The charge is untrue, but nevertheless that is how some have interpreted us, and therefore they go with their interpretation and now in their minds we are in “false doctrine” and they shun us.

Likewise we have been accused of saying that it is not possible for Christians to commit sins, or that we are “new age.” That, also, is untrue, but nevertheless the charge persists to this day and people stay away from us, or are warned against us, because of that.

I know you’ve been accused of false doctrine and heresy, too, by people you have fellowshipped with in the past – though you certainly see that which you believe now is truth, do you not?

Interestingly, Paul’s “We see a glass, darkly,” statement is in the chapter on love, 1 Cor 13, and that statement of Paul’s is what closes the chapter. And a ways prior to that, Paul had stated, “knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth.”

Brethren, I encourage you to listen to me. I am grieved with all this false doctrine/heresy talk. Who do you think you are?

Jesus said, “He who is not against me is with me.”

 

I am hard pressed to be going around accusing people of false teaching and heresy. They used to burn people for heresy, and it seems to me today that there are plenty out there who would like to start that practice again!

When I was young, like you, I thought I knew more than I did and so the words, “You’re in false teaching,” could easily roll off my tongue.

When I got a little older, and life hit me harder, and I found out I wasn’t all I thought I was (in myself), and more and more found that people themselves are far more important that whatever “teachings” they might believe, I quit all that heresy talk. I’m giving you a heads up here. Cut it out, you don’t know what you’re saying. You’re babies, and still have lots to learn.

LOVE is the whole of the Christian life. Not teaching. Not correct doctrine. If you have all the correct doctrines in the world at your fingertips, and have not love, you are nothing. Jesus said it was the WHOLE LAW and PROPHETS!

You might say, “Well, I want to teach people the right things.”

Well, yes, I would say that, to a point, but we have to remember, we see through a glass, darkly. We have an image of things, and that’s why Paul’s encouragement to love is much stronger than his encouragement to correct teaching.

You may find, as you go along, that many many many of the things you once thought will not prove out, and you will have to reconsider many this and that things.  That’s growth. Most of us, the older we get, we realize the less we know. We must give ourselves and others the benefit of the doubt, and major on how we are all ONE in Christ, and see through these lesser issues of disagreement to the love of God in the middle. I used the term “benefit of the doubt,” but perhaps it is better said by seeing each by the benefit of faith! And that faith says I see Christ in my brother!

Remember the parable of the tares and the wheat? Have you reached a spiritual plateau where you are now able to separate the two, in opposition to the word of the Lord to let them both alone, since we cannot tell the difference, only He can?

Disagreement among the brethren is one thing. Lots of it is what I call the “Hunts/Heinz syndrome.” Some people prefer Hunts Ketchup, some Heinz. And some don’t care. (I like Heinz.)

But to take those disagreements to another level, and accuse people who don’t see like we see as being of the devil, or false teachers – that’s another thing besides, and not so easy. Certainly I do not deny that there is false doctrine and there are false teachers in the world, but God looks at the heart, dear ones, and is little attentive of our flesh confusions, for He knows He is the ultimate “sorter-outer,” and that if we walk in Him in faith, all these things will be sorted out in due time.

When was I “justified?” When He came into my life, right? Did I have all the right doctrines then? No, of course not! I’ve shed a million wrong ideas and concepts since that day. Still doing it. Yet every day I am/was justified in the eyes of the Lord. As are you, and all are who are in Him. Luckily for us, righteousness and holiness and salvation don’t come from our having nailed down all the correct concepts of Truth. They come from Him only, and He defies our “definitions” of Him. (The Pharisees and the Sanhedrin had all the i’s dotted and t’s crossed, but they missed Him when He was standing before them, because He was outside their framework of Truth.

See that you see your brethren as Christ to you and for you!

There is only one “criteria” for life in Christ. To “believe on Him whom He hath sent.” That is done in the heart, not the head. There is only one litmus test for disciples of Christ. “By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Advertisement