By Gary Ray Branscome
In theology a distinction is made between those doctrines
that form the very foundation of the Christian faith, vital doctrines that cannot
be denied without undermining faith and subverting the work of the gospel: and
those doctrines which are not the foundation of saving faith. For example: our
salvation does not depend upon knowing that David was king, or that Paul was
beaten with rods. However, that does not mean that those doctrines are
unimportant, or that we should tolerate those who attack or deny them.
First of all, everything recorded in the Bible was placed
there by God for a reason. Therefore, every attempt to attack, deny, or explain
away something the Bible says is an attack on God, and no church worth its salt
will tolerate such attacks. Secondly, in the past some churches have allowed
people to attack and deny vital doctrines of the Christian faith while
justifying that denial with the claim, “it does not affect salvation”. One
doctrine that I am thinking of specifically is the doctrine of creation. In
fact, I might say creation and the flood because denying either one of them
undermines faith in Christ.
The Bible not only records the events of creation in
straightforward historical narrative, but whenever it is referred to elsewhere
in Scripture, it is referred to as historical fact. For example: In answering a
question about divorce, Jesus referred to creation, saying, “Have you not
read that He who made them at the beginning made them male and female”
(Matthew 19:4).
Those
who counter what the Bible says about creation and try to get around it only do
so because they have been influenced by a bogus history of the world that is
disguised as science. They obviously place more stock in the opinions of men
than the Word of God. You may have encountered people who claim to be Christian
even though they reject what the Bible says about creation. However, if they
are Christian, it is only because they are harboring a contradiction in their
mind, and have not taken their rejection of creation to its logical conclusion.
Otherwise it would destroy their faith. A person who rejects what the Bible
says about creation while still regarding the Bible as the Word of God is not
thinking clearly. It is totally inconsistent for someone to reject what the
Bible says about creation and yet regard Jesus [who referred to it as fact] as
God. It is totally inconsistent for someone to reject what the Bible says about
creation while accepting the doctrine of the fall and redemption, and that
doctrine is basic to the gospel (Romans
Even if rejecting what the Bible says about creation does
not instantly bring God’s condemnation and wrath, it tends to undermine faith
and often results in children who walk away from the faith. My point is that
everything that the Bible says is important. No part of it can be denied
without consequences. And, everyone who contradicts and explains away any
statement of Scripture, is “Making the word of God of no effect” (Mark
Unanswered Questions
Another issue theologians have to deal with has to do with
questions about matters on which the Bible has not spoken. In many cases those
questions have to do with indifferent matters; that is matters that do not
involve a moral issue, and are neither commanded nor forbidden by God’s Word.
In such cases the rule is that we do not add to or go beyond what the Bible
says. If the Bible does not address a particular issue, then that is what we
should say. However, modern technology often creates moral dilemmas that have
to be addressed. Two of those are cloning and in-vitro fertilization. Matters
such as that are not morally neutral because they destroy lives. In regard to
in-vitro fertilization that is obvious because the process is to fertilize
several human eggs, select the one wanted and kill the rest. That is murder!
Cloning is prone to cause miscarriage and deformity, and for that reason it is
not being promoted like it was a few years ago. However, I want to stress the
fact that no one has the right to just teach anything he pleases about matters
that Scripture does not address. When it comes to moral issues, Christians need
to take the moral high ground, and stand for what is high, good, pure and right.
Believers should never use the silence of Scripture as an excuse to
rationalize matters that are contrary to “the law written in their
hearts,” (Romans
“Every one who
sets aside the clear testimony of God's Word in a single point rejects the
entire Word of God as the only source and standard of faith.” (John Theodore
Mueller, Christian Dogmatics,
page 54)