Norman on dogma, doctrine and belief

I was just joking with the my girlfriend the other day about an angry comment I received. I was chided for thinking that I had studied too much until my head grew too big. Well, we bible school students would constantly receive such scoldings when we differ from the church's commonly held doctrine or belief (or as my professor calls it, opinion). Allow me to indulge in two hypothetical scenarios.

You have a piece of hardened skin on your sole that does not go away for a couple of months. You go to your doctor who tells you not to worry about it because it is just a corn, perhaps even giving you a cream for pain relief. You then bump into your friend who is in medical school, whose favourite subject happens to be dermatology. Instinctively you show your friend the corn and she tells you that it is unmistakably a wart and to go have it removed. Will you respond in anger and tell her off, "YOU STUDY TOO MUCH ALREADY, YOUR HEAD GREW TOO BIG?!"

Of course not! You would get a second opinion from perhaps a practicing dermatologist at the specialist clinic.

Perhaps you want to venture into investing in stocks and consult your friend who had been investing for a couple of decades. He did not receive any formal training and regards himself to be an average investor who just manages to make ends meet, thankfully because his wife holds a full time job. He tells you to buy a certain share. You then decide to look up your nephew who has been scoring close to a perfect GPA in finance for a second opinion. You then find out that he disagrees with your friend's insider tip. Do you get mad and tell him off, "WHY ARE YOU SO PROUD TO THINK THAT YOU KNOW BETTER THAN A PERSON WHO HAS BEEN DOING THIS FOR TWENTY YEARS?!"

I don't so. Thankfully I have come to a point whereby I know how very little we know about interpreting the ancient text of Scripture and applying it to today's contemporary context. It is okay if others think I am wrong. What we young bible school students will continually face when we differ with conventional thinking, is that the older generation thinks that we are rebelling or trying to show up the older guard of preachers. Many of them have never gone to seminary, and have been faithfully but perhaps not too successfully shepherding the people and preaching hermeneutically sound sermons.

I love the church, especially one that is not preaching the full counsel of God. My heart is broken when violence is done to Scripture and methodologies of leadership would make any postmodern person cringe. I would be crazy to spend 4 years of my life studying in bible school just to prove that I am smart. Studying in a local university would earn me much more money and provide another galaxy of job security. I went because I could no longer resist the call and the prompting to do so.

With one year left to graduate, and with no guaranteed job (let alone a decent paying one) in sight, it takes so much faith to keep going and trying our very best to do our very best in our studies. We have no choice but to trust that God will take care of our monetary needs and perhaps even material wants. I just do not get fed by the esigetical preaching in pentecostal churches, and find it a challenge to focus if the worship or sermon is a tad too serious. Where would I feel 100% at home? A church that reveres God's Word that the preachers and teachers do their utmost not to put their own meaning into Holy Scripture, and yet relies on and welcomes the Holy Spirit to minister in the service and meetings. I hope that eventually I can find it in Singapore!


From Perspectives on Church Government:

Following the insights of other theologians, I have adopted a threefold scheme for the categorization of valid doctrines.' These categories are: "dogma," "doctrine," and "belief." The category "dogma" encompasses those tenets that make us "Christian." "Dogma" consists of concepts that are absolutely nonnegotiable for the Christian faith. To deny a tenet within the "dogma" category would be to deny a tenet of orthodox Christianity. Students typi­cally and rightfully place such concepts as the Trinity and the per-son and work of Jesus Christ in this grouping. The second category, "doctrine," includes those concepts that shape our understanding of the nature and ministry of the church. Differences of under-standing for concepts within this classification would not necessarily constitute a denial of the Christian faith, but differing perspectives on concepts within "doctrine" would determine differ­ences in denominational identity, nature of ministry, and such. My students (primarily Southern Baptists) typically place beliefs such as a regenerate church membership, believer's baptism, or a memorial view of the Lord's Supper in this category. The final cat­egory, "belief," encompasses those ideas that are important but can be matters of difference of opinion. Concepts within the "belief" category are matters on which Christians can "agree to disagree" without disruption or breach of fellowship. Differences of theolog­ical understanding for tenets within the "belief" grouping neither constitute a denial of the Christian faith nor separation into differ­ing denominations or churches. Students often place within this third category eschatological concepts such as the sequence of events and the timing of the second coming of Christ.