Why Do We Need Doctrine?
The word DOCTRINE: (Latin: doctrina) is a belief or a body of teachings or instructions, or taught principles or positions. It is a belief system. Often doctrine specifically deals with a religious dogma as it is promoted by a church.
So doctrine can be both positive and negative. It is positive if taken from the Word of God for the purpose of building up and correcting the Church. It is negative if doctrine is taken from the traditions of man and taught in a self-righteous manner, or is a doctrine of demons for the purpose of deceiving believers.
Doctrine is also used to refer to a principle of law or traditions established through a history of past decisions. In some organizations, doctrine is simply defined as "that which is taught". In other words their doctrine is the foundational teaching of the internal ways of doing business.
Doctrine is also used to refer to a principle of law or traditions established through a history of past decisions. In some organizations, doctrine is simply defined as "that which is taught". In other words their doctrine is the foundational teaching of the internal ways of doing business.
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Like all churches, we at RSIM have doctrinal beliefs whereby we operate under which we classify under two headings, Biblical Doctrine and Governmental Doctrine. Biblical Doctrine is that which we believe to be true and is the foundational teachings that identify us as Raising the Standards International Ministries. Governmental Doctrine is the way our organization establishes and operates in the area of authority. |
Our governmental authority is not business based like the model from some denominational churches. Our governmental authority is also not congregational majority based, which is used by a number of denominational churches. We draw our authority structure from the Biblical example making our Governmental Doctrine also a major part of our Biblical Doctrine. We are a "Jesus as Head" Government, operating under Him in the 5 spiritual leadership gifts from Ephesians 4:11-16.
In reality, some believers don’t really have Biblical Doctrine...they only have opinions about someone else’s doctrine. In other words they have not looked at the Greek words or the Hebrew words or studied for themselves. They believe what they believe because that was their first teaching as a Christian, which came from their first church. This means that they are an echo of someone else's truth instead of a voice of God from the truth within Scriptures.
It is easy for these people to say, “I disagree with such and such doctrine”. This sounds so spiritual yet most can’t sit down with the Word of God and prove with the Word what they say and what they believe. At RSIM we try not to use the phrase “I disagree with you”. We like to use the phrase “I don’t understand, teach me”. This is saying that one of us or both of us might be wrong but let’s sit down together and see what the Word says.
We at RSIM attempt to build doctrine word by word, verse by verse, precept upon precept, Book by Book. We are always seeking God for more clarity, understanding, illumination, and revelation.
In reality, some believers don’t really have Biblical Doctrine...they only have opinions about someone else’s doctrine. In other words they have not looked at the Greek words or the Hebrew words or studied for themselves. They believe what they believe because that was their first teaching as a Christian, which came from their first church. This means that they are an echo of someone else's truth instead of a voice of God from the truth within Scriptures.
It is easy for these people to say, “I disagree with such and such doctrine”. This sounds so spiritual yet most can’t sit down with the Word of God and prove with the Word what they say and what they believe. At RSIM we try not to use the phrase “I disagree with you”. We like to use the phrase “I don’t understand, teach me”. This is saying that one of us or both of us might be wrong but let’s sit down together and see what the Word says.
We at RSIM attempt to build doctrine word by word, verse by verse, precept upon precept, Book by Book. We are always seeking God for more clarity, understanding, illumination, and revelation.