Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see if they are of God, for many false prophets have come out into the world
First Epistle of John 4: 1, Concordant New Testament
I added a new word in my lexicon this week. That word is dogmatic. People have used the world dogmatic to describe a sector of those Christian believers who hold fast to the beliefs and traditions of their faith. Google defines dogmatic as "Inclined to lay down principles as incontrovertibly true." Those who are dogmatic tend to speak their belief as the one truth while ignoring the input of others. They hold tight to the scriptures they know will support their argument, of which they involve themselves in many. I would be inclined to describe Christianity as we know it as a religion prone to dogmatic practices. Those within the church all too often preach the practices which their defenders of the faith adhere to. Recently I have had the opportunity of experiencing the dogmatic defenders of the faith first hand. I have a gym friend who clings to his scripture and church taught beliefs as if they were chained to his feet. There is no discussion about a differing view of scripture or Christian author. There is no room for the grace and mercy of the Father when it comes to wrong behaviors. In his eyes, the wicked shall be punished with an eternity in hell. He will back up his belief with carefully screened passages from the bible to make his case. Those who have not accepted Christ into their hearts will also be among those banished to the hell created for Satan and his followers. Seeing as Jesus is the Way the Truth and the Life, He is our access to the Father {Johns Account 14:6}. Think you're a child of God as the scriptures tell us? Not so fast! In the eyes of the dogmatic believer, only those who have accepted Jesus are worthy of being children of God. As you can see, there is little room for the love and mercy of God in the minds of the dogmatic believer. For them everything is cut and dry and laid out in front of them. The good will be rewarded and the guilty punished, end of story.
In one of my one sided discussions with my friend the other day I asked him a simple question which he has yet to answer, what is it like for you to live in the freedom of Christ? I believe that he cannot answer this because he has yet to experience the joy we have in living in the freedom of Christ Jesus. This is the freedom I did not began to experience until I was away from the church for some time. The Jesus which I now know is not the Jesus which was spoken to me while I was active in the church. For the church has made a habit of not speaking to a closer relationship with Christ. Sure, they may mention and gloss over it, but they never speak to that joy of truly living in the presence of God. Jesus speaks to our own life lived in the Father in the book of John {Johns Account 14:20}. To the dogmatic believer, the mere mention of scripture such as this and we're accused of cherry picking the scriptures to suit our blasphemous narrative. The pot calling the kettle black. Some of the most dogmatic people in history were the Pharisees and scribes of Jesus' day. They burdened the people with the traditions and requirements of their religion. This is why Jesus stood before them on that day and proclaimed His "Woes to the Pharisees" {Matthews Account 23:1-33}. I've often wondered, if Jesus were to confront the pastors of today, would we see His "Woe to you pastors?" Something tells me that more than a few dogmatic believers would be critical of Him for doing just that.
For the era will be when they will not tolerate sound teaching, but, their hearing being tickled, will heap up for themselves teachers in accord with their own desires
Paul to Timmothy (2) 4: 3, Concordant New Testament
~Scott~
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