“People were labeled evangelicals for the sake of the survey if they agreed to certain basic statements of evangelical orthodoxy…. But then as they began to answer survey questions, the denials of core doctrines began flowing like a river.” - Kevin Schaal
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NewOn the fundamentals, I stand
On the fundamentals, I stand corrected on the number. Yes, it was five, but it wasn’t a universal determination for all believers, or an exhaustive list. They were five points that some Presbyterians tried to make a requirement for all Presbyterian candidates for the ministry to affirm. They had some success, but the whole effort ultimately failed.
There is much more than these five bullet points to the fundamental doctrines. My main point is that we can’t sum up that which is essential to five points.
Maranatha!
Don Johnson
Jer 33.3
Newit's these circumstances and
This works well if the circumstances and context of our congregations match those of the original audience. If the circumstances and context of our congregations do not match, then it would seem wise to address the circumstances and context of our audience based on the truth of the passage.
Virtually the entire Bible is topical. I think we need to take that into account when we are preaching. Expositional preaching is not the opposite of topical preaching. Serial preaching is the opposite of topical preaching.
As said above, I think it is good to connect the dots for people. It doesn’t take long, but sprinkled into enough messages, they began to remember and learn. Failure to do this may contribute to why the recent survey turned out as it did, that people who claim to be Christian hold non-Christian beliefs.
NewLarry wrote:
This! Exactly right. Repetition aids learning, and all that.
Maranatha!
Don Johnson
Jer 33.3
NewDon Johnson wrote:
One of the things that has been helpful to me is to go back and reread some of the creeds and confessions of antiquity - the 2LBC, Athenasian Creed, NHBC, etc. Doing so has really helped me clear away some of the points and arguments that the modern church spends so much time and energy on (CRT! Masks!) and helped me remember that the fundamental doctrines will outlast a lot of today’s talking points. It also helps me tie my faith into something that is solidly anchored in approx. 2000 years of church history as opposed to the headlines of the last 30 years.
"Our task today is to tell people — who no longer know what sin is...no longer see themselves as sinners, and no longer have room for these categories — that Christ died for sins of which they do not think they’re guilty." - David Wells
NewHistorical Faith
Earlier this year, I read through Augustine’s Confessions and excerpts from his City of God. That accomplished for me the same thing you describe above.
Reading through Michael Holmes’ The Apostolic Fathers a couple years ago was also helpful in this regard. You’re right, we often forget that our faith didn’t originate in America in the 1950’s. It seems that fundamentalists think it did and that church history is irrelevant. In fact, I attended an IFB church where the pastor would disparage the historic creeds and church fathers as irrelevant.