“And Jehu the son of Hanani the seer went out to meet him to his face and said to King Jehoshaphat, ‘Should you help the wicked and love those who hate Yahweh and so bring wrath on yourself from Yahweh?’” (2 Chronicles 19:2, LSB)
Working well with others is something we were hopefully taught as small children. Learning to get along with people, even people we don’t often agree with, is a mark of maturity and a necessity in any healthy society.
“Ask Jesus into your heart.” You’ve heard it said. Maybe you’ve said it yourself. Often, it’s what we say to children as we encourage them to become Christians. I’ve heard it in the U.S., the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. “Ask Jesus into your heart” has become standard verbiage in leading someone to Christ.
But what does this mean? How does the Bible use this phrase? What do those who hear us say it think we mean by this? When did this phrase enter our Christian vocabulary?1
“…the danger of swinging from one error to another is not a new phenomenon. It is as old as the fall. Though it comes in new sociological and philosophical packages, the human heart has always revolted against embracing, loving, propagating and defending the truth about God.” - Nick Batzig
“But if our understanding of the Great Commission is primarily a call to evangelism, we’ve forgotten a key piece: theology. Jesus’s final command isn’t a call to make converts but a call to make disciples.” - TGC
“Throughout 2022, I led our church staff and elders through an intentional process of ensuring our positions on several topics and cultural issues were documented for the sake of consistency and clarity.” - Eric Geiger
“If you’ve seen some Christian media programs, you might be tempted to think that the Spirit is some kind of a bizarre force that knocks people down and causes them lose control of their minds or bodies.” - P&D
“Many disagreements in theological matters come from only holding to one of two complimentary theological truths.” - Feeding on Christ
“Christ didn’t tell these two stories [Luke 11:5-8, 18:2] to imply that we need to approach God with the same request repeatedly before he complies.” - Word by Word
“In 2016, Lifeway Research revealed a study which indicated that the ignorance of American Christians has grown to the point that the majority could actually be considered heretics.” - Phil Cooke
“Doctrines” is an old word for “teachings” or “instructions.” We tend to use the word “doctrine” when we list our beliefs, usually derived from someone’s attempt to summarize important teachings from Scripture.
We tend to distinguish between the “essential” (fundamental) doctrines of the evangelical faith and what we call “secondary” matters. I have heard many Christians dismiss important secondary doctrines as trivial because they are not among the fundamentals.
