Someone has remarked that people get their beliefs like they catch colds (probably referring to The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins, where he alleges that "faith is caught" and religion is a "mental virus"), and they get faith from hanging around certain people and becoming infected--they don't think independently, but get easily persuaded by the loudest and most vociferous voices heard. You can predict what these people think of the crowd they hang around. They have not learned the science of critical thinking and know nothing of being skeptical when it does matter.
Consider the source! Who is saying what and what is the authority of that source? They have not thought it out or been challenged in their thinking. Do they know what the person means by their terminology, sometimes there may be a semantic problem or a simple misunderstanding of definitions that can cause quarrels and misunderstandings? Knowing what you believe is only the prelude to knowing why and defending and contending for the faith and your position as commanded. People have to come to the realization and awakening that it doesn't matter what people believe, but what matters is the truth and we must find it and defend it.
We often agree more than we disagree and it is vital to find commonality and not stress our differences, yet we are prone to disputations because of our human nature. Not knowing what you believe can be disastrous to keeping the faith. You become susceptible to influence and persuasion by those more educated if you have no foundation and don't know the rules of the game or of engagement. The unschooled, unseasoned believer is "tossed to and fro ... by every wind of doctrine," according to Ephesians 4:14, ESV. Scholars can sometimes take advantage of the unskilled in the Word (especially those skilled in the Koine Greek or Hebrew) and naive students are easy prey. People who are skilled at the technique and art of debate and polemics know that you should be able to argue both sides of a case to be able to be in a position to judge the merit of it.
Keep your mind open till you have considered the relevant verses, such as proof texts. The reason is that you need a frame of reference and viewpoint to interpret reality and God's truth. Sound doctrine is foundational--the building block on which all other knowledge, discernment, and wisdom rest, the simple basics and starting point. Doctrine cannot be avoided without committing spiritual suicide; it is the infrastructure of Bible knowledge and it's mandatory to learn the ABCs You shouldn't just be able to converse on the subjects, but know where you stand and be ready to defend (cf. 1 Timothy 2:15) your convictions (you hold beliefs, by the way, but convictions hold you!). This is rudimentary and not subject to compromise!
You cannot be biased at the beginning and must be willing to go where the evidence leads, even if it is against your gut instinct and presuppositions, which may become shaken up a little and shock you out of your comfort zone. Flannery Connor said that truth doesn't change according to our ability to stomach it! You will never arrive at the truth if you are unwilling to go there, or even consider it as an option! You should know why you believe something, and not just because you accept someone's word for it or you accept someone's authority as a teacher. For instance, Roman Catholics don't believe they have the individual authority to interpret Scripture, but that it is the domain of the clergy. This is why they swallow the belief that tradition is of equal authority with Scripture--they've never checked things out for themselves.
We are to follow the example, the Berean Jews who searched the Scriptures to see if these things that Paul taught were so (cf. Acts 17:11). This is a dangerous presumption to forego our responsibility to interpret Scripture because you are literally blindly putting the fate of your soul into someone's hands. This is literally coming full circle from the Reformation! The Bible is the sole and final authority (sola Scriptura, or Scripture alone, as authority was a battle cry of the Reformation), and God has given each of us the privilege to interpret it, but also the responsibility to do it right. God wants us to read the Word, and if we don't believe we can interpret the Bible, we will be less likely to do this.
There are a few critical questions (this is not original of mine) one needs to ask if one is to be skeptical and doubt someone at their word: Where do they get their information? Is there evidence? Do they footnote it or do they assume you accept their authority? Be vigilant about the meaning of terms and words, because they may mean something you don't understand. Ask them to literally tell you what they mean by the words in question--this will reveal a lot. Don't take words for granted! Always ask them what they mean by their proposition. And most importantly, you must consider the issue of how they know it's true--is there evidence? Some people confuse belief with truth and "feel" in their hearts something as true and that is "evidence." Believing something doesn't make it true!
Are they mystical and relying on their own experience (you'd be surprised how many people just "feel" something is true in their hearts!), or are they mere scholars (not that scholars are to be avoided--they are needed too!) who quote so and so? The authority of the source is vital and one should weigh in on the validity of this source--for instance, do you have a Bible verse for that or are you just theorizing this for yourself? For example Martin Luther said he would only be persuaded by Sacred Scripture or evident reason, otherwise, he would not recant (not the papal authority either) at the Diet of Worms. Remember, "no Scripture [cf. 2 Pet. 1:20] is of any private interpretation," and this means no one can come up with some newfangled meaning, secret or esoteric knowledge, or "spiritualization" no one else will realize or apprehend.
John MacArthur has rightly said, that not knowing what you believe is a sort of non-belief! We are not to waver in limbo not knowing anything for sure, but to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior and to study to show ourselves approved unto God, as workmen, not needing to be ashamed, but rightly diving or handling the Word of Truth (cf. 1 Timothy 2:15). Not knowing what you believe will only make you susceptible and vulnerable to false doctrine and even doctrines of demons and, when people attack the faith, you will have no basis to answer them or defend the faith (contending for the faith is not the option, but commanded in Jude 3).
The childish believer balks at learning the things of God in depth (cf. 2 Tim. 3:9) and isn't able to distinguish good from evil (cf. Heb. 5:14), therefore he tends only to the milk of the Word and is unskilled in the Word of Righteousness and isn't ready to digest the meat of the Word. The more you are aware of what you believe, the better equipped you are to battle the forces of evil which attack us with ideas from the devil himself in an onslaught. There is a false religion, false doctrine, and false mysticism out there that must be revealed and brought to light so that we are not influenced by it.
Knowing what you believe is the very foundation of living in faith and should also be a building block to the truth. Never assume you have arrived or have monopolized the truth. No one has cornered the market and we all need each other in the body to share insight and enlightenment. We are to think in terms of doctrine as a vocabulary of the Spirit, not experience, and we need to learn how to think in a godly manner and be doctrinally correct to root out misconceptions and error from our thinking--we all need to get our thinking straightened out!
Consider the source! Who is saying what and what is the authority of that source? They have not thought it out or been challenged in their thinking. Do they know what the person means by their terminology, sometimes there may be a semantic problem or a simple misunderstanding of definitions that can cause quarrels and misunderstandings? Knowing what you believe is only the prelude to knowing why and defending and contending for the faith and your position as commanded. People have to come to the realization and awakening that it doesn't matter what people believe, but what matters is the truth and we must find it and defend it.
We often agree more than we disagree and it is vital to find commonality and not stress our differences, yet we are prone to disputations because of our human nature. Not knowing what you believe can be disastrous to keeping the faith. You become susceptible to influence and persuasion by those more educated if you have no foundation and don't know the rules of the game or of engagement. The unschooled, unseasoned believer is "tossed to and fro ... by every wind of doctrine," according to Ephesians 4:14, ESV. Scholars can sometimes take advantage of the unskilled in the Word (especially those skilled in the Koine Greek or Hebrew) and naive students are easy prey. People who are skilled at the technique and art of debate and polemics know that you should be able to argue both sides of a case to be able to be in a position to judge the merit of it.
Keep your mind open till you have considered the relevant verses, such as proof texts. The reason is that you need a frame of reference and viewpoint to interpret reality and God's truth. Sound doctrine is foundational--the building block on which all other knowledge, discernment, and wisdom rest, the simple basics and starting point. Doctrine cannot be avoided without committing spiritual suicide; it is the infrastructure of Bible knowledge and it's mandatory to learn the ABCs You shouldn't just be able to converse on the subjects, but know where you stand and be ready to defend (cf. 1 Timothy 2:15) your convictions (you hold beliefs, by the way, but convictions hold you!). This is rudimentary and not subject to compromise!
You cannot be biased at the beginning and must be willing to go where the evidence leads, even if it is against your gut instinct and presuppositions, which may become shaken up a little and shock you out of your comfort zone. Flannery Connor said that truth doesn't change according to our ability to stomach it! You will never arrive at the truth if you are unwilling to go there, or even consider it as an option! You should know why you believe something, and not just because you accept someone's word for it or you accept someone's authority as a teacher. For instance, Roman Catholics don't believe they have the individual authority to interpret Scripture, but that it is the domain of the clergy. This is why they swallow the belief that tradition is of equal authority with Scripture--they've never checked things out for themselves.
We are to follow the example, the Berean Jews who searched the Scriptures to see if these things that Paul taught were so (cf. Acts 17:11). This is a dangerous presumption to forego our responsibility to interpret Scripture because you are literally blindly putting the fate of your soul into someone's hands. This is literally coming full circle from the Reformation! The Bible is the sole and final authority (sola Scriptura, or Scripture alone, as authority was a battle cry of the Reformation), and God has given each of us the privilege to interpret it, but also the responsibility to do it right. God wants us to read the Word, and if we don't believe we can interpret the Bible, we will be less likely to do this.
There are a few critical questions (this is not original of mine) one needs to ask if one is to be skeptical and doubt someone at their word: Where do they get their information? Is there evidence? Do they footnote it or do they assume you accept their authority? Be vigilant about the meaning of terms and words, because they may mean something you don't understand. Ask them to literally tell you what they mean by the words in question--this will reveal a lot. Don't take words for granted! Always ask them what they mean by their proposition. And most importantly, you must consider the issue of how they know it's true--is there evidence? Some people confuse belief with truth and "feel" in their hearts something as true and that is "evidence." Believing something doesn't make it true!
Are they mystical and relying on their own experience (you'd be surprised how many people just "feel" something is true in their hearts!), or are they mere scholars (not that scholars are to be avoided--they are needed too!) who quote so and so? The authority of the source is vital and one should weigh in on the validity of this source--for instance, do you have a Bible verse for that or are you just theorizing this for yourself? For example Martin Luther said he would only be persuaded by Sacred Scripture or evident reason, otherwise, he would not recant (not the papal authority either) at the Diet of Worms. Remember, "no Scripture [cf. 2 Pet. 1:20] is of any private interpretation," and this means no one can come up with some newfangled meaning, secret or esoteric knowledge, or "spiritualization" no one else will realize or apprehend.
John MacArthur has rightly said, that not knowing what you believe is a sort of non-belief! We are not to waver in limbo not knowing anything for sure, but to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior and to study to show ourselves approved unto God, as workmen, not needing to be ashamed, but rightly diving or handling the Word of Truth (cf. 1 Timothy 2:15). Not knowing what you believe will only make you susceptible and vulnerable to false doctrine and even doctrines of demons and, when people attack the faith, you will have no basis to answer them or defend the faith (contending for the faith is not the option, but commanded in Jude 3).
The childish believer balks at learning the things of God in depth (cf. 2 Tim. 3:9) and isn't able to distinguish good from evil (cf. Heb. 5:14), therefore he tends only to the milk of the Word and is unskilled in the Word of Righteousness and isn't ready to digest the meat of the Word. The more you are aware of what you believe, the better equipped you are to battle the forces of evil which attack us with ideas from the devil himself in an onslaught. There is a false religion, false doctrine, and false mysticism out there that must be revealed and brought to light so that we are not influenced by it.
Knowing what you believe is the very foundation of living in faith and should also be a building block to the truth. Never assume you have arrived or have monopolized the truth. No one has cornered the market and we all need each other in the body to share insight and enlightenment. We are to think in terms of doctrine as a vocabulary of the Spirit, not experience, and we need to learn how to think in a godly manner and be doctrinally correct to root out misconceptions and error from our thinking--we all need to get our thinking straightened out!
Caveat: Don't allow teachers or authorities to be the arbiters of truth--they often contradict each other--God alone is the arbiter of all truth based on what is revealed to us in Scripture (cf. Deut. 29:29, ESV, which says: "The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.").
In the final analysis, it is far more important to live out your beliefs, put them into action, and turn your creeds into deeds, than to be impeccably correct in all your doctrine. You cannot have a sound life without sound doctrine, according to R. C. Sproul, but you can have sound doctrine without a sound life--both are necessary and we shouldn't downplay either one. Faith is only valid when it is acted upon, it is knowledge put to work to glorify God. We will be judged by our deeds, not our beliefs; God isn't going to ask us what doctrinal position we hold on such and such or what church we went to, either--we aren't saved by our theory of the atonement, for instance!
In the final analysis, it is far more important to live out your beliefs, put them into action, and turn your creeds into deeds, than to be impeccably correct in all your doctrine. You cannot have a sound life without sound doctrine, according to R. C. Sproul, but you can have sound doctrine without a sound life--both are necessary and we shouldn't downplay either one. Faith is only valid when it is acted upon, it is knowledge put to work to glorify God. We will be judged by our deeds, not our beliefs; God isn't going to ask us what doctrinal position we hold on such and such or what church we went to, either--we aren't saved by our theory of the atonement, for instance!
It is not that we will make assumptions (this is unavoidable), but the crux of the matter is on what evidence they rest! Remember: To gain any knowledge you must first admit your ignorance (be teachable!), according to Socrates. You cannot avoid doctrine by claiming it is too arcane or only has academic value.
Soli Deo Gloria!
Soli Deo Gloria!
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