Do You Know the Doctrines?

After reading the post below, "The Do-It Yourself Doctrine," I started thinking about the doctrines of the church. This article alleges that a lot of folks are cafeteria-shopping for doctrines and putting in what works for them and leaving out what they do not like. I think this is accurate, but the bigger question is "Why?"

I have pondered this for some time, and I have been led to the belief that a lot of our problem is that most Americans do not have a strong foundation in orthodox Christianity. They simply do not know what the central doctrines of Christianity are, and so they shift to and fro as the wind of culture blows. Even a lot of those in church do not have a good understanding, because they either were not taught the foundational beliefs as a child or they came into the church late, already being influenced by the culture and non-traditional doctrines.

There are certain central core doctrines that are essential to the Christian faith. You can differ in other areas, but to be in fellowship with God and other true believers, you must believe in these. These essential core doctrines are accepted by all major denominations -- including Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Protestant. Here are our foundational beliefs:

* We believe in One God who exists as three separate persons called the Trinity.
* We believe in the deity of Christ
* We believe in the bodily resurrection of Christ
* We believe in the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross for our sins
* We believe in salvation by grace through faith

There are other, peripheral doctrines in the churches that we can differ about and that separate us from other denominations. For example, doctrines on the method of baptism, the timing of the tribulation, understandings about the rapture, and the structure of church government. These items are not essential to our faith, and we can differ about them and still go to heaven if we believe in the core doctrines.

Misunderstandings about the foundation of our faith and the core essential doctrines have led to good Christians being drawn away by popular fads, such as the Da Vinci Code, gnostic gospels, and false teachings. We must hold fast to our core doctrines in order to remain steadfast in our faith.

What do you believe? More importantly, is what you believe in line with traditional Biblical doctrines?