LET THE OTHER COME TO EXAMINE

Proverbs 18:17 - "The one who states his case first seems right, until the other comes and examines him."

When it comes to various beliefs and doctrines within the Christian faith, I am a proponent of plenty of debate and cross-examination.

As the church currently operates, though, local and denominational leadership are almost universally guilty of saying to the congregation, "Here's what you need to believe. Case closed."

If you grew up in church, who knows how many doctrines you hold onto based on the first (and likely only) interpretation you were exposed to. You may not even know which doctrines are debated, why there are disagreements, or how far back the arguments go. 

• If you believe hell will be eternal conscious torment, are you also familiar with the alternative interpretations of Scripture?

• If you believe the creation account of Genesis must be read literally, do you know the pros and cons of alternative readings?

• If you believe in penal substitutionary atonement, have you heard the alternative models of how Christ's death accomplished our salvation?

A few weeks ago I ran into a woman who was bemoaning the state of American culture and earnestly hoping she would soon be raptured from the earth. I am guessing her church has never discussed the fact that no Christian ever believed in "the rapture" before the 1800s. Or that this belief is based solely on the misreading of two short passages in the New Testament. 

It would serve the Body of Christ well for us all to be a little more inquisitive and quite a bit more hesitant to bang the gavel and announce "Case closed!" 

And if church leadership won't acknowledge these various debates, the lay people should be investigating for themselves ... and then peppering their leaders with questions.