神學理論的定義

In my last post, I defined what a doctrine is. Doctrine is a set of beliefs and instructions that the senior leadership and theologians of every church or denomination formulate, based on their best understanding of the Scripture (2 Tim 3:16; cf. Acts 2:42; 15:6-29). Unless they belong to the same denomination or network of churches, the doctrine of one church may not be exactly the same as the doctrine of another church. This is really the reason why there are different denominations in the first place. Although we all read the same Bible, we understand the truths of Scripture differently. While the differences are not about the absolute core essentials (or the first-order doctrines), yet they are significant enough to result in the distinctiveness among different churches and denominations.

What we present as truths must be done with special care and wisdom because they will eventually form the worldview by which we, and our members, govern our lives (1 Tim 4:16). Specifically, doctrines are very important for many reasons. In this video, I just want to share with you four of them:

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(1) 𝗗𝗼𝗰𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝘂𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗵𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗖𝗵𝗿𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗮𝗻 𝗿𝗼𝗼𝘁𝘀.

(2) 𝗗𝗼𝗰𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵 𝘂𝘀 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗚𝗼𝗱 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗛𝗶𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝗱𝗲𝗲𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸. 

(3) 𝗗𝗼𝗰𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀 𝘀𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘃𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗱𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘆 𝗰𝗵𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗵 𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘆. 

(4) 𝗗𝗼𝗰𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝗮 𝗳𝗿𝗮𝗺𝗲𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗹𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗮𝗺𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗰𝗵𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗵 𝗺𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿𝘀.