Own Your Faith

Through the Bible, there are dozens of doctrines that form the foundation of our entire belief systems as Christians.

There are many irrefutable doctrines in the Bible. The most important one must be that Jesus died for the sins of mankind. Another one has to be that Jesus is the Son of God. Through the Bible, there are dozens of doctrines that form the foundation of our entire belief systems as Christians.

On the flip side of things are those non-specific matters. This will be something that the Bible is not very clear on. One of my favorite chapters along this theme must be Romans fourteen. It’s a classic example of the Bible clearing up confusion on an ambiguous issue.

Paul takes some time to discuss the eating of different food types. At the time that the book of Romans was written, there were some debates about certain foods, and their relation to spiritual purity. Some groups claimed that some foods where unclean. Other believers felt that all foodstuffs were acceptable to eat. In biblical times It was commonplace to believe that some foods made people spiritually impure and that it was a sin to eat them. In fact, it was documented in the early history of Israel (Lev 11).

In the context of Romans fourteen, Paul uses this doctrine on food types to touch on other essential matters. One of them deals with making every effort not to offend other believers. This is a matter for an alternate blog post though. Getting back to take a look at Romans fourteen we notice something interesting when we read through the chapter. There are a few verses that highlight very similar concepts repeatedly.

Verse five point out that there could be differences in the way that people feel about special days like birth or feast days. Verse six touches on different opinions about eating different food types. What becomes clear is that there are matters that biblical doctrine is not definitive on. There likely is a large variety of these non-specific matters throughout the Bible. The big challenge for believers must be to identify issues where scripture is clear and others where it is not.

Where the Bible is clear there simply is no debate. On matters that are not clear Paul suggests that we need to adopt a personal stance on the matter. He also makes it clear that our position should remain our personal one. Imposing our view on these flexible matters on other people is frowned upon. Paul insists we should embrace the commandment of love in everything that we do. We must decide where we stand on a non-specific matter without imposing that view on other believers.

How does one then make up your mind on how to think about these unclear issues? I personally feel that it should be based on the personal space you find yourself in. The thing is that there actually are no guidelines on certain issues. Only the command to act in love with one another. This is why our personal environment should serve as our guideline. If a matter is neither here nor there in scripture, we should refer to those around us as a guideline to how we act on or speak on it. This will enable us to live lives as non-offensive as possible.

If the topic is not very clear in scripture we should form our own personal stance on the matter. The only guideline for us is that we live out our days in a non-offensive love-based perspective. We need to remember that every person was created as a unique individual. Some matters will be seen in highly personal ways, and not everyone has an open mind set on every issue life could present.

How we think and live our lives around the issues should be guided by our love for God and our fellow man. We simply can not ever get away from the fundamental and irrefutable core teaching of Jesus, His death, resurrection, and ascension.

We are commanded to Love the Lord above all else and our neighbors as we love ourselves. This must always form the foundation of our thinking. We must remain true to the core or our belief in our heavenly Father. There is no getting away from the center of our faith in God.