Christian Doctrines - Intro

Here's a picture of the cover of the book I'll be writing about. This one was published I believe in 1907, and was obviously read thoroughly by whoever I bought it from on ebay! The pages would crack rather than flex...

This is the first inner page of the book, where the full title of the book is given: "Christian Doctrines: A Compendium of Theology". Each of the 30 chapters in this book presents one of the doctrines of Christianity.

Just over one year ago, I was elected to teach the Adult Class Sunday School. This being one of my first responsibilities (as well as assistant clerk, trustee, usher, etc...), I wanted to take it seriously. One of my vices is wanting to know more. Which could be a good thing, given the topic; but for about a month I'd taken a liking to reading about 'what-ifs' concerning the big bang, evolution, and other heretical worldviews. I'd asked my pastor a question about what I was reading, and I thank God for the answer he gave me:

"I'd highly suggest you throw those books away, study the Bible, and get strong in the doctrines."

Psalm 23:4 (King James Version):
"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me."
The shepherd's (where 'pastor' gets its name) hook is referred to as a rod (the curved end) and staff (the straight end). The curved end is used to grab the sheep by the neck to pull them in line, keeping them from getting too far away. The straight end is used for striking/discipline. See where I'm going with this?! A pastor is said to have stewardship over the flock (church), and here, my pastor used the staff by striking me for even considering these heretical influences, and he used the rod to grab me by the neck and pull me back into order!

I started reading the Bible, and took the advice of fellow church members & brethren from associational church meetings (many churches of like faith & order meeting together to build each other up), which pointed me to writings by J. M. Pendleton, mainly his books "Christian Doctrines" and "Baptist Church Manual". My church (and many other Missionary Baptist Churches) had agreed decades ago to study these books, and after scrutinizing the teachings therein, decided to 'adopt' it as agreeing with what the Holy Scriptures truly teach.

So I spent the first year, and then some, of my lessons every Sunday morning bringing lessons to the church from the "Christian Doctrines" book, and I used the "Baptist Church Manual" where it would expand on some subjects in further detail than in the former. One thing about these books, while they cover the doctrines excellently, and is very well written, it is written in almost 'olde english'. Big words, long complex sentences, very advanced logic, etc...

The way I prepared lessons from this book is: I'd spend most of Saturday evenings & nights reading each chapter. Then I'd read it again and again and repeat until I understood what it was I was reading! Then, I would get on my computer and 'translate' it to a more vernacular dialect, so everyone at church could follow along. My church has a membership of 40 currently, and the average attendance at Sunday School is around 20 to 25. I don't like to analyze people, but if I was going to teach on something as important as the doctrines, I wanted to make sure everybody would gain something from the lessons. There are those in this group who would be lost and lose interest if I went at a fast pace; on the other hand, there are people who would become restless and lose interest if I were to explain everything down to it's most simple elements. So I devised a way to bring the information to the congregation in a 'frequency wave' pattern. I'd open a topic and explain one 'difficult' part, then go into that part deeper and explain it out making it 'easy'. Then, I'd go on to the next 'difficult' topic, explain it, then break it apart and make it 'easy'. This flow would keep the interest of those who are more "on the meat", and would also keep "those on the milk" involved and on the same page.

This was SO much harder than it sounds, because it sounds like I'm saying I'm up there with the smart ones! It was so easy (actually fun) for me to explain the 'easy parts', to put things into perspective using every day analogies. But it was SO DIFFICULT for me to even grasp the deep-thought, intellectual parts that were essential to grasping the doctrine at hand. With the Lord's help through study, prayer, re-reading, asking questions, etc..., I got through preparing most of the lessons with a blessing of authority to bring it to the church. The only ones I didn't have a blessing on, and thank God there were few, were the ones where I didn't pray before studying and attempted to do the work by my own power & intellect. Pride doesn't go down so well with the Lord's work...

All in all, as I went through each chapter of "Christian Doctrines", it was a greatly humbling experience. Each lesson I brought to the church, I had just learned myself a day or so ago, and I often came with questions to ask the church myself! It was so rewarding. I was growing stronger in the doctrines every week, and as I learned more intimately what the scriptures teach, and the whole who/what/why/when/where about God, I feel I matured as a Christian. There are so many questions I'm asked at work or while visiting with my family, which I wouldn't be able to answer fully without having studied christian doctrines first. I thank God for working through my pastor when he guided me back on track!

Within this label of blog entries, I plan on uploading each lesson as I outlined them. This way, if there's anyone who needs to learn more about the doctrines of Christianity, they can browse through my entries and not have to worry about translating "olde english"! There will be many hours of reading ahead if you wish to follow this string of posts, but I can assure you: you won't regret it! Nothing is more important for a Christian to understand than the true Christian Doctrines. I'll end this into with one of my favorite verses, which motivated me to get down and study:

1 Peter 3:15-16
"But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear"