Doctrine and Truth Matter!

"Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths." II Timothy 4:2-4

Weak doctrine produces weak behavior and sound doctrine produces sound behavior! Our culture today teaches us relative truth, but that contradicts what God teaches. He teaches there is absolute truth. That absolute truth is found in God and His Word.

Relative truth is the idea that some elements or aspects of experience or culture are relative to, i.e., dependent on, other elements or aspects. That truth is always relative to some particular frame of reference, such as a language or a culture

Absolute truth is always valid, regardless of parameters or context. The absolute in the term connotes one or more of: a quality of truth that cannot be exceeded; complete truth; unvarying and permanent truth.

There are some Christians who take the Bible as relative truth and not absolute truth. In other words, parts of the Bible (His Word) can be ignored, because it is not relevant in our culture or experience. Why has this become dangerous to the church?

• Our culture accepts homosexuals, so let's have practicing homosexuals lead the church.
• Our culture does not like the message of sin,repentance and the judgement of God, so let's only teach about the love and grace of God. Which leads to so-called Christians who believe you can continue to sin, because God's grace covers it all.
• Our culture says woman can be good managers, CEOs, and speakers in the workplace, so they should be able to lead a church.
• Our culture is about entertainment and having fun, so let's spend millions of dollars on state-of-the-art buildings, make our church services "relevant" and have marketing campaigns.
• Our culture says you do not have to stay married, so Christians are getting divorce for no Biblical reason and the church says nothing and creates watered-down doctrine to accept it.

These are just a few examples of how relative truth has damaged the church body. Here are a few verses about each of these subjects from the source of absolute truth.

• Homosexuality: "Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God." 1 Corinthians 6:9-10
  "Now the overseer (pastor, elder, bishop) must be above reproach, the husband of but one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him with proper respect."
• Gospel and Life of Obedience: "For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say "No" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope—the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good."
• Woman Leading a Church: "A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent." I Timothy 2:11-12
  "Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God." Titus 2:3-5
• Conformity to the World: "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will." Romans 12:2
  "For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths." II Timothy 4: 3-4
• Marriage and Divorce: "Another thing you do: You flood the LORD's altar with tears. You weep and wail because he no longer pays attention to your offerings or accepts them with pleasure from your hands. You ask, "Why?" It is because the LORD is acting as the witness between you and the wife of your youth, because you have broken faith with her, though she is your partner, the wife of your marriage covenant. Has not the LORD made them one? In flesh and spirit they are his. And why one? Because he was seeking godly offspring. So guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith with the wife of your youth.
  "I hate divorce," says the LORD God of Israel," Malachi 2:13-16

I know there is more to study and say about each of these subjects. However, the point is if you view the Word of God with relative truth then truth is in the eye of the reader (ever-changing). But when the Word is viewed with absolute truth then truth is in the eye of God (always the same).