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T H E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
November, 1939
In Defense of Dogma By the late FREDERIC W. FARR
Another factor which makes ite- ful children is ' that parents are not grateful to God for His blessings. How often we hear even Christian parents say, “I never notice God giving me any thing; I work for everything I get.” Can you expect a child'in a home of thist kind to be grateful? No, he is going to grow up to say the same thing. The tragedy of well-to-do homes to day is that children have so much that they are n o t able to appreciate it all. They lose their sense of values because of an over-supply. How often we see these children just world-weary at ten or twelve years, because they have had everything they wanted and there is nothing left to long for, to demand! ' Foundations for- Thankfulness If I were to'lay down some rules for rearing a grateful child, I would make < the first; one, “Train up a child in the way he should go” iProv. 22:6), with emphasis on train. Punish him when he needs it. As Solomon said, he will not die because he is beaten; “Withhold not correction fromothe child; for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die” (Prov. 23:13). Some children will obey when spoken to, but others must have a little physical admonition to re inforce the spoken word. But whichever you must do, compel obedience. Second, teach the child from baby hood of the love of God and the many things God gives us every day. I Third, and most important, tell him of God’s most wonderful gift, His only Son, who came and died for the whole world, that whosoever believeth on Him, might have e v e r l a s t i n g life. With prayer and precept, lead the child in his early years to accept the Lord Jesus Christ as his Saviour. If you who are Christian parents will do this, I am willing to guarantee that your child will'not be ungrateful -either to you or to God. Only the love of the Lord in the heart ■ of any person can inspire that soul to deep gratitude to God. The world has no grateful feeling for God, although it owes Him every thing. Thoughtless Christians are not grateful. Their prayers are all requests, never thanks. Thankful Unto God Our Sunday-schools should help to teach the child gratitude to God and hohor and respect to parents. I wish I could' compel every Sunday-school to use the Psalms of praise and thanksgiv ing in their worship periods. Every child should learn some of them. Chil dren in their classes should be ,given time to tell the blessings God has given them. Write them on the board. Don’t do this just at Thanksgiving time, but often. It is good spiritual exercise for them, and not for them alone, but for all of us. This spirit of thankfulness grows on one, especially if it is devel oped early in life. [^Continued on page 446]
It is true that dogma is only human apprehension of truth, and for that rea son, it must be ready to change «with every new view of. truth. Clear thinking must express itself in dogma, and con fused statements or misapprehensions of Bible truth need to be ironed out of many church creeds. But dogma there must be, if there is to be strength of conviction and a consequent high stand ard of liying. Why is the cry raised today: “Away with dogma and back to Jesus” ? The expression is misleading and deceptive. If we go back to the beginning of the church which Christ founded,_and. ex amine the preaching of the apostles, we find that that teaching consisted almost wholly of dogma. On the day. of Pentecost, Peter preach ed the death and resurrection of Christ, and he proclaimed impending retribu tion. Paul began his ministry by con founding the Jews in dogmatic discus sion. He kept up this practice for twenty-five years, and at our last view of him in Home, he is doing the same thing. It is impossible to preach the gospel at all without preaching dogma, since every phase of the gospel has been for mulated into doctrine (2 Tim. 3:16). Furthermore, it is impossible to cher ish- any opinion in the mind without its influence being reflected in the life. Our word “miscreant” comes from “mis- credô.” A little error in thé creed may produce immense mischief in the life. Thought precedes action and rules the world. A man’s life is made or marred by his creed. No man is better than his creed. Today’s Need Paul, in writing to Timothy, says that “the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine” (cf. 2 Tim. 4:3, 4). Indications are not wanting that we have fallen upon these evil days. They are foretokens of‘ the great apostasy. Brother, it is better to preach the truth in an empty church, or to feed a few hungry saints,' than to preach error to an applauding multitude. “Orthodoxy” comes from two Greek words which mean “a straight thought.” The straightedge of the carpenter is . his most important tool. Without it he does not know that his work is right. The Bible is our straightedge. It must determine our creed as well as shape our life. The thoughts of God are higli and straight and true, as far above the thoughts of man as the heavens are above the earth. The Bible discovers and judges what is faulty in our lives and w h a t is erroneous in our creeds (Heb. 4:12). Dogma, squared by the Book, is absolutely essential.
“Speak thou the things which become sound doctrine” (Tit. 2:1). People are impatient with doctrine in these days. They prefer ethics. Doc trinal preaching is disparaged and de cried. Doctrine is simply teaching, and peo ple are perishing for the lack of knowl edge. Ethics is simply the logical re sult in human conduct of profound be liefs in certain doctrines. There is a direct and vital relationship between faith and conduct. They greatly err who ignore either one. \ j| We have those who suppose that if a man believes certain doctrines, he will surely be saved, no matter what kind of life he lives. And there are those who suppose that if a man’s conduct conforms to certain standards, he can not be lost, no matter what he believes or disbelieves. Both of thesfe views are false in fact and pernicious-in tendency. Recognizing Two Extremes A chief cause of the impatience with which doctrine is received at the pres ent time is the unwisdom of theology in the past, in teaching doctrine as an end instead of a means. Nevertheless, it would seem to us that in the early church, doctrine was made almost wholly the test of fellowship. John writes in his second Epistle: “Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath hot God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son” (v. 9). The other extreme prevails at the present time. If any man is possessed of genial address and lives a life that is outwardly respectable—if, on the whole, he is a fairly good fellow—he is received into Christian fellowship in many instances without any attention being given to his articles of faith. The truth is found, not in some gold en mean between these two extremes, as is often supposed, but in the full union of them. There must be sound doctrine on the pne hand, and such be havior as becometh godliness on the other. The Scriptural method is to have pure doctrine first, and then a life in full accord therewith. Essential “Dogma” Why is so much said Iand written against “dogma” in the church? Dogma *is that which seems to an individual to be true.. It is personal opinion. In theo logical usage, however, the word is never applied to personal or private con victions. It refers to a doctrine or a decree set forth by some body claim ing authority. Among Protestants, dog ma is a statement of doctrine found in the confessions of faith and creeds of the churches.
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