Doctrinal Review
In this series of blogs, I hope to do a doctrinal review of some theological aspects that are shifting for me. I am not actually sure of the value of this, so I may abandon it. On the other hand, a doctrinal review might assist people who are reexamining their faith.
Christadelphian to Traditional Christian
For full disclosure, I was a Christadelphian for the first 50 years of my life before becoming very disenchanted with the faith somewhere just prior to 2017. Initially, I was very confused and I guess tried to power on through, reading a lot and writing a lot. Then around 2017, I attended a retreat based around John Eldredge’s Wild at Heart that seriously challenged my academic faith.
In some respects and trying not to be too hard on myself, I could have fit 2 Tim 3‘s “Having a form of Godliness but denying the power thereof…”. I was very intellectual about my faith but I think I struggled to let it reach my heart and truly inform my daily living. I wasn’t bad. I just didn’t really pursue holiness as a life passion.
I have joined a Baptist Church though I would not necessarily represent that I belong to that denomination as such and over the last couple of years, I have been delving deeply into my belief structure. The biggest learning I have experienced over the last year or so is the release of my academic faith and the acceptance of God into my heart. I haven’t turned off my brain, but I am working very hard to focus more on my experience of God.
An Intellectual Exercise
In this series of Doctrinal Review blogs, I am returning a little to my intellectual roots whilst not surrendering my heart for walking with God.
I will work on this progressively over time and hopefully build up a body of different subjects for doctrinal review.
Doctrinal Review List
My proposed major doctrinal review headings will be:
God: What does the scripture review of the nature of the Most High. Where does Jesus fit in
The Bible: Is some of the Bible allegory, should we be biblical literalists?
Salvation: What is salvation, what are the impediments to salvation?
Atonement: How did Jesus’ sacrifice atone for our sins
The Kingdom of God: Heaven, Earth and the future of us
Evil, Suffering and the Devil: Who is behind suffering?
Article Sizing
While I think of it, I have been doing some reading as to why people don’t stay on a site for long. The average person only stays on a blog post for around 3 minutes, then they either click off to something new on the site or leave. A lot of the issue is just how long the post is. Most of mine are upwards of 3000 words. Apparently, I should be aiming for 500-750 words. So I am going to write to that length going forward. Therefore each larger doctrinal review will be broken down into sub articles.