What Doctrine, 2 Timothy 4:3

What Doctrine

2 Timothy 4:3 For a time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. They will gather around them teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.

I use the word doctrine loosely in the following paragraph. Here, I refer mostly to the practices and morals of the church and not the doctrine of salvation. But, as we have learned over the last nearly 70 years is that when you change your morals and practices, you also change your doctrine of salvation...

I have seen great change in the church over my lifetime. It started before my time in the 50's. The church began to say... who are we to tell the world how to live. We are too dogmatic, expecting those around us to change. Then in the 60's, we said... who are we to tell our church people what to do, We are too dogmatic, making people change just because they are in the church. When we got to the 70's, the love and free movement was in full swing and we said... who are we to tell the youth what to do. We are too dogmatic, making them act like us adults. Along came the 80's and we said, who are we to tell our children what to do, we are too dogmatic, can't we let them decide what path to take. They will see what best? And in the 90's we began to look at the church itself and said... we are too dogmatic, why do we have rules and spiritual practices, everyone can decide for themselves. Let's just all get along. We can each worship in our own way. Now we are in the 2000's and it's a free for all!

 K and A, The doctrine of the church sure has changed, so much so that you often cannot differentiate between the world and the church. Just last night, I was in a room with two self-proclaimed Christians who were discussing drinking and partying. The one talked about the struggles of paying for her daughter's sex change to become a guy, always referring to her as a he. They also talked about the struggles of her with living with her boyfriend... remember, they claim Christ... because he had cheated on her. They also talked about the need to retain a grudge when someone had turned them in for something minor and they got in trouble, saying I'll never be her friend again.

Daughter's stick to the Word. Things certainly change in world, but God's Word never changes. It is eternal! Encourage others around you to follow it with you, but if they won't, do not give in. You can maintain a doctrine of holiness. it is your choice. You will need to forfeit the pleasures of the world, but as you do, you will find that the pleasures of the Word are filling. They are truly satisfying!

~Dad