Who Decides What Biblical Doctrine is Orthodox?
Is it the powerful and those with charisma?
Given the obvious fact that there are hundreds of denominations, dozens of religions, many cults, and two thousand years of changing interpretations of church doctrine, can anyone really know that they understand what the Bible authors are trying to say?
What many sincere believers view as orthodox, is heresy to others and vice versa. Over the centuries, thousands of sincere believers were tortured and murdered by equally sincere believers doing what they thought was God’s will.
Some declare themselves the “true Christians” and the others “not real Christians.” This article will recognize as Christians any who declare that Jesus is their savior, even though we all know that some use that label for other motives, namely power and property. It seems that if believers had more humility and appreciation of the fact that much of the Bible is just not clear about many things, the result would be less strife, anger, and division. This is especially true since few Christians have read the Bible in full and know little or nothing about its history, languages, or even how it came to be. Most simply believe what their parents taught them, who likewise believed their parents before.
Here are just a few of the hundreds of Biblical interpretations that some groups believe are “gospel truth,” while other groups view them as complete heresy.
1. Many taught that Jesus was not a physical person but sort of like a phantom, who did not leave footprints when walking on sand. This came from the sincere belief that all physical matter was evil and the only good was spiritual. The Docetists taught that the body of Jesus was an illusion and thus did not suffer or physically die on the cross. They however worshiped him as the Son of God and as their savior.
2. The Cathars, who referred to themselves as the “good Christians,” went as far as to teach that only an evil god would have created the physical world. They encouraged their members to refrain from sexual intercourse, regardless of marital status. They even avoided eating meat as animals were a by-product of sexual reproduction. The Montanists and the Phrygians also demanded celibacy regardless of marital status in addition to extreme fasting. Is it not hard to question the sincerity of any of these folks who personally sacrificed a lot for what they believed was God’s will?
3. A surprising number of churches still forbid women from teaching men and instruct those who are seriously abused to pray more and try to do better. Many Christian preachers blame women for causing their husbands to commit adultery. Even if beaten and raped on a regular basis, they are advised that if they divorce their husband and remarry, they become adulterers…and will burn in hell for eternity. This is not all that fringe as many evangelical churches, still today, teach it loud and clear.
4. While most Protestant denominations today accept 27 books as belonging in the New Testament canon, the Catholics include seven additional books to their canon. Other groups such as the Ethiopian Church and the Eastern Orthodox add others. During the first few centuries, dozens of other books were thought by some to be inspired and should be canonized. What became “God’s inspired word” was often by a vote. One such vote at the Council of Trent as late as 1546 was 24 yea, 15 nay, and 16 abstain.
Martin Luther, almost 1500 years after the birth of the church and who is the father of Protestantism, did not believe that the books of James, Jude, Hebrews, or Revelation should be part of the canon. He said that James was an epistle of straw, while the other three were “Judaizing nonsense.” He also had problems with the Old Testament, including Genesis and Exodus.
Luther preached that since Jews were not converting to Christianity, it proved that they were “reprobates” and thus should have all their synagogues and houses razed and destroyed and that all their cash and treasure be confiscated. Their rabbis should be forbidden to teach on pain of loss of life or limb. It’s an amazing paradox that history records numerous attacks on the Jewish people as “Christ killers,” yet those same people hold that the death of Jesus was necessary for their salvation. Concepts such as love and grace all too often apply only to the group that thinks like them. Many truly believe that their beliefs are far more important than how they act. Luther preached the “love of God,” yet clearly hated the Jews with the utmost of passion. He even hated some of the writers of the Bible.
5. It is amazing how many major groups of Jesus believing Christians taught that the god of the Old Testament, aka Jehovah, Elohim, or Yahweh, was an evil, vengeful, angry tyrant that was not the same god as the one in the New Testament. The Marcionites and Gnostics were two such groups. Like a few others, they perceived the world as a battle between the forces of good and evil. Physical matter being evil, the spiritual being good.
The Marcionites was founded by Marcion, a consecrated church bishop. The church father, Irenaeus, wrote that Marcion flourished under Pope Anicetus. Breaking news…a Marcionite nearly was elected as pope. If he had been elected, some of his views, including that the Old Testament God was an evil tyrant, just may have become orthodox. After all, it was the popes who decided what was orthodox and what was heresy for most of church history.
Marcion had a large following who sincerely believed that a good god would never authorize genocides, slavery, or rape, to name just three of the many things they viewed as evil that were approved by the god of the Old Testament. Why would a good god create animals that if they wanted to live and feed their babies, they would have to kill and eat each other, causing immense pain and suffering to their dinner?
6. Some groups teach that it is a great sin for a woman to wear mini-skirts, shorts, or even long pants. Some add wearing makeup or having short hair to that list of taboos to name just a few. Others condemn the use of medicine or even electricity. Other groups insist that smoking cigarettes, eating pork, drinking any alcohol, or even coffee, are sins. They all base these doctrines on scripture.
7. Many groups used to, and a few still do today, teach that interracial marriage is sinful.
8. Albigensianism became an offshoot of Gnosticism during the Middle Ages. It attracted a rather large following and taught that the believer could become perfect. How? Since all matter was evil, members were encouraged to starve themselves to death. Since “last rites” could only be given once (by definition) if a believer recovered from their deathbed, they were often smothered to death to assure salvation.
9. Origen, a leading and respected church father, taught that in the remote past, God created an enormous number of souls. Depending on their thoughts, before any had bodies or were even born; some became human, some angels, some demons, but only one was perfect, who became God’s son, Jesus. This doctrine, from an extremely influential church father, displays just how unclear the Bible is on many subjects.
10. Some teach that you must speak in tongues in order to receive the Holy Spirit while others teach that speaking in tongues is of the devil.
11. Is Friday, Saturday, or Sunday the proper Sabbath day? Many people were killed because this was an important issue to certain groups.
Mark Twain was so right when he said that “It is easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled.” Many just accept whatever their parents and priests told them was true, without asking for one iota of evidence.
12. Bloody wars were fought between those who believed that the pope was infallible against those who did not.
13. Millions believe that the Bible must be read literally. If it says that 2+2=5, then that must be believed. They really do believe that. Others contend that the Bible contains allegory, metaphor, hyperbole, and other literary devices. Many now concede that there are contradictions and mistakes regarding history and science but still see value in spiritual messages that can be gleaned from it.
14. Maybe all we need to say about the founder of Mormonism, Joseph Smith, is that he was a convicted criminal, who had at least 28 wives and possibly as many as 49. The worst part is that he would tell very young girls that if they married him, they and their family would have a special place in heaven. Fourteen-year-old wife Helen Mar Kimball wrote that “This promise was so great that I willingly gave myself to purchase so glorious a reward.” The powerful and those displaying charisma can make people believe just about anything.
Mormonism was founded around 1820 when Smith claimed that an angel named Moroni directed him to gold plates that were buried 1400 years earlier. Magic eyeglasses allowed him to read the “reformed Egyptian” which he translated into English. God the Father, along with Jesus visited him during this time. John the Baptist came later and ordained him into the Aaronic priesthood. Later, Peter, James, and John came to ordain him into the Melchizedek priesthood.
Given those great credentials, millions of followers today believe that their marriage will be eternal, and many believe they will become gods with their own planets to rule. Accordingly, they gladly give 10% of their gross earnings to their extremely rich church, but only after smartly subtracting their “basic living needs.” They teach that Adam and Eve were literal people who lived in the Garden of Eden that was located in western Missouri. Despite DNA, they also teach that native Americans are descendants from ancient Israelites and that dark-skinned people indicates God’s curse.
Many Christians claim that Mormonism is not Christian but rather is a cult. Billy Graham always had it listed as a cult…that is until the day that a Mormon, Mitt Romney, decided to run as a Republican presidential candidate against Barack Obama. Graham endorsed Romney and ordered their website to immediately reclassify Mormonism from the cult side to the Christian side. That, my friend, is just how easy it is for Biblical doctrine to change with the tide. As you may recall, Billy’s son would later endorse a pathological liar who bragged about sexually assaulting women and having committed multiple adulteries, as being sent by God to make America pure again. Francis Schaeffer, Jr. has stated that when his father was on his deathbed, Billy Graham, a close friend, told him that he had no idea what happens when a person dies. In public, he always said there was absolutely no doubt.
So now we have Billy Graham, Martin Luther, Origen, and others, who are heroes of the faith and who were vitally important in advancing the growth of Christianity, clearly guilty of heresy. If you cannot believe them, who can you really believe?
15. Another contention is whether a person, once saved, is always saved or can backslide and lose their salvation. Others teach that you can never know until you die.
16. Many taught that owning slaves was a God-given right. It must be conceded that the Bible certainly advanced that understanding. That is obviously not a vote for slavery, rather a vote against the Bible. It caused over 600,000 deaths in the American Civil War and millions more elsewhere.
17. A number of groups did not and do not today believe that Jesus was fully God and fully human. Among these groups are those that teach Jesus was not eternal and that he only became divine at his baptism or crucifixion. The Arian’s view was that while Jesus was the Son of God, he was neither eternal nor as fully divine as God the Father was. Most Christian groups teach dogmatically that Jesus was 100% God and 100% human. However, they disagree widely on the details of how those two natures operate either together or separate. And of course, just like every one of these disputes, both sides are 100% sure that they are right. Maybe the respected Bishop Alexander solved this mystery when he taught that Jesus “is the unbegotten begotten.” He was very serious too.
18. Some teach that to be a real Christian, you must believe the doctrine of the Trinity that states that God consists of three persons, all being eternal without a beginning, equal in power and knowledge, yet being just one God. Others believe that only the Father was God and that the Holy Spirit refers to a force from God and not a distinct person.
19. Most of us know about the Inquisition, but few realize that the original United States colonies were just as harsh. The “Puritans” were anything but pure. Their “city upon a hill” was a theocracy which originally banned Catholics and other non-Puritans. Quakers were hung for trying to evangelize. Catholics were banned for holding public office in New York until 1806. Baptist ministers were arrested and beaten in Virginia.
Along with the Salem witch trials, Massachusetts used whipping posts, branding, ear cropping, pillory, dunking (some drowned), and public stocks as punishment for violating certain laws, many of which were religious laws. One man who had just returned from serving three years at sea, was sentenced to the stocks for kissing his wife in public. His crime was profaning the Sabbath “by lewd and unseemly behavior.” Those that convicted him, truly believed they were the “real Christians.”
Connecticut and several other colonies required serious penalties for blasphemy, witchcraft, and adultery. Beggars and vagabonds were often pilloried. Some were pelted with rocks resulting in death.
Most of the whippings, hangings, branding, etc. was done in public for the “education, edification, and entertainment of the populace.” Since these folks took pride in keeping the Word of God, the penalty was often double if the criminal was a slave; given the curse of Ham. Many other examples can be given to show once again how it is those with power and charisma are the ones who determine what is truth. Just as we see today, freedom of religion for one group, does not mean freedom of religion for others.
It is the powerful and charismatic that generally decide what is orthodox and what is heresy. Many enforce their beliefs with an iron fist. The powerful also decided which books became part of the Bible, often after much contention, nasty debates, and occasionally very close votes.
20. The Free Spirit taught that once a person reached the state of perfection, laws no longer applied to them. Some of the Inquisitors had this mindset. We see a variant of this today. Some of those advocating Jesus the loudest see nothing wrong with their frequent lies, slander, racism, misogyny, and insane wealth building on the backs of the poor and suffering. Many seem to have an utter hatred of immigrants and anyone who has a different skin color. Pride and the lack of humility seems to blind so many from the state of reality. Some of the very worst view themselves as God’s very best. It’s utterly amazing how so many believe that reducing taxes for the very rich while reducing food, safe housing, and health care for the less fortunate is God’s will.
21. Jehovah’s Witnesses has a large membership which was founded in 1870 by Charles Russell. They deny the Trinity, the immortality of the soul, and hell. They teach that the Father gifted Jesus with divinity for dying on the cross. Love them or hate them, most groups envy the dedication of their members. Most participate in door-to-door evangelism and see no need to celebrate birthdays or traditional holidays. They refuse military service but are willing to perform alternative civilian service that is not under the control or supervision of the military.
22. Despite the fact that Paul said in 1 Corinthians 1:14 that he thanked God that he did not baptize any of them, except for maybe one or two, a few groups are adamant that baptism is absolutely required for salvation. Some insist it must be performed with very specific words and is not a real baptism if the person baptizing was not right with God at the time. Some teach that it absolutely must be performed “in the name of Jesus,” while others teach it is not valid unless performed “in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.” Again, we see ambiguous religious doctrine trumping actions and conduct.
23. Some believe that all people who do not accept Jesus as their personal savior will spend all eternity suffering immense torment in hell. Some say that this even includes babies who die. If life begins at conception, it will have to include all miscarriages too. Others teach that the doctrine of hell is nowhere to be found in the Bible. Some teach it is a place of fire while others claim it is utter darkness. Both are right as the Bible teaches it is both.
24. Total depravity (all people inherit original sin at birth) is taught by many while others teach that man is inherently good and unaffected by the fall. Obviously, there never was a fall but that is what they teach.
25. To be forgiven of sin, some say it must be confessed to a priest. Others say only to God, while Catholicism taught for years that with enough prayer and money, people already dead can still be forgiven and transported to heaven without any confession at all.
26. A number of groups teach that God elects those that are saved and those that are damned, regardless of how they live their life or what they sincerely believe. This despite the Bible giving over twenty different ways by which one must be saved.
27. As an aside, there were many causes for persecution and martyrdom which are seldom mentioned in historical accounts authored by Christians. One such cause was that it was seen as rebellion against the state or against the gods of various cities. Christians refused to work on the sabbath day, so non-Christians were forced to cover for them and do extra work, thus creating the view that the Christians were not being good and caring citizens.
Many preachers who taught that women should refrain from having sex with their husbands, the flesh being evil, were likewise, not at all “popular.” This was a far wider problem than many think. Another issue was the belief by some that Christians were cannibals who drank blood, due to their private meetings coupled with the teaching about the Lord’s supper or Eucharist. For such a brand-new religion to declare that all other gods were either false or devils was not only slanderous but was treason as defined by many local law codes. The teaching that if a person was martyred, they went immediately to heaven resulted in some going out of their way to pursue willful martyrdom.
There are dozens of other Biblical controversies, not to mention hundreds of religious groups that each teach their members exactly how God operates and the things that he likes and doesn’t like. It’s utterly amazing how almost always God likes the very same things as they do. However, there is a time to say, “enough is enough.” Mark Twain once wrote that training is everything: “It can bring a body up to believe anything. … how easy it is to seem a lunatic to a person who has not been taught as you have been taught.”
