By Russ Atmore
The appeal to personal
experience is one of the ways that persons justify their behavior.
Modern society appeals to adults to exercise judgment with respect to
allowing their children to see “restricted” movies. This judgment is at
the discretion of the adult, and at the expense of both God and the
child. This so-called appeal “appeals“ to adults because it
allows them to feel good about making an important decision, and because
we think that we are adults, we, therefore must be discerning. This is
nothing but the spirit of our times, and it certainly does not have the
approval of God. The book of Judges condemns men and women
regularly because, ”every man did what was right in his own eyes”
(Judges 17:6 cf: Deut. 12:8). It is very difficult to argue against
personal experience, and even more so in the spiritual realm. Such
individuals are closed to discussion, and often display an attitude that
is not teachable. People often use their personal experience to defend
something in the Bible. Personal experience is not the final arbiter in
biblical decision-making – the Bible is.
What does the Bible say
regarding these things. It is probably easier to understand the
difference between these two terms by using the words, “objective and
subjective.” Doctrine is objective and experience is subjective. We must
always subject our experience to the objective Word of God. Why do we
say this? We say this, because the Bible is our authority. Even when our
experiences are in accord with Scripture, it is still the Word that
takes precedence over our experiences. Jesus said, that “heaven and
earth would pass away, but His Word would never pass away” (Matthew
24:35), which effectively means that the Bible will stand for
eternity.
The word “doctrine” simply
refers to what the Bible teaches about a particular subject. Doctrine
may either be broad or narrow. For example, the doctrine of God would be
broad, and the doctrine of God’s eternal decrees would be narrow. The
narrow fits into the broader framework, and would apply to all aspects
of biblical doctrines. The Holy Spirit would be broad, the gifts of the
Spirit narrow, and the gift of giving, even narrower still. In other
words, doctrine may be broken down into specifics. All of it is related
to the Word of God. The Bible is doctrine. It is obvious that
people will differ and disagree over doctrine. Some doctrines will be
held by all Christians, and others will be of secondary importance, and
may well involve dispute. Disputes over secondary issues are fruitless,
and largely lead to ineffectiveness in the Christian life. There can be
no debate over the fundamentals of the faith.
The spirit of charity must
prevail in all disagreements. We know that as evangelicals, we will be
in serious disagreement with the Methodists, Anglicans or Romans
Catholics, simply because we differ on the fundamentals, nevertheless,
to treat someone else with antagonism and hatred is simply untenable for
a Christian. Let us beware of this attitude. Ultimately, doctrine or
experience relates to the definition of what is a Christian. The
ecumenical movement claims experience as the final judge. They say, let
us not divide over issues – love is what counts. Let us forget the
fundamentals, and unite on other common experiences, they say.
Evangelicals can never share the same ground as ecumenicals. We believe
the Bible – it is God’s Word. Ecumenicals do not believe the Bible. They
reject the inspiration of Scripture. It is not God’s final word to man –
He speaks in other ways. He might speak through the Dalai Lama, or
through the Moslems. This is not what we believe. We believe the Bible.
If our definition of what constitutes a Christian differs from the
ecumenical, then by that definition, we are saying that they are not
Christians. This will not be accepted by them, but will be seen as
uncharitable. Nevertheless, the Bible makes this solid distinction, and
because it does, we must regard it in this way also. Only let our spirit
always be that of charity towards those we differ with. We may hate the
unbeliever’s doctrine and respond vehemently against it, but to hate the
individual is sin. The Bible urges us to avoid false doctrine (Romans
16:17-20).
Doctrine is important, in
fact, it is crucial. Your experiences must be subjected to the test of
Scripture. If it is outside the scope of Scripture, drop it as a means
of defense. Mature Christians are able to discern these things. The
writer to the Hebrews says, “solid food is for the mature, who by
constant use, have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil”
(Hebrews 5:14). Constant work in the Bible leads to maturity in
spiritual things. The ability to counsel with wisdom comes from long
exposure to the Bible, not just from experience. Speaking only from
experience might be contrary to the Bible. So be careful about claiming
your experience as the final be all and end all. Only the Word of God
stands for all eternity, and therefore, can be relied upon at all times
(2 Timothy 3:16,17).
Is doctrine more important
than experience? You bet it is. Start learning the doctrines of
Scripture today. Disagree charitably with all those you disagree with.
Distinguish between those who love the truth of the Word, and those who
reject it. Accept fellow evangelicals with whom you disagree with. Love
them for Jesus’ sake. Reject false doctrine, love the truth, proclaim
the truth.
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