Dogma is the name of a B grade movie starring Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. But that’s not why you’re worried about dogma. A Wikipedia article captures why we fear dogma
‘Dogma in the broad sense is any belief held unquestioningly and with undefended certainty.’ 1
That’s how we hear the word dogma now. Beliefs held with relentless and dangerous conviction. But, dogma, a Latin word, originally meant an agreed upon teaching or philosophical truth or tenet.
So how should we understand Christian dogma? Is it all about a set of beliefs held unquestioningly and with undefended certainty? Or is it something else?
If we’re to examine the idea of Christian teaching or dogma, it’s best to go to the source of all this teaching – the Bible. Here are the first few sentences of teaching from Luke’s Gospel:
Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, 2 just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. 3 With this in mind, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I too decided to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, 4 so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.
Luke writes as an investigative journalist. He was no Buzzfeed columnist but rather a Four Corners kind of guy. He interviewed the eyewitnesses and servants of the words. He asked questions. And the truth mattered, his investigation was careful, and he started at the start.
And certainly, he did this for certainty. But it isn’t undefended certainty. The narrative of Jesus’ life, his love, his claims and his teaching – these are all laid out by Luke to be examined so readers can have confidence in the truths about Christianity. Not only that, scholar Richard Bauckham, suggests that Luke does a bunch of namedropping so his sources could be questioned by others.
Truth in the Scriptures
And this takes us to the wider invitation of Biblical Christianity. Biblical Christianity’s understanding is that truth is found in the Scriptures- the Bible. But the truth doesn’t come to us mystically, with some inner eye, or divine whisper. God, through the power of the Holy Spirit, uses ordinary human reading and understanding for us to understand these truths. This means anyone who can read or listen can come to know the truth about God and the salvation found in Jesus. And it can be defended, debated, or shared.
Here’s the ideal captured in a little snippet in the book of Acts. It happens when Paul and Barnabas arrive at the town of Berea.
On arriving there, they went to the Jewish synagogue. 11 Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. (Acts 17)
Notice the pattern, Paul and Barnabas taught; the Scriptures were examined. Paul and Barnabas didn’t declare this is true because we say it is true. Rather, they put their position forward according to the Scriptures. (It was standard practice Acts 18:27-28)
The dogma of men
Sadly, unbiblical Christianity has entrusted its authority to men. Popes, Archbishops and others have declared things true because they say it is true. They see authority residing in themselves. You can see this when the declarations made clearly contradict the Bible. Likewise, the charismatic or celebrity pastor who teaches a message that God gave ‘just to them’ wields an authority that cannot be questioned. These patterns are so different from the model shown in the Bible.
And the result? The smell of rat and a reasonable reaction. Words declared on high by somebody are not necessarily to be trusted. And there is real wisdom in this.
And this isn’t just in the realm of religion and beliefs. Consider Steve Jobs famous speech at Stanford University where he invites every student to be wary of any accepted truth. ‘Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.'
Don’t be trapped by Dogma – don’t be trapped by the accepted beliefs. Don’t just follow the crowd. Think, question and challenge. Love it. But, this is not quite what Steve Jobs recommends.
His teaching is that we are, instead, to ‘follow your heart and intuition.’ His authoritative declaration is that each heart ought to be its own authority. Now, this rings true because we love this idea! We are captains of our future and the true diviners of truth. But wait a second. What gives him the authority to tell us to listen to ourselves as our own authority? And that isn’t the biggest problem.
Can we Trust our own Dogma?
The biggest problem is an elephant. Jonathan Haidt persuasively argues in The Happiness Hypothesis and The Righteous Mind, that we’re all guided by a rampant elephant, who is a herd creature, reacting superficially and emotively to anything and everything. Our intuition often does damage to us and others.
Fortunately the elephant does have a rider and her name is Reason. But… she spends most of her time justifying the elephant’s decisions and hoping beyond hope to wield some influence. The Scriptures align with Haidt’s view of our default moral intuitions. ‘The heart is desperately wicked, who can understand it.’
Our individual personality, desires, emotions, hopes and dreams do matter. They are important. But are they a good authority that will give us truth to live by above all else? Based on my own experience of myself, I say ‘nope.’
Can we find truth we can trust?
So, what are we to do? We have ourselves, an important and untrustworthy authority. And we have people who see themselves as the authority. But this second group worryingly are people. And what rules us out, rules them out.
What are we to do? We are invited by God to seek truth in the Bible. This is the invitation of Biblical Christianity. For the Bible is given, by God, the creator, who made the world and made humanity so we might know him and know ourselves.
But the truths arising from Scripture, aren’t held unquestioningly. They are endlessly questioned and debated. Whole trees of books sit on my shelves with authors teasing out, arguing over and challenging each other on what a particular Bible passage means.
As I studied to be a church pastor and evangelist, my training wasn’t memorising a set of given positions handed down from on high. For sure, we were taught truths of Christianity that the church has historically accepted. But we were also given the tools to ask more questions and explore ideas more deeply. I had to learn Ancient Greek (what the New Testament is written in), Hebrew (Old Testament), read philosophy, history and ethics. Not only that but superficial engagement with other ideas were quickly revealed in red.
And the goal of all this? Read and understand the truth of the Scriptures. So we might understand God, ourselves and the world we lived in. With the hope that we would continue to grow in our understanding. And grow in our abilities to share what we had come to understand.
And why am I so sure, we, ordinary people can arrive at truths to live by from the Bible? Simple. I am confident that the Bible is clear and consistent. I didn’t think that when I hadn’t read it. But when I started to read it - slowly but surely - wow. Sure, you need to get a hold of some key principles on how to read the Bible and work at applying them. But once you do that I guarantee you’ll be stunned by what you discover.
There is also surprising proof of the consistency and clarity of the Bible. Across great seas of churches, piles of denominations and over thousands of years; the central principles of Christianity are agreed upon. You wouldn't know that from the media. But the headline 'Christian leaders, together, believe in historic Christian creeds' isn't going to make the news is it?
I’ve rubbed shoulders with African, Asian, European and even American brothers and sisters raised in different cultures, shaped by Bibles in different languages and we’ve been in agreement. On everything? Of course not. But we’ve been in 100% agreement on the central claims of Jesus and the salvation found in him.
For Biblical Christianity, our confidence that Scripture is authoritative and clear comes from a few ideas:
The true and living God speaks and reveals. He makes himself known. (Genesis to Revelation!)
Jesus taught and understood the Scriptures as the very words of God (Matthew 19, Matthew 5)
By the Holy Spirit, God authored the Scriptures through ordinary men over time. (1 Peter 1:10-12, 2 Peter 1:16-21)
God has given his Holy Spirit to his people so they can read his words and come to understand him, his will and his plan of salvation in Jesus now (1 Corinthians 2:6-16)
Understanding how the Scriptures relate to Jesus Christ is a key to understanding them. (Luke 24, 2 Corinthians 1:20, 1 Corinthians 15)
Biblical Christianity invites thinking, learning and questions. It invites understanding these great truths together in a Bible teaching church. It invites understanding by listening to those that have gone before us. And, once that understanding exists, it invites us to courageously trust and live out these truths.
1 Accessed 23rd December. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dogma