I have been reading a lot of posts lately by Christians in Christian groups on Facebook.  Great questions, and I am a firm believer that after the fear of the Lord it is our questions that lead us to wisdom.  A good question framed properly where the answer is diligently sought will always lead to a piece of knowledge that will augment our faith.  But we have also heard that there is not such thing as a dumb question, and I am not entirely convinced of the truth of that statement.

             Have you ever been in a conversation in which someone asked a question and although they were earnest in their desire for the answer the fact that they asked the question only revealed that the person still had much to learn?  I was sitting in my police car with a high school student who was taking advantage of our ride along program when he asked a question about how the radar worked.  We, as police officers, must be able to answer that question often as part of our testimony in court to demonstrate that we know how to correctly employ the device.  After about twenty minutes of explanation the young man pointed to a parked car and asked, “wouldn’t it be cool if the radar could detect that car?”  While it was clear that he genuinely wanted it to “be cool” he had not heard or maybe he had not understood, anything I had said in the previous twenty minutes about the functioning and purpose of the radar. A proper understanding would have alleviated the necessity of the question.

These are the kind of questions I have been seeing in the Christian Facebook posts.  Can god fix any kind of relationship; …even when it seems hopeless, can he restore it?  Is it okay for a Christian to listen to non-Christian music?  Is it normal to get sick and angry when people blaspheme the name of God?  All questions that need to be answered but all questions that may reveal that we do not have a firm grasp of the basics of Christianity.

I was reminded of a passage in which Paul told the Corinthians, “I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it (1Co 3:2).”  What is the milk that we need before we are given solid food?  What would Paul have considered the basics of Christianity and would a proper understanding of these basics answer some of our other initial questions?

             Where Paul was telling the Corinthians that they are not yet ready for solid food the writer of Hebrews expressed to the Hebrews that they were ready and that they needed to move off the elementary doctrines.  Here, I think the writer identifies what those elementary doctrines might be.  “Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, and of instruction about washings, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.  And this we will do if God permits (Heb 6:1-3).”  I suspect that the elementary doctrines are the doctrine of repentance from dead works, the doctrine of faith in God, the doctrine of washings, the doctrine of laying on of hands, the doctrine of resurrection from the dead, and the doctrine of eternal judgment.

             Could you explain those doctrines to a new believer?  Do you understand each of these doctrines enough to use them to answer those other basic questions?  I suspect that the answers to the earlier question about repaired relationships could be found or at least better understood through an understanding of the doctrine of faith and resurrection.  I suspect that questions about what is appropriate and what is not appropriate for Christian behavior could be best deciphered through an understanding of the doctrine of dead works.  What produces life versus that which produces death?  Anger could also be better understood in a context of the doctrines of dead works and even eternal judgment.

             I guess what I am saying is that my experiences on Facebook in these Christian groups is that the church, and I include myself in that body, is failing to communicate and teach these basic doctrines.  Where can we go to learn these things if we are not learning them in the church?  What hope do we have apart from these basic doctrines?  Every question, asked earnestly, is a good question but what are the most important questions?  The priority for us as Christians should be those doctrines listed above.  If we cannot answer those questions then we don’t know the basics of our identity in Christ, we can’t communicate those basics to others, and as a generation of believers we can’t hope to move on to maturity. The good news is that the answers to these questions are not restricted to those in possession of a theology degree. If anything my theology education has only made me more confident in that which I already knew.

What does it mean to repent from dead works?

What does it mean to put your faith in God?

What does the bible teach about washings?

Why and when do we lay on of hands?

What does the Bible say about the resurrection of the dead?

What is the Biblical teaching on eternal judgment?

             One final thought.  Adam Clarke writing on the passage in Hebrews that I cited above says that he is, “inclined to think that all the terms in this verse, as well as those in the former, belong to the Levitical law, and are to be explained on that ground (Clarke 1810-1826, Heb 6).”  It is not enough to know what you feel these things mean.  To know the answers to these questions we have to know what they are as Jesus and the Disciples would have understood them to be.  To be a Christian is to know what Christ taught on these basic doctrines.

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Clarke, Adam. Adam Clarke’s Commentary On The Bible. Public Domain, 1810-1826.

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