What makes a doctrine

The biological doctrine of evolution was misinterpreted and misapplied to social policy. New Word List Word List.

Save This Word! See synonyms for doctrine on Thesaurus. We could talk until we're blue in the face about this quiz on words for the color "blue," but we think you should take the quiz and find out if you're a whiz at these colorful terms. Words nearby doctrine Doctor's Commons , doctor's degree , doctorspeak , doctrinaire , doctrinal , doctrine , doctrine of descent , docudrama , document , documentalist , documentarian.

Beeke January 11, If you preach to the heart, you enter into the experience of the people of God as they encounter doctrine in their own lives.

Matthew Barrett April 18, Does the doctrine of justification make a difference in the way that we live the Christian life? Word-Filled Women's Ministry. Gloria Furman , Kathleen Nielson.

Ruth and Esther. Kathleen Nielson. Here Is Our God. Kathleen Nielson , D. Sound Doctrine. Bobby Jamieson. Crossway is a not-for-profit Christian ministry that exists solely for the purpose of proclaiming the gospel through publishing gospel-centered, Bible-centered content.

Learn more or donate today at crossway. Connect with Us! I called on a woman close to the front of the church.

It gives me an opportunity to explain a principle early in our exchange that will lay the foundation for other things to be said.

What do we teach today? Do you hear what he is saying? This is important! The questions were not baiting or challenging ones but rather were efforts to clarify. This thrills my soul. I think this is what Jesus would do. Could you two make a few suggestions on how we can deepen and sweeten our relationships with our LDS neighbors? At that point, I sensed that we had somehow gotten through to some of the audience. These experiences highlight for me the challenge we face.

The difficulty comes when someone in the past has spoken on these matters, has put forward ideas that are out of harmony with what we know and teach today, and when those teachings are still available, either in print or among the everyday conversations of the members, and have never been corrected or clarified. What are the teachings of the Church today? If presented properly, it need not weaken faith or create doubts.

It could do much to focus the Saints more and more on the central, saving verities of the gospel. We discussed earlier that one of the ways to keep our doctrine pure is to present the gospel message the way the prophets and apostles today present it. Let us take two illustrations. The first is an extremely sensitive matter, one that currently affects and will continue to affect the quantity and quality of convert baptisms in the Church.

I speak of the matter of the blacks and the priesthood. I was raised in the Church, just as many readers were, and was well aware of the priesthood restriction. In June of everything changed—not just the matter of who could or could not be ordained to the priesthood but also the nature of the explanation for why the restriction had been in place from the beginning.

Elder Dallin H. Church members seemed to have less to go on to get a grasp of the issue. Can you address why this was the case, and what can be learned from it? We can put reason to revelation. We can put reasons to commandments. There is a lesson in that. The whole set of reasons seemed to me to be unnecessary risk taking.

The reasons turn out to be man-made to a great extent. In other words, we really do not know why the restriction on the priesthood existed. I have come to realize that this is what Elder McConkie meant in his August address to the Church Educational System when he counseled us to.

Cannon or whosoever has said in days past that is contrary to the present revelation. We spoke with a limited understanding and without the light and knowledge that now has come into the world. We get our truth and our light line upon line and precept upon precept. We have now had added a new flood of intelligence and light on this particular subject, and it erases all the darkness and all the views and all the thoughts of the past.

It is a new day and a new arrangement, and the Lord has now given the revelation that sheds light out into the world on this subject. As to any slivers of light or any particles of darkness of the past, we forget about them. It seems to me, therefore, that we as Latter-day Saints have two problems to solve in making the restored gospel available more extensively to people of color.

First, we need to have our hearts and minds purified of all pride and prejudice. Second, we need to dismiss all previous explanations for the restriction and indicate that while we simply do not know why the restriction existed before, the fulness of the blessings of the restored gospel are now available to all who prepare themselves to receive them.

Elder M. Now to the second illustration. When I open the discussion to questions before a group of persons not of our faith, I am always asked about our doctrine of God and the Godhead, particularly concerning the teachings of Joseph Smith and Lorenzo Snow. I generally do not have too much difficulty explaining our view of how through the Atonement man can eventually become like God, become more and more Christlike.

For that matter, Orthodox Christianity, a huge segment of the Christian world, still holds to a view of human deification. The tougher issue for other Christians to deal with is the accompanying doctrine set forth in the King Follett sermon [28] and the Lorenzo Snow couplet [29] —namely, that God was once a man. These concepts are clearly a part of the doctrinal restoration. We teach that man is not of a lower order or different species than God. I suppose all we can say in response is that we know what we know as a result of modern revelation and that from our perspective the distance between God and man is still tremendous, almost infinite.

Our Father in Heaven is indeed omnipotent, omniscient, and, by the power of His Holy Spirit, omnipresent. And what do we know beyond the fact that God is an exalted man? What do we know of His mortal existence? What do we know of the time before He became God? We really do not know more than what was stated by the Prophet Joseph Smith, and that is precious little. This topic is not what we would call a central and saving doctrine, one that must be believed or understood to hold a temple recommend or be in good standing in the Church.

This latter illustration highlights an important point: a teaching may be true and yet not a part of what is taught and emphasized in the Church today. Whether it is true or not may, in fact, be irrelevant, if indeed the Brethren do not teach it today or it is not taught directly in the standard works or found in our approved curriculum.

The scriptures do not provide an answer. Penrose stated. So whether He was or was not is not part of the doctrine of the Church.

This personal revelation comes through prayer, scripture study, and the witness of the Holy Ghost. We show that we accept the doctrine of Jesus Christ by repenting, being baptized, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and continuing to follow the laws and keep the covenants of the gospel throughout our lives.

God appeared to Moses and showed him the workmanship of His hands see Moses —9 ; see also Joseph Smith—History — The Lord spoke to Nephi and commanded him to build a ship to bring his family to the Americas see 1 Nephi —8. This type of revelation is communicated Spirit to spirit.