Dear Brother or Sister in Christ:

The Word is full of beautiful and powerful verses. And, of course, each of us is convinced that our interpretation of those verses is the correct one. But because our minds are frail and fallible, or because of the hardness of our hearts, we often see only what we want to see, and remember only what strikes us as important at the moment. That is why we need to read, reread and study the Bible continuously with open hearts and minds.

And even if we are assisted by the use of a good commentary, or by the words of skilled teachers, we are seeing the Scripture through someone else's eyes--using their doctrinal "lens". The many, and often varying interpretations given by a growing number of self-proclaimed experts who, sometimes, seem to be making it up as they go, should raise a red flag to all Christians. There is but one, objective Truth and one Spirit. The Spirit can not contradict Himself or in any way be divided. Truth does not suddenly change or evolve, though our understanding of it may develop and grow. Logically and spiritually we know that two radically different opinions on important issues such as baptismal regeneration, eternal security, abortion, cloning, contraception, euthanasia, the Trinity, suicide, justification, predestination, the atonement etc. can't both be correct. And false doctrines can be spiritually dangerous--even fatal (1 Tim 4:16). Such doctrinal differences are rampant in our somewhat dysfunctional Christian family which is made up of over 20,000 known sectarian groups.

Everyone is "convicted" that he or she is doctrinally correct, and claims that the Spirit has led him or her to truth, but some are undoubtedly wrong, though all are using the same Bible. Would God leave us marooned in a sea of doctrinal Babel? Of course not. He gave the Church a teaching authority (Matt. 16:18, 28:16-20). Which Church has it? Whose lens is the right one? Ponder those things as you take this quiz, which may bring up some teachings that you may have missed in your Bible reading, or that some of your preachers may have neglected--or ignored.

© 1998 Ed Stuart.
This text may be downloaded or printed out for private reading, but it may not be uploaded to another Internet site or published, electronically or otherwise, without express written permission from the copyright holder.