(1/7/24) One problem I see with religious dogma is that it makes thinking unnecessary, perhaps even undesirable. At best, most religious dogma captures the truth of a moment in time, but then establishes that truth as static rather than foundational.

In John 16: 12 Jesus explains; I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth.

Jesus was speaking to His disciples near to His time of departure from the earth. A very central part of Jesus’ ministry was teaching. His statement in John 16:12 implies that His disciples were expected to continue learning from Him through the Holy Spirit. In fact, the Bible shows us that much of what Jesus taught was contrary to the dogma that had developed in the Jewish religion since the time of Moses.

There is a difference between dogma and doctrine. There are immutable truths that make Christianity what it is. These truths are sacrosanct and define the doctrine of a belief system. But when the interpretations of these doctrinal issues are established by a system in such a way that there is no room for examination, or revelation, it then becomes dogmatic.

Having questions about a truth is far different from questioning the truth itself. Plus, as people adopt a new way of thinking, such as embracing a new belief system, they will have questions and doubts. Sometimes these questions and doubts are more about themselves and their understanding of the truth than about the truth itself. In any case, I think questions are healthy and should be encouraged, even when they are about doctrinal issues. 

But, for those of us asking the questions or harboring the doubts I suggest that we constantly strive to keep our minds open. Just because a thing doesn’t make sense to us or fit neatly into our current way of thinking doesn’t mean it is wrong. Also, don’t assume that just because one person can’t provide a satisfactory answer that there is no answer. From my perspective it seems that sometimes dogma arises from the inability of people to answer tough questions. Be diligent in your pursuit of the truth.

Your best resource is the Bible. However, there are several translations available to English speakers. As we read the Bible we are confronted with selecting a translation that we are able to grasp while being certain that it represents the original text accurately. I am not enough of a scholar to say what is the most accurate translation but I have heard from a number of resources that the King James Version is closest to the original. There is a problem in that the King James Version was originally written in the early 1600’s and retains some of the elements of literature from that period. That makes it easy for people of our day to get distracted by odd grammatical structures and phrases that are unusual to modern language. There are translations that attempt to bring the scriptures into modern parlance, but not all of them do a good job of maintaining the original meaning. For those who are interested in ascertaining the original message from Bible scripture and aren’t afraid of doing a bit of work, check out Strong’s concordance. This exceptional tool enables you to quickly reference a passage of scripture, a phrase or a word and see it in its original form as well as a direct translation from its original language.

In my opinion reading and understanding the Bible is the best way to ditch the dogma.