What is doctrine? According to Wayne Grudem, “Doctrine is what the whole Bible teaches us today about some particular topic.” He goes on to discuss that doctrine is developed through a “process called systematic theology.” In Matthew 28:19-20 Jesus told his disciples to “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations . . . teaching them to observe all that I commanded you.” In the second part of the Great Commission, believers are called to teach the whole Bible to one another. The nature of systematic theology is an attempt then to summarize the teaching of Scripture in brief, understandable, and very carefully formulated statements, and from there doctrines are developed (i.e., doctrine of God, doctrine of Christ, man, sin, salvation, future etc…). These are doctrines that have been most significant and foundational throughout church history, these are doctrines that have practical implications in how we live, and yet these same doctrines are under attack today by those who call themselves evangelicals.
Unfortunately we live in a day where many who claim to be evangelicals deny the need for propositional truth. The post-modern culture has had a great impact on the church, so much so that even many churches who call themselves evangelical denies that there is such a thing as absolute truth.
Twelve years ago when I was first introduced to the topic of systematic theology, I was determined that when I had children, I would make every effort to be faithful in teaching them the key doctrines of the Christian faith. When my oldest daughter was about 18 months old she loved to go to bed at night listening to music. She would wake up the next day reciting some of the songs she learned. So from there I decided to make a tape for her that included all the key doctrines of our faith from the doctrine of God to the doctrine of end times. I would ask a question (i.e. How many gods are there?), provide the answer, read the verses that supported the doctrine and recite the verse in a song. As she listened to this tape over a period of time my wife and noticed that she was no longer repeating the nursery rhymes from her previous tapes, but she repeating the questions and verses from her doctrine tape. We did the same thing with our second child. And this morning I came back from my early morning run, and I listened through the vent of our upstairs room and sure enough my youngest daughter was listening to that same doctrine tape that I made 10 years ago. She listens to that tape for 30 minutes, but on this particular morning it was part of her morning devotions. Some might call this brain washing. But I call it catechizing my children.
This is the kind of foundation we need to lay for our children. While they are young we need to ensure that a solid doctrinal foundation is laid for them so that when they are out in the world that disregards absolute truth they will be able to stand up against every wind of doctrine that comes their way.
