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VIDEO: 'Doctrine And/Or Practice?'

I recently mentioned the impact that the "When Heterodoxy Hits Home" Conference had on me personally (and I wasn't even there!) once I realized the presence of sin in my heart whenever I attempted to combat such heterodoxy in the church today.

Now that the video versions of each presentation are available, I want to look at each lecture one-at-a-time and simply note some of the key highlights for you as they convicted me when I first listened to them.


Pastor Larry Beane: "Doctrine And/Or Practice?"


KEY HIGHLIGHTS: 
*- Pastor Beane's presentation set out to look at the relationship between doctrine and practice

*- Before the Reformation, the Divine Liturgy was the practice that preserved the Gospel of Jesus Christ when it was a time with no sermons and false doctrine running rampant

*- Practice sometimes drives doctrine when we generally assume it's only the other way around

*- There's this common belief nowadays that if we agree about what we believe doctrinally, then it doesn't really matter what we do

*- "Doctrine and practice are supposed to be one."

*- "Theology isn't just a bunch of checklists. It's not just a bunch of intellectual assertions. It's real contact with real sinners who are in need of Law and Gospel, and it's real pastoral care through Word and Sacrament. So, of course, correct doctrine is necessary, but it doesn't stop there."

*- "It's a 'both/and' thing, not an 'either/or' thing."

*- "There is right and wrong in worship. It's not just anything goes."

*- "We should pursue unity, but not uniformity. There is a difference."

*- "The purpose of ceremonies are to teach the people. Are we so bored that we need entertainment?"

*- Liked his comments on "Contemporary Worship" vs. "Entertainment Worship"

*- Pastor Beane's commentary about the "Symbols" of Christ's Church are extremely important for us to understand, IMHO

*- He ended with a 20-minute Q&A Session too


I really liked this one since I've spent the last 2-3 years in an LCMS church that has only given lip service to God's Word and the Confessions while taking an "anything goes" approach to worship each week.

Now, that "anything goes" approach is starting to trickle down into the Lutheran Day School's Wednesday Chapel Services too and I'm spending so much time at home trying to "deprogram" my two kids from some of the things they're being taught when my hope was that I'd be tasked with reinforcing it instead.

In a Lutheran layman's terms, doctrine should never be divorced from practice.



NOTE: I'm not a called and ordained minister of God's Word and Sacraments. I'm a layman or a Christian, Candy-Making, Husband, Father, Friend who lives in the "City of Good Neighbors" here on the East Coast. To be more specific, and relevant to the point I want to make with this note, I'm also a newly converted Confessional Lutheran who recently escaped American Evangelicalism a little over a year ago. That being said, please contact me ASAP if you believe that any of my "old beliefs" seem to have crept their way into any of the material you see published here, and especially if any of the content is inconsistent with our Confessions and Lutheran doctrine (in other words, if it's not consistent with God's Word, which our Confessions merely summarize and point us back to) so that I can correct those errors immediately and not lead any of His little ones astray (James 3:1). Finally, please be aware that you might also discover that some of the earlier pieces I wrote on this blog back in 2013 definitely fall into that category since I was a "Lutheran-In-Name-Only" at the time and was completely oblivious to the fact that a Christian "Book of Concord" even existed (Small/Large Catechism? What's that!?!). In addition, there are some entries that are a little "out there" so-to-speak since the subject matter was also heavy influenced by those old beliefs of mine. I know that now and I'm still learning. Anyway, I decided to leave those published posts up on this website and in cyberspace only because we now have this disclaimer, and only to demonstrate the continuing work of Christ and the Holy Spirit in my life (Hebrews 12:2; Philippians 1:6). Most importantly, please know that any time I engage in commenting on and/or interpreting a specific portion of the holy Scriptures, it will always closely follow the verse-by-verse notes from my Lutheran Study Bible and/or include references to the Book of Concord unless otherwise noted. Typically, I defer to what other Lutheran Pastors have already preached and taught about such passages since they are the called and ordained shepherds of our souls here on earth. Finally, I'm going to apologize ahead of time for the length of most entries. I'm well aware that blogs should be short, sweet, and to the point, but I've never been one to follow the rules when it comes to writing. Besides, this website is more like a dude's diary in the sense that everything I write about and share publicly isn't always what's "popular" or "#trending" at the time, but is instead all the things that I'm studying myself at the moment. For better or for worse, these posts tend to be much longer than most blog entries you'll find elsewhere only because I try to pack as much info as possible into a single piece so that I can refer to it again and again over time if I need to (and so that it can be a valuable resource for others -- if possible, a "One-Stop-Shop" of sorts). Thank you for stopping by and thank you in advance for your time, help, and understanding. Grace and peace to you and yours!

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About JKR

Christian. Husband. Father. Friend.

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Thank you for visiting A Lutheran Layman! Please feel free to leave a comment or a question since we do not exercise censorship. We've seen a similar policy with other blogs and it's worth repeating: Please act as if you're a guest in my home, and we'll get along just fine. I think anyone would agree that the kind of back-and-forth that is characteristic of blogs/chat forums and social media is becoming tiresome for all of us. Still, we should confess, edify, and love (and contend and defend when needed). Bottom line? Search the Scriptures! Apply Acts 17:11 to anything and everything you find here and, if you do happen to disagree with something you find here (which is certainly ok), or think I'm "irresponsible" and "wrong" for writing it, then please refute my position by supporting yours with Scripture and/or the Confessions. I don't think that's an unreasonable request, especially for those who identify themselves as "Christians" here, right? Besides, Proverbs 27:17 tells us "Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another" and 2 Timothy 3:16 says, "all Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness." If you have an opinion that's great, I welcome it, but try to support it using God's Word. I mean, if the goal here is to help us all arrive at the truth of God's Word (myself included), then it should be easy to follow through on this one simple request (I'm talking to all you "Anonymous" visitors out there). Grace and peace to you and yours!

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