God's Not Dead pt 4

Before I really get into writing here, I just want to warn you all that this is a long one.

GOSPEL:
If you've read any or all of the last several posts, then much of this may seem very familiar, but there willl also be new pieces which you have not seen yet.

What is Gospel, and more specifically THE Gospel?
 I'm going to explain it in two styles, the first is in a way that is less detailed but still accurate, or the "milk" version. Then I'm going to really dig into it which I like to call the "Meat and potatoes" version.

Gospel level 1:

God is sovereign creator and is perfect in nature. When God made us in His(God's) image He made us the same way. Perfect. Perfection is the standard for us because of Him in who's image we are made. because of sin, we are no longer able to meet God's standards on our own. But God did not leave us without a way to restore our brokenness. He sent Jesus; in/through Jesus we can be restored to God, and spend eternity with him after we die instead of eternity away from him.

 Now, there's a lot more to it than that. because our sin interfers with our ability to understand the true and full meaning/importance of being made in Gid's image, as well as other things. Being made in God's image means that we have things about us that are similar, yet different and unique. Like having a twin, or having someone say "You look so much like_____!" Looking like someone does not make you them, or them you. You are the only true you that will ever exsist.
      What happened is that we tried to make ourselves the same as God, and in doing so sinned. When we try to be "god" that is self-idolatry. Now the difference between temptation and sin is how you react to whatever the temptation is. it's the action that turns temptation into sin. Sin is anything that is opposite God, or is an attempt to replace God, in some aspect.
    James 1 makes it Clear that God is not to blame for our shortcomings, God does not lead us into sin he leads us out of it. He uses sin as a way to show us the redemptive part of his nature. That's the best part of the gospel.
 
Scripture is also clear God didn't and still doesn't need anything. He didn't need to create us or reddem us after we sinned, but he did and does because it brings him glory.

Moving right along into something else. Theology, and Doctrine. Now, they're not the same thing, although they have a lot of inter-relation to eachother. But they are not identical. Theology is the Theo- logos" or "God-logic" "study of/about God ." Doctrine is teaching that comes out of theology.

There are different oppinions and views among believers within "Christianity" in both areas, But mainly the differences are in doctrine. There are differnet types of doctrine. All doctrine should come from scripture. I'm going to address two.

Primary Doctrine: very simply put it's what's believed and taught about God, man, sin, Salvation, and Scripture.

Secondary doctrine: This is where a lot of the difference is, because this type of doctrine is more contextual in nature. which simply means it may have more than one possible correct interpretation. I.E. the 4 horses in Revelation real(physical) or Metaphorical (Spiritual representation of something.)

Again, ther'es a lot of inter-relation between doctrine types, so how to correctly interpret and communicate  Scripture becomes crucial.  More on that next time....