Oct 14 2009
Introduction
Jesus Christ said, “I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it” (John 16:18b). Today we are faced with extremely dangerous ideas in the church. Evangelical communities are embracing a generous new orthodoxy and are flirting with ideas of what it means to be a new kind of Christian. Even in the midst of all this radical change and confusion, I believe Jesus’ words are true yesterday, today, and forevermore. There is nothing that the world or the attacks of the devil can do to root up and destroy the church. Jesus Christ will build his church and nothing can prevail against it. Today, churches are battling internally with questions about how they should view theology and the Bible and struggle with how the Bible relates to their own situations in life. I pose two foundational questions for this essay. 1. How do we as evangelical Bible-believing Christians hold firmly to and stand for the truths and doctrines of the scriptures in the midst of postconservative thinking? 2. What is the importance of theology and doctrine in the Christian life, especially in the life of a pastor? These are the two main questions I will attempt to answer in this essay.

