Lifeless Doctrines

In many places of the world walking along some shoreline or beach, it is a common sight to see many living creatures such as crabs. It’s probably even more common to see the shells these living creatures use to call their home, but are now just empty lifeless shells. Some of these shells can be very beautiful and in many places of the world they are harvested and sold in large quantities for good money.
As beautiful as many of these shells are, the fascination seems to be with a fading beauty rather than what actually caused it in the first place.

There has always been a fascination with death or shadows rather then life, and it all gets carried over into the spiritual realm as well, such as doctrines.
I want to share a quote from my friend Bill Landon from his book, The Life That is Real Life.

Many of the doctrines and statements of faith that form the foundation of the Christian denominations in the world today have their basis in a revelational truth. The people who had these revelations—Luther, Calvin, Nee, Simpson, Wesley and others—had a living and personal experience of the Father. Most of these people expressed in their writings and teachings some understanding of this living and vital aspect of relationship with God. They each gave it their own interpretation as they were given the understanding by the Father to see this reality. In that sense, each of these understandings was right and true for the people who received them. However, it is important to remember that these people never saw these revelations as doctrinal statements. None of these people ever set out to create a denomination. The organization came later as an attempt by others to codify these truths into a systematic and organizational expression.

Life comes from living. Only living things can transmit life because life is experiential. The only real and complete sense of life any us will ever have comes to us through our experience of life.

Rich