Doctrine and Practice
by Dr. Paul Chappell
“If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness; He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings, Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself.”
1 Timothy 6:3–5
The expression GIGO—garbage in, garbage out—appears to have been used in print for the first time back in 1957 in an article about Army engineers and mathematicians working with early computers. A specialist named William Mellin explained that if the inputs are not programmed correctly, the result will inevitably be incorrect. Any decisions that are made on the basis of such faulty information may be made with confidence, but they will not be correct.
One of the most important truths of life is that what we believe and teach determines how we behave. Doctrine always impacts conduct, either for good or ill. There is no such thing as belief that does not produce results in our lives. The idea that we can somehow continually feed our minds a diet of false teaching and values but not have our lives impacted is folly. Just as what we eat affects our health, what we think affects our actions.
Every Christian needs a constant, steady diet of truth in order to stay on the right path. “Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed” (John 8:31). We are constantly under assault from the world, the flesh, and the devil as they seek to pull us away from following God. We need to read the Word of God for ourselves and hear it faithfully preached and taught to counter the stream of lies pervading the culture and keep us on the right path.
1 Timothy 6:3–5
The expression GIGO—garbage in, garbage out—appears to have been used in print for the first time back in 1957 in an article about Army engineers and mathematicians working with early computers. A specialist named William Mellin explained that if the inputs are not programmed correctly, the result will inevitably be incorrect. Any decisions that are made on the basis of such faulty information may be made with confidence, but they will not be correct.
One of the most important truths of life is that what we believe and teach determines how we behave. Doctrine always impacts conduct, either for good or ill. There is no such thing as belief that does not produce results in our lives. The idea that we can somehow continually feed our minds a diet of false teaching and values but not have our lives impacted is folly. Just as what we eat affects our health, what we think affects our actions.
Every Christian needs a constant, steady diet of truth in order to stay on the right path. “Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed” (John 8:31). We are constantly under assault from the world, the flesh, and the devil as they seek to pull us away from following God. We need to read the Word of God for ourselves and hear it faithfully preached and taught to counter the stream of lies pervading the culture and keep us on the right path.
Today’s Growth Principle:
Knowing the impact doctrine has on our lives, we must closely guard what we read and hear.
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