one of the topics that came up was the pursuit and study of doctrine. some people would say, "i hate doctrine!" while others would say, "doctrine is everything!" and even still, others would say, "doctrine isn't important and i don't have any answers for you."
doctrine is a word people throw around and everyone using it may not mean the same thing. so first, we should ask the questions: what does the word doctrine mean? Webster's Dictionary defines doctrine as follows:
noun
a belief or set of beliefs held and taught by a church, political party,
or other group : the doctrine of predestination.
a stated principle of government policy, mainly in foreign or military affairs : the Monroe Doctrine
so doctrine is a set of beliefs held and taught by a church. okay, i agree. keeping in mind though, not all doctrine that's taught is correct or biblically accurate, for example; the doctrine of purgatory is one that's taught and held to by some but it is inconsistent with the teachings of the Bible, therefore, it's bad doctrine. There are some man made church ordinances that people hold to as immovable, commandment like rules, thus, they treat them as a kind of doctrine. An example would be, women must wear dresses in church, or no other instruments besides organs or pianos during worship. Personally, I think that rules like that are dumb but regardless of my opinion those kinds of rules should not be treated like true doctrine. There is good doctrine that's true and bad doctrine that's false.
So, when I ask, "What does it mean to love doctrine?" I'm asking what does it mean to love the Trinity, the doctrine of the Hypostatic Union, the doctrines of Grace. What does it mean to love those?
