Doctrine, Dogma, and Interpretation

By Pat Skinner

Doctrine, Dogma, and Interpretation examines where doctrine, dogma, and traditions in churches had originated and the fact that they revolve around interpretations. This book is for those who are desiring to know more about doctrine and to find the freedom to move further with the Lord without the fear of being condemned by God for believing in the completed works of Jesus Christ. It is about getting to know the love of your Father and coming to understand the wonderful grace that has been given to us through Jesus Christ. This book will aid you in understanding as you move forward with a deeper understanding relating to truth.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Aug 27, 2020
• ISBN: 9781098033064

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Doctrine, Dogma, and Interpretation

Pat Skinner

Copyright © 2020 by Pat Skinner

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.

832 Park Avenue

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

All scriptures taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Ancient Rites and Worship

Sun Worship

Doctrine and Dogma

What Tradition Is

Are You Trinitarian?

The Bible

Where Do I Go from Here?

Where Do I Go from Here?

In the chapters following, I will be covering traditions, interpretations, customs, and beliefs. In the process of this, I would like to take you deeper into the Bible and what scripture has to say concerning many of these traditions to dogma.

I must make it clear from the beginning: I am not condemning or judging any people or persons. We will simply compare interpretation and tradition with teaching. I, as well as many others, have heard in relation to what the Bible says. Jesus in John 5:30 says, As I hear I judge and that He was seeking God’s will. Jesus also quoted Deuteronomy 8:3 and Luke 4:4 where He stated, Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word of God.

God’s will is that we come to know Him and understand His word and love Him. We find this understanding through the word by knowing what the Bible is saying—the entire book—and what it is about.

Chapter 1

Ancient Rites and Worship

Before going into some of the rites, beliefs, and teachings of old, I will share a little about myself in relation to how I arrived at writing this book. I attended a Roman Catholic school for nine years. I have come through a nonreligious family even though we were subjected to the Roman churches doctrine. My parents focused upon your character more than church attendance even though church was a part of it. In fifth grade, a nun had told me about Jesus after I had asked her after a class one day. Jesus was not necessarily a part of our religious teaching. I believed in God and Jesus Christ. Although I had noticed as we went on, more was taught about doctrine from a catechism than the Bible. This I had come to realize was more doctrine or dogma of the organization than about the works of Christ. It was about the pope and the holy Mother, bishops, and rules to please them (they made it appear it was God). They taught that the pope could never be wrong or make a mistake (he was infallible).

The teaching left you questioning and with a constant feeling of falling short and being condemned. Not that we were in good standing with God because of Jesus, and through Him.

Rebellious Times

Before seventh grade, I was getting into constant trouble. Ninth grade, I began attending public school, still getting into trouble and a lot of fights. Tenth grade, I had been kicked out a number of times for skipping, smoking, and not cutting my hair properly. When sixteen finally arrived, I was legal to quit. So I did. I had been arrested so many times that this last time they gave me an option: reformatory or the army. Well, I entered the military at seventeen. I was in army aviation, and as soon as I turned eighteen, they had me shipped off to Vietnam, all this time still believing in God and Christ but actually no understanding.

After getting out of the service, I got into some more trouble and was sent to prison, jails, and institutions because of my behavior. Again, God was with me the whole time. I was an active drinker and drug user. Finally, in 1970, I turned to the Lord and was really sorry for what I had become. On the inside and through an audible voice, I knew things were going to work out. A miraculous thing happened to this dropout outlaw.

I had received God’s Spirit and knew it but didn’t know I was actually forgiven. I finally decided that that life wasn’t for me and went off my own accord to an AA meeting in 1974. I saw a sign on the building and just went in. I attended regularly and in 1981, I finally went to church again. Not a Catholic one though. I wanted to learn more about the Bible, God and Jesus. My family and I attended an evangelical for a while then an assembly of God. I learned a little about John 3:16 and things like that, but really, nothing with any substance or deeper. My first hearing about a loving God was in AA. There was no judgment or condemnation at AA, but I still found it in some of these other churches.

One day, God told me not to go back to the assemblies, so I didn’t. Still wanting to know more, I was given the phone number of Chuck Perkins. Chuck had been an actor in some television shows such as Sunset Strip, Hawaii 50, along with some older westerns. The Lord had spoken to him to go into the ministry after he had been studying for a while with Pat Boone and some others. I called Chuck, and he without question began to