Can a faith group exist without doctrine? Doctrine says something about us. In many ways, it defines who and what we are. It says more about us than it says about God. A shared religion or doctrine is a functional way for like-minded people to find one another and to work together for shared aims.…

The Babelonian community wanted to establish a closer relationship with God and align more closely with His will. Does a community stand a better chance than the individual in this respect? God seemed to question the Babelonian motives, however, and worried that if they were to succeed their will would be as powerful as God’s:…

Having given an uncharacteristically straight answer to the Pharisees’ doctrinal questions by summarizing the law into “love God and love your neighbor,” Jesus questioned them in turn: Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question: “What do you think about the Christ, whose son is He?” They said to Him, “The son…

If religion is to fulfill one thing only, it is to answer questions about the divine. Yet, as we have discussed, the Divinities—the God of the Old Testament and Jesus of the New—are reluctant to answer questions about themselves. Scripture is a book of questions, not a catechism of answers. In particular, what some consider…

Mankind’s quest to know about God has always been based upon answers. There is great comfort in answers, as if somehow I salvation depends upon them—upon their truth being underwritten by a body of knowledge. In science, too, we value conclusions, solutions, and cause and effect answers. But over and over, God and Jesus rely…

Mankind has always sought answers; and religion, through its doctrines, has always been more than willing to supply them. But God in the Old Testament and Jesus in the New Testament repeatedly avoided giving direct answers. Instead, they answered questions with other questions, or with parables that suggested answers without being specific. The Bible is…