Destructive Dogmas
Our epistemological starting point – our source of knowing, if you would – is the Word of God, the Bible. This transcendent standard of measurement is what we employ as the Authority in determining “destructive dogmas.” As a result, this is not our opinion but an appeal to an Authority actually above us. (NB: To logicians who presume only naturalism in their worldview perspective and to Postmoderns who reject the biblical meta-narrative because of the meta-narrative they choose to live in submission under, we say: The appeal to authority is only a fallacy IF the authority appealed to is actually incorrect. God has His own standard of measurement, even concerning the evaluation of truth claims.)
To state the above in a somewhat different manner, we simply discern some of the presumptions within the list of formal logical fallacies to be incomplete. As a result of “Truth,” we reject the destructive fruit of contemporary [naturalistic] skepticism and continue to, by His mercy and grace, enjoy God’s awesome bounty found in His Word. As the Lord of lords, Jesus Christ has said, “You will know the Truth and the Truth will set you free.” This freedom is available to you if you would but receive the One Who is the Way, the Truth and the Life—Jesus Christ. Click Here for more details on this matter.
The following two definitions are taken from Webster’s New World Dictionary (Second College Edition)
Destructive: tending or likely to cause destruction
causing or producing destruction; destroying
merely negative; not helpful
Dogma: a doctrine; tenet; belief
doctrines, tenets, or beliefs, collectively
a positive, arrogant assertion of opinion
Theol. A doctrine or body of doctrines formally
and authoritatively affirmed
Combining the two definitions above, we use the phrase “Destructive Dogmas” on this site to mean “absolute beliefs* which bring destruction.” Due to the holistic worldview employed by this informational service, the duration of destruction emphasized is eternal. While there are crucial dogmas affecting physical (temporal) things (e.g., the dogma of free sex and potential consequences [destruction of emotional and physical well-being, to name only a couple]), this site addresses dogmas that bring or potentially bring eternal consequences—though expressions of “free sex” also hold eternal consequences.
This chapter (on this Current Matters’ site) is presented in three parts:
Present Destructive Worldly Dogmas &
Present Destructive Church Dogmas represent the first two categories.
Once again, a biblical plumb line is that which is used, one especially
tied to Jesus Christ’s statement, “He who is not with Me is against Me.”
(Matthew 12:30) Thus, Destructive Church Dogmas include those within
today’s Christian church. This statement includes recent expressions of
Christian sects/cults (e.g., Scientology, LDS/Mormon, Jehovah Witnesses, etc.
for reasons yet to be mentioned in the section “Destructive Church Dogmas.”),
though we have not emphasized the cult heresies on this "Destructive Church
Dogmas" page.
The last category merges the two PRESENT concerns into a third category:
Future Destructive Global Dogmas which will eventually come to pass.
Even the secularists discern dogmatism to be dangerous when wrong, for Bertrand
Russell said (quoted by Michael Polanyi in Personal Knowledge; 1958 ed.; pg. 271),
Dogmatism … in the present age as in former times, is the
greatest of the mental obstacles to human happiness.
* Note:
We are not including some beliefs that are held tentatively but ones which are
seen as absolutes. For example, it is not the general, non-dogmatic belief in the
Pre-Tribulational Rapture that we cite as a destructive dogma. It is the absolute
commitment to the Pre-Trib Rapture (as Gospel Truth) that we cite as one of the
destructive dogmas of contemporary Christianity. There is a huge difference
between the two perspectives, for one holds all other end-time viewpoints to be
incorrect while the other perspective is open to the possibility of one of the
other positions being the actual way in which the final days unfold.
At this juncture, please click the link immediately below to turn over to the next page.
Present Destructive Worldly Dogmas
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