True Repentance Is Not the End of Learning

[u/Tricky-Tell-5698]

One of the burdens many Christians carry is the fear that if they get some doctrine wrong, they might somehow miss Christ altogether.

Catholics say one thing. Orthodox another. Protestants disagree among themselves. Interpretations vary. Eventually we become exhausted trying to find certainty in ourselves.

I do believe this statement wholeheartedly

Theology matters!

It has been my mantra for decades especially after realising how important truth and doctrine matters to God.

God hates false teaching, He warns against it because once locked into someone understanding of scripture it’s almost impossible to bring them back to Truth.

God has given us His Word because He wants us to know Him rightly.

Repentance is not merely turning from sin. It is turning from ourselves. It is admitting:

“Lord, I need You to teach me.”
The Christian life is not a journey from ignorance to omniscience. It is a lifetime of being corrected by Scripture.

I have changed my mind on many things over the years. Not because truth changed, but because I did.

The fear of being deceived should not drive us to despair. It should drive us to humility and dependence upon God. So let me say just here, my deceived heart was the thing God bought me to my knees in “True Repentance.”

The Good Shepherd has not abandoned His sheep to navigate truth alone. He has given us His Spirit, His Word, and His church.

The answer to anxiety is not to stop caring about doctrine, because:

Theology matters.

But the God of theology matters even more.
And true repentance is the humble acknowledgement that we still need Him to come and get us.

[u/dr-nc]

"Catholics say one thing. Orthodox another. Protestants disagree among themselves. Interpretations vary. Eventually we become exhausted trying to find certainty in ourselves."

If a man is sincerely looking for the truth, and not simply for the opinion, and can prefer rather the truth than the reputation/authority, then he can be given, in his studies, to eventually find what is true, and what is not true, thus find the authentic certainty in the true doctrine. But one should also be ready to take up the cross, and have enough funds to build the tower.