Thank you for the question on relevance of Bible doctrine for our time, “Pastor John MacArthur stated that biblical scholars need to become the guardians of biblical doctrine. How relevant would that statement be for modern times?”
The statement is quite relevant for our times. As our President Biden will be nominating a Supreme Court Justice, how relevant would it be for that person to see oneself as reformist of the US Constitution or a traditionalist to the US Constitution? The Law Schools produces our justices who sit on the bench to determine or uphold justice. Their training in law or the opinions of the professors in those law schools will have a profound affect on our society.
In the same way, professors in seminaries produce church leaders who will speak from the pulpit. If a seminary teaches a more liberal doctrine or interpretation of the Scriptures to the seminarians, they will produce liberal pastors and teachers.
The trend of today is that more and more seminaries are producing pastors and teachers who do not uphold even the fundamentals of the Christian faith. It is relevant whether Jesus is a way, no way or The Way to God. It’s relevant in the belief there is a God, heaven, hell, a resurrection or nothing after death.
The life of a person is affected by what one hears and the decisions that are made based on that understanding. I am not advocating a blind faith or a rote adherence to a set of doctrine statement as the Apostle’s Creed without any relevance to the Christian life.
Bible doctrine is the foundation upon which a Christian builds his/her life upon. If that foundation is eroded, then there is no difference between a Christian and non-Christian.
My viewpoint is that we are living in a time whereby every value is cancelled. Whatever “new” value that will be eventually be established as the norm will also one day be cancelled by another generation that views those beliefs and values as irrelevant.
I have lived through the 60’s and 70’s of “Down with the Establishment” and here we are with a new generation that is also shouting “Down with the Establishment.”
Before one tears down the beliefs and practices, one better knows if what one is replacing is genuinely better. If the guardians of the Bible Doctrine or the US Constitution are removed, then the person who preaches or sits on the bench will decide beliefs and practices of others based on his/her personal belief or values.
SUMMARY: What will rise from the ashes of trashed beliefs and practices if there are no guardians of a social norm or of a religious norm? Someone is going to determine the beliefs and practices of society. Who do we entrust to set the beliefs and practices of our lives and of our children and grandchildren?
-Kingston