Note to LTA Students and Parents

November 26th, 2008

The various beliefs attendant to Christian faith can be arranged in a hierarchy of importance. If I believe that Jesus did not rise from the dead, I am not a Christian. If I believe that there are errors in Scripture, I may be a Christian, but I have certainly departed from historical orthodoxy. If I believe that Jesus died for all men / only died for the elect, I have now reached an issue which legitimately divides orthodox Christians.

Thus, we could establish the following ranking system for questions of Christian doctrine:

  • First-order: Disbelief means you are not a Christian.
  • Second-order: Disbelief means you are not an orthodox Christian.
  • Tertiary: There is legitimate disagreement among orthodox Christians.

Of course, tertiary issues range widely in importance, but the common thread is that orthodox Christians can and have disagreed on these questions. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t have strong opinions – opinions based upon divine revelation – but merely that other Christians may legitimately disagree. I may think they are wrong, but I should approach the debate in a different manner than I might approach a discussion over first- or second-order beliefs.

In the classes I teach at Living the Answer, I concentrate on first-order beliefs along with many second-order beliefs. I try to avoid tertiary beliefs because I feel that such questions are better discussed in other forums (such as the family or the local church).

On this blog, I often discuss tertiary issues. Because I have strong opinions on many such questions, I present my views as persuasively as possible. I hope that my arguments are at least thought-provoking, because many tertiary issues are quite important. However, I want to make it clear to parents of LTA students, or prospective students, that many of the opinions you will read on these pages are not taught in Christian Worldview or my other classes. Topics that are entirely appropriate for one venue may be inappropriate for another, and an opinion blog is very different from a classroom.

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