01 The Dominoes are Falling
The Dominoes Are Falling
Long before I knew how to play dominoes I used to play with them. I carefully set them up in rows, sometimes even with S curves. Then I would lightly tap the first one, watch the others topple, and in one brief moment destroy the fruit of my painstaking labor.
Sometimes all did not fall, and then I was very disappointed. As I survey evangelicalism today and what is happening to evangelical doctrine, I am reminded of my old childhood game. Now I hope all the dominoes will not fall. Those doctrines that we hold dear and important to our faith are like dominoes. Each is individually important. If we remove one by ignoring or falsifying it, then the “faith which was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 1:3) is incomplete. If one falls, others will inevitably be affected, and the entire structure is in danger of being demolished.
Certainly, some doctrines are more important than others. For example, without a proper doctrine of Christ, there really is no Christian faith. But without a reliable Bible, how can we be certain that our understanding of Christ is correct? A true doctrine of the Holy Spirit affects not only our understanding of the Trinity, but our understanding of other important doctrines such as salvation and sanctification as well. But how can we know the truth about the Holy Spirit unless we can trust the accuracy of the Bible? If the Bible accommodates in the area of science, for instance, then perhaps it accommodates also in what it teaches about the Spirit.
If all the doctrines of the Bible were like dominoes standing in a line, then obviously the credibility of the Bible would stand first in line. Whether the first domino stands or falls inevitably affects some, most, or even all of the others. Is that domino falling today? The attack on the total accuracy of the Bible is coming not from liberals but from born-again believers who call themselves evangelicals, yet do not believe in the inerrancy of the Scriptures. Certainly, that domino is teetering. For some it has already fallen.
What about the other dominoes? Are other doctrines being affected? Belief about the Bible assumes a place of primary importance in one’s doctrinal system. If the Bible does in fact teach its own inerrancy, then to deny that doctrine is to disbelieve the Bible. If we cannot trust the Bible in a fact of history that seems unrelated to any major doctrine, how can we be sure we can trust it in a matter of history, like the empty tomb, which is unquestionably related to a very major doctrine? How can anyone who lets the domino of inerrancy fall be sure that it will not knock over some other doctrine as well?