Years ago I read a book by Douglas Groothuis. He is a professor at Denver Seminary who has written many books, is known by some friends of mine affiliated with that seminary, and somehow became a "friend" of mine on Facebook. I guess I added him and he agreed. I always like his posts. He also wrote about his first wife's long battle with a disease.
He posted this link to an article on what the Apostles' Creed and affirms and that by saying we believe it, we are actively denying a lot of other false teachings. This might be a good article for discipleship groups or similar gatherings for a discussion of doctrines. I find that most Christians are really uninformed about false teachings and have, at the very least, misconceptions. There are a lot of false doctrines out there.
As an example, a woman who was visiting our life group said that her mother always taught that those who commit suicide go to hell. That was an old Roman Catholic teaching that probably fed into other groups' teaching. We tried to explain that was not true by itself and it depended on one's faith in Christ. "So, it's okay to commit suicide?" That's how she took it! "No, it's bad to do that, it just won't send you to hell. It usually comes from a mental illness or great depression!" I am not sure she grasped that.
That said, doctrines are hard for many people. They can feel abstract and even nit-picky, I suppose. People want advice and feel goods and to be with nice people. Doctrines can be divisive.
Too bad they are necessary to Christian discipleship.
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