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3.3 Statements of Faith
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In order to guard ourselves from such extremes we must hold onto foundational eternal truths. Discovering which truths affect the outcome of ones eternal existence is of the outmost importance. Secondary would be the truths that affect our intimacy with Jesus, effectiveness as disciples and callings. Keeping these perspectives in mind would aid us from falling into either extreme.
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Pentecostals can guard against falling in to the error of theological liberalism through valuing, studying, teaching, and upholding the Word of God as God-breathed, and useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, as Paul says in 1 Timothy. Being sure to test all teaching and prophetic words against the full counsel of Scripture.
I think that guarding against theological fundamentalism is much harder! I believe this is also done through considering the full counsel of scripture. I find a lot of theological fundamentalism is fixated on specific verses without the full context of the Word. I also believe love being our highest value will cause us to prefer one another and pursue harmony.
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One way of keeping us from either of these errors is actually to read the word more, and to stay attentive to Holy Spirit. The more we know God and his word, and seek to be like him, the better we become at learning to live this way
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Liberalism and fundamentalism in Theology have always been a problem in the church. Most of these problems I think exist at the root because of a lack of acknowledgement that we are all brothers and sisters in Christ and Jesus has died for all believers. I think Pentecostals can guard against this by simply having conversation with other believers and finding the common ground of dogma between them. as long as we hold the same dogmatic views, we should at least make an effort to fellowship with them.
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