I’ve been thinking about this lately. It’s called God and the correct doctrine scorecard. Everyone in the church infrastructures wants to instill correct doctrine. It’s as if when we finally reach the afterlife, God or a chosen representative (i.e. Saint Peter) will have a correct doctrine scorecard. then they might say, “Sorry, but you didn’t make it. You didn’t believe in the correct Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Baptist, Lutheran, Methodist, Assemble of God, TV evangelist, bible church, community church, etc., doctrine. You only scored an 80% passing score and need a 92% score to get in.” They forget the two commandments of Christ: Love God and love your neighbor - the condensed scriptural version. It’s like they don’t think God will ask:
What’s in your heart
Did you believe in Christ, as you understood him
Did you practice those two commandments to the best of your ability
Now my conception of Christ might be flawed, depending on if I’m brought up in Islam, the Mormon Church, the Christian Science Church, the Jehovah Witnesses, etc. But even if I am a good Catholic, Orthodox, Baptist, Bible church member, etc., why does everyone envision God or a chosen representative, will have a doctrine scorecard in the afterlife?
And who has a better understanding of “We were created in the image and likeness of God?”
Eastern Orthodox
Christian Scientists
Mormons
What if there was more given emphasize on theological creativity? Hence, Christian Scientists and New Thought Christianity get high marks for blending the directives of the Protestant reformation with the philosophical disciplines of metaphysics?
Or the Dessert Fathers of the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Quakers get high marks for their mysticism of God as light?
Why a correct doctrine scorecard mentality? As Jerry Seinfeld - the TV comedian - might ask: “why is that?”