I've had conversations with people in the club that told me they didn't agree with what I was teaching. It's okay not to agree. But before you say you don't agree, do it biblically, and follow these rules.
1. Know what you're talking about. Generally folks who don't agree about something I've said don't even know what I've said. They didn't hear it from me, and assumed something based on some sort of third hand information. If you're going to get mad about something I said, make sure I said it! Get on the Bible study conference call, that way you have a chance to know what we're saying. Ive found that everyone who disagrees with doctrine taught here didn't know what we were teaching, and wasn't on the Bible study conference call. GET ON THE PHONE and call me. I better not hear it first on facebook.
2. Get your facts straight. If you hear me preaching something, then it better have come from the Bible. If you don't understand something I said, then ask me and let's look at the Scriptures together. Most people who get really angry about something I've said never took the time to do that. When they do they find that my viewpoint is pretty reasonable from Scripture. I'm peer reviewed by the other preachers in the club. By the time I'm presenting something, Godly men have had time to review it. While the interpretation of your denomination may be different, nothing we're presenting is way out there or brand new. Trust me you don't have a complete understanding of Scripture. And neither do I. There is no way that one person can be the complete repository of all scriptural knowledge. All of us are up to learn something new that's true when we dig into the Scriptures or hear good Bible based teaching.
3. Get to the source. In the end you may know exactly what I'm saying and exactly where I'm getting it from Scripture, and not agree. So let's sit down and talk it out. Many divisions of the body can be resolved by simply having a conversation. Running around within the club and expressing your vexation is not godly, its foolishness and sowing division. The Book of Proverbs calls sowing discord among the brothers an abomination. You'll get warned once, made a prospect a second time, and put on the third. That's biblical.
Proverbs 6: 16 These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: 17 A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, 18 An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, 19 A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.
4. Get over it. If we debate some point of doctrine and you change my mind, then welcome to the team of brothers who challenged me on something and made me change my view. It's certainly happened before and I'm sure it will happen again. And if you don't change my views, and I tell you that I think you're dead wrong, then we can agree to disagree. Not everyone that goes to every church agrees with every viewpoint their pastor has. But you don't stand up during the sermon and start yelling at him. Don't do that here either. If you can't agree to disagree graciously we will put you out. There's not going to be division or discord over doctrine in this club. Not even a little.
Titus 3:10 Reject a divisive person after one or two warnings
5. It's not that big a deal. Nothing that were preaching is life shattering or world ending. We're never going to come up with a new way to get salvation that doesn't include Jesus Christ, we're never going to ask anybody to drink Kool Aid in little cups. If we did you would go to the mother charter, and they'd simply replace me and move on. Anything short of that is something to avoid argument on. Wanna have a theological debate? Great! Brotherhood means being able to move on without harboring anger about it.
At the end of the day this club belongs to God, and its up to God to ensure that we are heading in the direction he wants. God is more than able to correct wrong behavior, reference the cracked ribs I have as I write this because I wouldn't listen to him about standing on my bike. If you have a serious issue with anything, and the above steps don't work for you, then get on your knees and pray that God will change people's minds, whether it be ours or yours. If that doesn't work and it still bothers you badly enough, your options are to leave the club or just drop your issue. But don't go destroying the hard work men across the county have put into this club by being negative, spiteful, vengeful and stirring up dissension. Trust me God will deal with that too. If your interpretation of the Bible is that earth shaking then God will bring tuna bunch of men to preach it to, and you can start your own Motorcycle Club. In fact, that's why there are so many out there now, so you can just find one that agrees with you.
Whether everyone agrees with it or not, I am responsible to God to preach what He lays on my heart. And the fact of the matter is that some of its going to pick their conscience and they're not going to agree with it. There is no way but I will stop honoring God with what he lays on my heart to preach because somebody doesn't like it, and that should make you proud of me. When God gives it to me, and the men of God around me have reviewed it as on target, then nothing is going to cause me to go backwards from the mission God has put me on.
We're not going to stop teaching the Bible because people don't like it. End of story.
James Disciple Johnson
Natl President and Founder
Disciple Christian Motorcycle Club
Forget Doctrine, Preach the Bible http://disciplecmcblog.blogspot.com/2014/09/forget-doctrine-preach-bible.html
