Missives

Lessons From The Job Site: Framing Errors

By Bro. Vince Kluth
It was a happy day when the heavy load of drywall sheets arrived in the driveway. Truck tires bulging, over 105 sheets of drywall began making their way inside the skeleton-like stick structure on the backs of two large "drywall hanger" guys. Hooray!

It was a happy day when the heavy load of drywall sheets arrived in the driveway. Truck tires bulging, over 105 sheets of drywall began making their way inside the skeleton-like stick structure on the backs of two large “drywall hanger” guys. Hooray! In two days, I began to see the rooms take shape that heretofore were only a vision on paper and revealed to my guests by waving an arm over the designated places. Soon I got a better sense of the actual dimensions. Airy space narrowed and closed. It began to look like a place in which I could comfortably dwell.

 

Several framing errors surfaced as the rooms took shape.  The worst involved two doorways. I planned for at least 36” of floor space to accommodate a wheelchair should the need arise in the future. After drywall was hung, the width of the door to the master bedroom was wide enough for the door but too short for the trim. My favorite framing guy Augustine somehow managed to squeeze a 36” door in the space. The other problem involved a pocket door entrance to the master bath where the receiving end wasn’t at straight right angles. While the door closed properly and touched the floor, it had an inch-and-a-half gap at the top. That required some trim board, resulting in the loss of an inch at that entryway.  I worked around that bare stud addition for over a month and never thought to check every critical element!  Inches matter in some areas.  Oh well, live and learn, chalk it up to the school of hard knocks. I can live with this. God’s sun still rises.

 

Spiritually speaking, my wife and I have discovered “framing errors” at some churches. No, I’m not talking about doorways that don’t square right. I’m referring to theological doctrines, the very fundamental basics of the gospel undergirding any church’s teaching, approach to worship, type of music, view of ministry, evangelism, counseling (a big business these days), and fellowship. For instance, greater respect to the wisdom of man over the Bible produces knowledgeable sermons and promotes the books of men. A minister who holds to a universal atonement will likely preach sermons emphasizing man’s will, or a Unitarian “God saved everybody” type of message. This yields evangelism nearly void of Scripture or no evangelism at all, because they appeal to man’s will and not the miraculous regenerating power of thus saith the LORD (i.e., Rom 10:17). It certainly won’t harmonize with what God’s Word says.

 

Speaking of the Bible … some “conservative” denominations insist you can’t hold the preacher to one translation of the Bible. They claim he is free to use any popular counterfeit the congregation likes:  the gender-neutral NRSV, or the popular ESV, NIV, NLT, NASB, etc. — all of which come from the corrupt and ever-changing critical text. Some ministers who are solid on the doctrines of grace allow for speaking in tongues, such as the Sovereign Grace (SG) movement in the northeast. This encourages vocal women in the church who press into leadership positions contrary to Scripture (1Tim 3:2, Tit 1:6).

 

These errors, as bad as they are, sometimes reveal even deeper problems.  One highly popular SG minister, Joshua Harris, eventually left the faith entirely, only to reappear in a Facebook video declaring there’s no problem embracing homosexuals into Christianity. This former preacher’s church is just two miles away from my house.

 

Do you know which doctrines are highly important? God lists six principles of the doctrine of Christ which are foundational:  repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.  These and other key doctrines, such as those captured in the confessions of faith we utilize, matter because the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. They departed because they didn’t square right with the Bible; they weren’t orthodox.  Before you become enamored with nice people in any congregation and join, look carefully behind the veneer, and ask penetrating questions to determine what leadership believes.  As a free resource, you can ask these 75 questions listed on HoldingFast.net (search for “church officer”).  If they don’t answer, they are likely hiding something.  A faithful shepherd is ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in them, because they have a good conscience.

 

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