Personal;
From the Desk of Dr Les Aron Gosling - Rebbe
I wish to make it candidly clear right at the outset, that as the Director of the BRI, I personally haven't ever wanted to create any kind of a "Doctrinal Statement," and because of my personal antagonism toward such an idea I have persistently resisted doing so for well over two decades.
Having said that, NOT possessing a "Doctrinal Statement" has also been a major criticism hurled at BRI by many people over the years -- the insinuation as to why we haven't done so has been manifestly twofold: We have something we want to hide We have no idea really what our beliefs actually are and therefore by the absence of such a statement we project an impression of a lack of biblical scholarship.
There are two major reasons as to why we have been hesitant about drawing one up and one is that any such attempt at an authoritative statement will without doubt look far too "Christian" or even "quasi-Messianic" (a pretend "Clayton's" Jewish Messianic statement: the "Jewish" Messianic statement you have when you don't have a "Jewish" Messianic statement). As BRI has its roots in a Jewish background, that is an impression I have long attempted to avoid for obvious and valid reasons.
Secondly, any such statement really won't convey what we at BRI actually DO hold to be the deeper things of God. Such a doctrinal statement at best can only reflect a "kindergarten" level of understanding the Bible. Thirdly, the absence of an official Doctrinal Statement has caused people to SEARCH the lectures on site to come to a deeper and more profound understanding of the biblical revelation than merely by looking up something that resembles a creed. A statement (no matter how biblically embedded and profound it may well be) cannot help but give an impression of limited growth in knowledge.
I freely admit that the "Level One Basic Biblical 'Fundamental Doctrines' of the BRI -- What We Believe, and Why!" is merely an inadequate basis from which to launch a quest for a deeper and more appreciable view of the unfathomable Ground of All Being. After all, our entire walk is about relationship, not a set of doctrines: a relationship, I might add, concerning THAT which has begotten us and is leading us presently into a cosmic revelation of incomprehensible , mystic and kabalistic proportions. God wants more from us than reading the Bible, doing good to others, and upholding a few fundamental beliefs. He wants us eventually to “know as we are known." As it is written, "For the Spirit searches out and explores all things, even the depths of God" (1 Corinthians 2.10 ).
We at BRI trust that our loyal readership will appreciate the reasons why we have drawn up our present "Level One Doctrinal Statement" and will realise our entire flexibility regarding any or all of the fundamental beliefs outlined herein. In no way are any of the beliefs to be considered absolute dogma. Knowledge, even biblical knowledge, is subject to progressive revelation in Spirit-dominated scholarship.
"From the cowardice that shrinks from new truth ,
From the laziness that is content with half truths,
From the arrogance that thinks it knows all truth,
O God of Truth, deliver us." - Ancient Prayer |
