J. Gresham Machen said, "The absence of doctrinal teaching and preaching is certainly one of the causes for the present lamentable ignorance in the church." Dr. Machen went on to say that "doctrine is intellectual, and Christians are generally anti-intellectual.  Doctrine is ivory tower philosophy, and they scorn ivory towers. . . It is a fundamental, theoretical mistake of practical men to think that they can be merely practical, for practice is always the practice of some theory" (Education, Christianity and the State, p.169). It is sad but true that many churchmen think that teaching and preaching from a sound theological foundation is theoretical.

A theological belief system (and everyone has a theological belief system) will effect how one thinks, acts, and performs in the world we live. Modernist believe that theology is like a novelty shop where one may find all sorts of unusual goodies, but often these novelties are disguised as the real thing.  Truth and accuracy in interpretation will expose the false covering, but it requires hard work and patience. The evangelical church in our country has been plagued with a smorgasbord of theology and philosophy for several generations and we need not expect to see a correction come easily or quickly.