PASADENA--In March, the Advisory Council of Elders appointed a doctrinal advisory team to be responsible for the review of doctrinally related church literature. Part of the team's responsibility is to review the church's Statement of Beliefs for accuracy and choice of content and to make recommendations, as needed, to the Advisory Council of Elders for changes, additions or deletions.
Each member of the doctrinal advisory team serves by appointment of the Advisory Council of Elders, which in making the appointment considers, among other things, level of education in theology and related subjects, age, experience in Christian leadership and current responsibilities within the Worldwide Church of God.
Current appointed members of the team are (in alphabetical order), Mr. Albrecht, Dean Blackwell, Carn Catherwood, Randal Dick, Russell Duke, Mike Feazell (chair), Herman Hoeh, Ron Kelly, John McKenna, Michael Morrison, Ralph Orr, Richard Rice, Dan Rogers, Bernie Schnippert, Norman Smith and Joseph Tkach.
"To this point," according to Pastor General Joseph Tkach, "the team's primary job has been to add statements on certain important topics to the Statement of Beliefs.
"Other than a slight change of emphasis in the Christian Sabbath and Annual Festivals statements, no major changes to the current set of statements are anticipated," Mr. Tkach added.
"In working on the additional statements, we are guided by certain
principles," explained team chair J. Michael Feazell. "Above all is the
principle of faithfulness to the Bible. We strive to be dogmatic where the Bible is
dogmatic and flexible where the Bible is flexible." 
Mr. Feazell continued: "It is natural to want clear and precise answers to every question we have about biblical matters. For that reason, it is often tempting to allow ourselves to become dogmatic about things the Bible really leaves unanswered.
"When Christians do that, of course, there are bound to be other Christians who will disagree. Various approaches to interpreting the Bible often lead to various conclusions. These varying conclusions sometimes lead to enthusiastic disagreement, and that sometimes, if not often, leads to division in the church."
"The Worldwide Church of God is committed to sound biblical teaching," explained Ron Kelly, manager of pastoral development.
"We want to teach what the Bible teaches. We do not want to hold back where the Bible does not hold back, nor do we want to plunge ahead where the Bible does not plunge ahead.
"There are many aspects to doctrine that are clear and dogmatic in the Bible," Mr. Kelly added. "On these, we want to be clear and dogmatic. There are other areas of doctrine that are not fully spelled out in the Bible. On these, we want to be clear that the Bible leads us not to hold a dogmatic position."
Commenting on dogmatism, Mr. Tkach said: "The Worldwide Church of God has suffered greatly because of what we might call unnecessary dogmatism. Unnecessary dogmatism is to be dogmatic about things we don't need to be dogmatic about.
"For example," Mr. Tkach continued, "we taught that Jesus was in the tomb 72 full hours, three full days and nights. We said that if Jesus was not in the tomb for a full 72 hours, then you do not have a Savior!
"Yet, if we are honest, we have to admit that the Bible does not put the time period of Jesus in the tomb in such dogmatic terms. The Bible uses many phrases, such as `on the third day' (12 times), `after three days' (four times) and `three days and three nights (once).'
"Is the real point about the exact length of time in the tomb, or rather about the fact that Jesus really died, was really buried and was really raised again to save us from our sins and give us eternal life?"
"Many nonessential points can unnecessarily divide Christians," added Mr. Albrecht, director of Church Relations.
"These include such questions as the precise nature of hell and heaven, whether the dead are conscious before the resurrection and details regarding predestination and end-time events.
"Why should we give our conclusions about nonessential matters such priority that they cause us to become disgruntled and sour toward Christians who hold conclusions different from ours? We are committed to not letting that happen," Mr. Albrecht said.
"We do not want to contribute to allowing nonessential doctrines to tear Christians apart," Mr. Tkach continued. "Instead, we want to live by Jesus' command that we love one another, and therefore we must not make details of doctrine into tests of who we consider to be true and authentic Christians. That is why some of our statements take the position of being nondogmatic."
As new statements are added to the Statement of Beliefs, they will be published in The Worldwide News and appear on the Worldwide Church of God website at http://www.wcg.org.
Below is the updated Statement of Beliefs, which includes new statements on Heaven, Hell, Eternal Judgment, the Intermediate State and Eternal Security, and revised statements on the Christian Sabbath and Annual Festivals.
Copyright © Worldwide Church of God, 1998