It is excellent to have very strong Faith, and to defend that Faith against any critics. Fine! It is excellent to Testify or Witness to others. But there should be a recognition regarding the limitations of our human brains and minds! And a consideration that Jesus tried to Teach us Humility, Tolerance and many other such things.
Many modern Christians, especially a lot of Fundamental Christians, are amazingly aggressive and arrogant regarding claiming that every single detail of whatever they believe is absolutely right and cannot be questioned under any circumstances. NO ONE better dare even question any aspect of whatever they believe. Again, having deep Faith SHOULD mean that you really believe what you believe. But when it goes too far, it becomes a sort of Arrogance, something that Jesus and the Bible Taught us to be cautious about.
Several Scriptural Passages directly address the issue of Arrogance, including 1Samuel 2:3; Psalms 12:4; Proverbs 8:13; Isaiah 13:11. These (and other) Scriptures warn against become arrogant in any regard. This includes our Faith.
It has become common that modern Christians, especially in America, have come to believe that they have absolute and total understanding of every possible aspect of Christian Faith, including every detail. IF any person could actually ever have such absolute and complete knowledge, that means that person either has or believes he/she has an entire and perfect understanding of the Plan of God for man. Such an attitude indicates a belief that the person is as smart as the Lord is, to so completely understand a Plan that has eluded billions of Christians before them, including many who spent their entire lives attempting to understand it. That is essentially the very definition of Arrogance, of an absolute smugness in one's own perfection that no one is allowed to ever question any aspect of it!
The central concept where this seems to be most totally demonstrated is regarding the absolute insistence of those Christians that THEY are ABSOLUTELY GUARANTEED of Salvation and entry into Heaven. Again, this would be a wonderful situation to be in! It would also make being a Pastor a LOT easier if it was so extremely easy to achieve as to simply have selected the correct church to attend!
The fact that this presentation suggests that such an ABSOLUTE GUARANTEE may not be as absolute as they assume, has resulted in incredibly vicious attacks on me (a Christian Pastor) by those (alleged) Christians! Many simply say (these are NOT Theologians, but normal attenders of Churches, remember) that I am absolutely NOT a Pastor or Minister at all, and they sometimes use four-letter words in expressing that I am not even a Christian, for saying such a thing!
These people must not read their Bibles, or actually study them! The Bible does NOT provide ANY statement of any ABSOLUTE GUARANTEE of either Salvation or entry into Heaven! It repeatedly says something that seems similar, and THAT expression has been twisted into the ABSOLUTE GUARANTEES that seem to be announced by many modern Churches. You might note, however, that virtually always, that ABSOLUTE GUARANTEE ONLY applies to Members of "this" Church, and very definitely NOT the Churches down the road! So the claim in itself has to bring on some question as to why the Lord's Bible's Teachings would not equally apply to the 330,000 other Churches in America! But the problem is actually far more basic than that.
Here are the most direct references to the fact that a person's Faith in Christ secures Salvation: John 3:16; 3:36; 5:24; 6:40; 11:25; 20:31; Acts 8:37; 10:43; 13:39; 16:31; Romans 9:33; 10:9; 2 Tim 3:15; 1John 5:1. These essentially all use the exact same Original Greek word, pisteuo, (Strongs 4100). (Only the Timothy Verse is not centered on that specific word, and its wording is actually quite interesting in that regard.) The word is generally translated as "believeth" in the King James, and as "believe" otherwise.
John 3:16 is the most commonly cited wording: For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Begotten Son, that whoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (KJAV). Is THIS an absolute guarantee? It is certainly understood to be so by those attacking Christians! And why isn't it? Because it contains a REQUIREMENT on the individual, regarding some standard of whatever "believeth" means.
When a Church decides it can define precisely what is required regarding "believing", then, yes, it appears to then be an absolute guarantee.
Well, countless thousands of Christian Theologians over the past two thousand years have tried to figure out PRECISELY what is required "to believe". Each has attempted to meet the standards that he felt applied, but virtually all also realized that they were destined to fall short! So, thousands of lives of Monks and Saints were lived, with incredibly strict personal vows of compliance to things that were felt required to meet the standards of Salvation. Many spent lives of never speaking, and of chastity, and of poverty, and many other things, and STILL they were never absolutely sure that "it was good enough" because of the basic unavoidable fact that we each happen to be humans and we regularly mess up.
We DO have an excellent example to study! We know that Abraham believed so absolutely in the Lord that he was about to sacrifice his own dear son, simply because he believed that God wanted him to do that. Yes, we can all agree that Abraham was certainly "guaranteed" of Salvation with that depth of belief.
There are other Scriptures that relate to the main concept. Some resemble Hebrews 5:9 "eternal Salvation to all them that obey Him." This Verse (and others) are centered on "obey" or the Greek word hupakouo. We have the exact same situation as above. Exactly what is the standard to have to meet to be able to say one "obeys"? Strongs (5219) says "to listen, to harken". So, would it be enough to observe that "I know I am not SUPPOSED to cheat on my wife" and then still do it? Of course not. The Lord expects us each to SHOW Him that by our behaviors and thoughts, that we Devoutly believe everything about Him.
OK. Fast forward to the modern world. A person who might be unfaithful to a spouse, or who might lie and intentionally deceive others regularly, or who might intentionally mislead and lie in business dealings to achieve some sale of some product, goes to Church, lists off for the Lord these various Sins, and is then "wiped clean" (tabula rasa) for another week to do it all over again. THIS person thinks he/she has some sort of ABSOLUTE GUARANTEE of Salvation and entry to Heaven???
Look at the Strong's definitions for that Greek word pisteuo. There are quite a few. "to think to be true" happens to be the first listed. " to place confidence in" is also in there.
WELL, if my job as a Pastor is simply to try to get people to accept that there was a person named Jesus 2000 years ago, wouldn't that mean that they "believe" in Jesus? Is that enough? There are some Christians who actually think it is! They are sure that they are guaranteed Salvation simply because they are willing to accept that there had been someone named Jesus alive 2000 years ago! Wow!
Other people, and most Churches, add in additional requirements. One must not only accept that a Jesus Lived, but that He was "Special". Most specifically, if a person makes a very simple statement, regarding Jesus being a Personal Savior, THAT is considered to be the sum total of what is required to PROVE the "believeth" part! THIS makes Christianity incredibly easy and convenient! No matter what you have ever done, and no matter what a jerk you might be, say a simple sentence, and instantly be forgiven everything in the past and simultaneously receive an absolute guarantee of Salvation! Who could pass on THAT?
That IS a description of ONE TINY PART of Salvation, what is called Justification. Yes, Justification proceeds exactly in that way. HOWEVER, that is NOT all there is to Salvation! Beginning at the instant of Justification, the person is REQUIRED to then spend the remaining lifetime in something called Sanctification. Every minute, every day. I sometimes describe it as somewhat analogous to Finishing School. If someone received an Invitation from the Queen of England to some enormous Ball (the Invitation being like Justification, the RIGHT to attend), the person then would need to "refine ones manners and behaviors" in order to actually BELONG in the presence of the Queen of England, by attending some Finishing School. If a Christian thinks that simply by stating a simple sentence, that he/she is then fully prepared to be in the Presence of the Lord Jesus, I might remind them of all those Sins that they feel free to keep repeating now! The entire purpose of Sanctification is to gradually get each Christian to Sin less often, and eventually, hardly ever, in order to be more suitable for being in the Presence of the Lord. (I have a suspicion that using foul four-letter words in insulting a Christian Pastor might not be what the Lord is looking for!)
SO! You people who insist on absolutely believing your own Minister's assurance that you are GUARANTEED SALVATION because of his own interpretation of that Greek word, fine, you can believe whatever you wish. You can even consider me worthless pond-scum (because I will not repeat the actual words used to describe me) and a total failure as a Christian Pastor. However, I would guess that you could probably use some "Finishing School" that is, an actual effort at IMPROVING one's Christian Walk.
Our tiny Church likes to think that we have some idea about that subject, since our official name is A Christ Walk Church. And in case you didn't notice it, we are not named THE Christ Walk Church because we realized that would be very Arrogant to claim some implied monopoly on a Christian Walk! We are merely "A" Church that attempts to have a focus on Sanctification, that is, lifelong Christian behavior, and constant effort at improvement.
In any case, this results in our having extremely strong confidence that our Teachings of Christian concepts contribute to our Members being Saved and being welcomed into Heaven. Does it include any absolute guarantee? No. We think it would be incredibly self-righteous of us to CLAIM that we could offer any absolute guarantee of it. THAT is the difference, as we see it, in this apparently violently emotional issue!
This attitude of Arrogance of many modern Christians spills over into another related Sinful behavior, Self-Righteousness. The Bible has a lot to say about that, too, including Deut. 9:4; Job 9:20; 35:2; Proverbs 12:15; 16:12; 20:6; 21:2; 30:12; Jer 2:35; 2 Cor 10:12: Rev 3:17.
It seems to be a tremendous incentive for such people to then "talk down" to anyone else who does not possess that perfection of absolutely total knowledge and understanding! I have seen many Christians talk in amazingly disgusting ways, often to other Christians (always from some other Church, which apparently Teaches badly!). Dozens of Christians have even "talked down" like that to me, knowing that I am a Christian Pastor! It is not that I deserve any special treatment, because I don't. But when some Christian starts lecturing me on a laundry list of many errors and flaws they attribute to me, (generally in a remarkably short period of knowing me!) the main thing I see is that they clearly completely missed an important part of what Christianity is supposed to be! Jesus was Humble. He was Compassionate. He was Considerate. He was Tolerant. He tried to Teach us such behaviors. He never went around saying "I am smart and you are not!" When a Christian starts to decide that he has the right to "lecture" anyone, he/she really better have really solid ground for anything they might say. Specifically, the equivalent to a Degree in Theology, at least regarding the subject they choose to lecture about!
Such people seem to forget that they are intrinsically flawed, and imperfect. That is a basic assumption of our Christianity, that we are all affected by Original Sin and incapable of being anywhere close to "perfect". As soon as they start lecturing others, especially other Christians who attend other Churches, regarding their flaws, they are forgetting that casting stones is not advisable as they also live in glass houses!
But the reality is that many Christians whose knowledge and understanding of Christianity virtually entirely came from some single Minister in their own Church, (and their own individual attempts at understanding the Bible, based on Sermons by that Minister) now commonly feel free, and even expected and encouraged, to lecture nearly everyone else! They see themselves as perfect experts!
That is a very misguided effort at fulfilling the Bible's guidance toward Witnessing (John 15:27; Acts 1:8, many more). Witnessing, as a humble Christian, is one thing, quite admirable, and even required. Lecturing as though one is an absolute expert, is something entirely different! Witnessing is a wonderful thing. Jesus would clearly want all Witnessing to demonstrate the Humility He tried to Teach us. He clearly would NOT condone any arrogant action of claiming superiority to those being lectured to! As soon as any Christian starts to "ANNOUNCE" the Truth, that person is unintentionally demonstrating an enormous gap in his/her Christianity. It should quickly be repaired before further attempts are made at Witnessing.
In fact, if anyone should even bring up any tiny criticism regarding any possibility of their non-perfection (such as a Minister from a different Church, such as me), their response seems to be virtually universal. The response is to entirely ignore the comments, and smile broadly (in their Pride), and then tell me that Satan is leading me, because no Christian would ever criticize them!
It seems to me that for anyone to LEARN anything, a TEACHER is often beneficial. As a Pastor, a main function of mine is to be a Teacher. It seems to me that my job description REQUIRES me to speak up! My intention has never been to "criticize" such people, as I don't think it's my place to do so. Instead, I feel a responsibility, as a Christian and as a Pastor, to attempt to "plant a seed" regarding possibly improving one's Christian Walk. But it appears that such people feel that they have ALREADY completed their Christian Walk, that they are already "perfect in their understanding of God's Plan and everything about it". They don't need no stinkin' seeds! I do not claim to be the smartest person on Earth, but I still find it very sad that they see exactly zero value in my comments which are intended to try to be of benefit to them.
Wow! My understanding is that even people like Saint Augustine and Saint Thomas Aquinas and all the other famous Christian Fathers, still felt an uncertainty regarding their Salvation. That has always been my understanding, that you did your best at becoming the best Christian you can during your life, and then Jesus would evaluate how well you did! Yes, it is tempting to think that a Billy Graham or a Mother Teresa probably had a real good chance of getting into Heaven! But when a Christian simply says that she is GUARANTEED in, I tend to suspect that there is something wrong!
I had hoped to possibly simply plant a seed regarding her possibly doing some introspection regarding that issue, enhancing her Christianity. But the response was amazing and vicious, including the references to Satan leading me! And it was quite clear that she truly believes that she has no NEED for introspection! She even tried to turn it around, in telling me that she was feeling sorry for me that I was so much under the influence of Satan! Really amazing! It was a very, very sad experience. I can only Pray that she figures this out before the day when she might have the opportunity to meet Jesus.
By the way, I am NOT claiming that I have any brilliance or advantage here! Not at all. I am merely a simple Pastor, whose function it is to be a Tool of the Holy Spirit. My understanding is that I am supposed to attempt to spread seeds when I think that there might be a need. It does NOT mean I am always right, regarding when, how or even if! I believe that He expects me to just do the best I am capable of!
It is terrifying that many modern Churches Teach that THAT is the whole show! Once you make that statement, your Salvation and your ticket to Heaven are absolute and guaranteed! Wow!
If that were so, we could really throw away nearly all of the Bible, and just keep the few pages that refer to that!
That might be wonderful, but that is NOT what the Bible nor Christianity Teaches! First, that sentence is ONLY supposed to be valid IF the person is extremely Devout and fully understands what he/she is committing to. Second, it is only the "flashy" part of being a Christian, generally referred to as Justification, and soon followed by a public water Baptism.
The critically important part that seems to often be left out today is that Justification is actually only a transition, into a state where Sanctification can occur. This Sanctification is actually a far more significant part of what Christianity is supposed to be, a life-long PROCESS of continual learning and growth.
We sometimes describe this as Justification being akin to your parents signing you up for school, while Sanctification is the 12 years you spent actually doing the learning. Not a lot was really accomplished by them just signing you up, it really depended on YOU and whether you paid attention and learned, whether the entire process of "education" worked very well for you!
Look at this another way. If YOU say a specific sentence, and therefore receive an absolute guaranteed Salvation and entry to Heaven, doesn't that sound extremely "legalistic". It would really be saying that the Lord would never again have any say in whether you are Saved or get to Heaven, no matter what you might ever do or say or think. Didn't He show a displeasure regarding the Jews being legalistic about applying the Old Testament Law?
Now, I suppose it would really simplify things if all Christians really are absolutely guaranteed of Salvation and entry to Heaven. As a Pastor, my job would be far simpler, just having to get people to recite a sentence! I have never thought of my job as that simple! The understanding of our Church is what we think was nearly the universal attitude prior to maybe 50 years ago. We study, get Saved, get Baptized, and constantly try to learn and grow from things we hear in Church. Then, when our Earthly time is done, we show up at the Gates of Heaven. Our understanding is that, AT THAT MOMENT, the "status of our heart" is evaluated by the Lord. IF the Lord is Pleased with that status, we feel that person is welcomed in. IF the Lord is not Pleased with that status, we believe that He sends that person to the other place.
It seems unimaginable to our small Church that there could be people in line with "guaranteed tickets" where they might as well just push everyone ahead out of their way "Step aside! Step aside! Guaranteed ticket here!". I guess it would be hoped that they don't knock Jesus down as they barge into Heaven!
Wow! If THAT is the way the Lord runs Heaven, it sure doesn't sound like the Heaven I have always envisioned from the Bible! Our Church sort of assumes that only people who behave and talk and think properly would get in (based on that status of the heart business). In any case, we really do NOT see any basis for ANYONE to brag about having a guaranteed Salvation or guaranteed entry to Heaven. It sure doesn't seem to be the Bible we use (King James).
But, if they are right, and there is no evaluation necessary, I guess they are right to be arrogant and self-righteous. And I suppose they also therefore know more than this Pastor does about what Christianity involves! However, I still intend to keep Teaching the Christianity that our Church believes the Bible presents, and we have not found any Scripture that talks about guarantees.
I would welcome finding that the Bible DID forbid abortions, but the Scriptures in our King James Bible do not seem to express but the most vague and indirect reference to the concept. It might also be true that the correct interpretation of some Scripture might establish the valid basis for it. In any case, given the responses I have gotten from this essay, where Christians who believe they have absolute guarantees think they are allowed to do anything, I start to see how and why some would decide to bomb clinics and kill doctors and nurses. They actually feel that their Salvation cannot be endangered! I can only say, Wow!
Again, our Church is aggressively against the casual sex that is everywhere in society today, and strongly against the casual attitudes that seem to exist regarding women getting abortions. However, we cannot see that Jesus would have ever expressed any ABSOLUTE rule regarding such a subject. Read the Bible. Get a sense of Who Jesus was! Didn't He ALWAYS show Personal and individual attention to each unique situation which He confronted? And then He chose a response that was amazingly insightful? So, imagine that the Bible might have mentioned some incident where Jesus met some young girl who had just been raped, by some criminal. Jesus would certainly have asked her to sit down and describe to Him the situation, and He would not have interrupted her. And once she was done describing what had happened, Jesus would have offered His amazing insight. If He sensed that the girl was suicidal, would He have really ordered her to have and raise that baby? Such that for nine months, or for the rest of her life, she would have the most vivid possible reminder of being raped? Doesn't it seem at least POSSIBLE that Jesus might have concluded that such a life for her would be totally worthless? That even if she would somehow avoid committing suicide, she would not likely ever have her remaining life amount to anything? Would Jesus really force her to have a clearly worthless and empty life? I am not sure. In other words, even though we know that Jesus would not be enthusiastic regarding that raped girl having an abortion, we think that MAYBE He might Decide that she could be so much more productive in her future life if He suggested that course to her? In terms that might be more understandable to the right-to-life proponents, would Jesus see that there would be NO chance that this girl would ever have any happiness, or marriage, or future children? What decision would Jesus have made if He knew that she had the potential of raising four healthy and happy babies later in life OR in never raising any other children other than the one that would always represent pain and suffering to her? I cannot answer that question, as I am not Jesus. I merely note that He MIGHT have considered such things, rather than simply the short-term implications regarding whether a fetus actually represents a human yet or not. It actually seems somewhat surprising that the right-to-life advocates do not find flaw in the fact that each month, an unfertilized egg is lost (wasted) from each woman! Isn't that egg essentially 99% of the start of a fetus? What is the difference?
I can already see that thousands of people will be irate at me regarding this, and adding to my hate-mail from this essay! Rather than citing references to Scriptures, I would ask that the ACTUAL WORDING of the Bible be included in such attacks on me, from either the NIV or the KJAV. If you then want to rip into me, do it on the basis of THOSE WORDS from the Bible and not from some rhetoric that some Christian writer has said.
( http://mb-soft.com/believe/index.html )
C Johnson, Pastor,
A Christ Walk Church