In a previous comment, jazzycat stated the following:
It is a almost sure sign that someone is following a god of their imagination when they say something like the following:
......
1)My god is a god that.......
2)In my faith journey, god.....
3)God is too big to have just one way of salvation.
4)I couldn't be a Christian if that were the only way to salvation.
5)As long as you are sincere in your beliefs is all that counts.
6)My path to god may not be.....
7)As long as you live a good life, god will....
8)If you are basically a good person, then god will......
9)I know I am saved because I try to obey the ten commandments...
I've started this post for us to keep a continuing list of statements people make that either "could" or "should" make believer's "raise an eyebrow" (i.e. be concerned) about where others stand spiritually.
Another example
"I know I am a Christian (or have eternal life) because I survived a car wreck, or survived a war, etc."
What other comments do you hear that give you a clue the person you're talking with may need either the gospel clearly presented or the doctrines of salvation clearly explained to them?
How about a direct quote from a professing Emergent Church Christian pastor commenting on an atheist blog:
ReplyDeleteHe said.........
"I find the conservative theology of sacrificial atonement rather repugnant (as many of you do as well I’ve noticed), but I do still think that the cross was more than just a moral example (though it was that too). It does have something to do with forgiveness…………………
My question with that theology (besides the fact that it makes God sound like someone with some serious anger management issues) is why, if God wanted to forgive us, he just couldn’t forgive us. Why is punishment necessary? What good does it do to punish someone else in our place?"
Raising skepticism is one thing - that same skepticism being actually 'true' in it's intent is another thing.
ReplyDeleteFirst off, from the other side of the fence - I don't like it when people speak on behalf of God (or in God's name such and such is what we are to do). That makes the speaker look like the authority for God - when this is way more complex than that. The speaker is a rep for God at the most - and at the least the same person could be 'taking God's name in vain' (using God's name for their own ends).
Now that may explain why some people say 'my faith' or 'I think' to avoid this obvious breaking of commandment - and try not to use God's name in vain - but state this is what they are currently thinking and going through.
As for skepticism - here is one I find being overlooked - 'if the church history decree's it - it has to be true'. Or 'my pastor said so'...or worse yet 'God said so - so I can so such and such'. I am quite amazed at how often God's name is used in vain - and Jesus' name takes quite a licken too.
A friend sent this to me...
ReplyDelete"And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord. (Jeremiah 31:34)
Spurgeon's comments...
Truly, whatever else we do not know, we know the Lord. This day is this promise true in our experience, and it is not a little one. The least believer among us knows God in Christ Jesus. Not as fully as we desire; but yet truly and really we know the Lord. We not only know doctrines about Him, but we know Him. He is our Father and our Friend. We are acquainted with Him personally. We can say, "My Lord, and my God." We are on terms of close fellowship with God, and many a happy season do we spend in His holy company. We are no more strangers to our God, but the secret of the Lord is with us.
This is more than nature could have taught us. Flesh and blood has not revealed God to us. Christ Jesus had made known the Father to our hearts. If, then, the Lord has made us know Himself, is not this the fountain of all saving knowledge? To know God is eternal life. So soon as we come to acquaintance with God we have the evidence of being quickened into newness of life. O my soul, rejoice in this knowledge, and bless thy God all this day!
"I've noticed lately some are beginning to claim man cannot know anything about God or cannot speak in regard to issues where God has spoken. You aren't suggesting you are in this camp are you?" (Sword)
ReplyDeleteI am not in that camp at all - I think it is wise to be careful when speaking about God since this is God we are representing. I think that is where I am coming at it from - some general discretion.
I think there is a lot we can learn about God from the scriptures - heck if I didn't think this it would be an absolute waste of time to be a Christian in the first place. Lots to learn about God - so much so - in my 14 years in bantering about this faith - I am still not full from the studying (but I like what I am getting from it on a constant basis).
But as for the other end of this, we can know all things about God - that's also quite stretch. I think we have a great understanding of where to go with the faith we have - but we cannot know all things (some of God has to be mysterious for this faith to be honest and truthful). Tons of stuff in the Tanakh to dig through - even the gospels teach e new things all the time...so yeah - we are never capped on learning more about or from God.