Sunday, October 4, 2009

There are no ex-Christians

There is no such thing as an ex-Christian. Common complaints of those who claim to have lost their faith are a combination of improperly placed faith and selfishness. An argument with a church member or a silent disagreement with their behavior can often be seen as a failing by God when it is really a failing by another human. The falsehood that God is represented by his emissaries of human descent. Another common issue is that a man who cannot get above the concept of man's inability to free himself from pride inevitably will question the motives of God. Some forms of audacious questioning include the how can God allow so much evil, or how can a loving God be so cruel and condemn so many... Others, simply without noticing, because they are focused on man, compare the affairs of God and man on the same level. They confuse God's affection for need. I am not God and I am not Adam, but I am fairly sure that pride is the original sin. The dangerous doctrine that salvation is unsecured allows individuals who have never felt the spirit of the Lord to claim that they are ex-Christians. Once again humans are claiming control over Jesus’ sacrifice. The unsaved are welcomed in church, however it doesn't mean they are saved just because they are participating in human fellowship. The doctrine of free will is being misrepresented. Man always has free will, however, this will is not absolute. We have the freedom to make decisions within the boundaries of our imperfect will. Man has no will to save himself apart from God providing his perfect will in the incarnation of the Holy Spirit. It takes being released from our pride. He loved us first and not because he needed us but because it pleased him to do so. PRIDE! Sin is caused by man exerting a will contrary to God's. Many will say that this is ridiculous because there are many who are not Christians who are good. Good by who’s standards? If you compare the standards of a good person to a fruitful Christian I assure you that you will find some very disparaging differences. People exclaim that without free will how can we willingly love God? Christians react like children and test boundaries. We have our own will at all times, however it always has limits from left to right. It is human pride that leads men to think that they would even want to say no to a revealed God. I loved God from the moment he revealed himself to me. Why would I not? I am so sure of the greatness of Jesus Christ that I would not believe for a second that someone turned him down after his presence was revealed. If I was able I would have always praised his name. Scream Calvinist if you want, biblical truth is biblical truth. While predestination maybe debatable, salvation’s finality is not. Once saved, always saved. Someone I love very much said it best," to say that you can lose your salvation is the same as saying my Lord’s sacrifice is incomplete. Jesus saves completely for the enduring of the saints in hope of the promise of a resurrected body. ( Just a few scriptures related to this subject: Romans 8, 2 Peter 1:3-11, 1 John 2:15-17,25-27 )