Tag: Denominational Distinctives

THE TERRIBLE POWER OF DENOMINATIONAL DISTINCTIVES

Those of us who grew up in denominational churches are at a terrible disadvantage. They told us, plainly, that the Bible is the Word of God and the ultimate authority in every situation. Then, often not so subtly, they taught us that all Scripture must be interpreted in a manner consistent with our denomination’s doctrine and beliefs…

“As Baptists, we know that you cannot lose your salvation. With that in mind, what do you think this verse could mean?”

With those words, a professor at a Baptist college once started the discussion on Galatians 5:4 You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by the Law; you have fallen from grace.

As an older student, I had prepared an argument:
“You cannot be severed from that to which you are not attached. You cannot fall from where you are not. You cannot enter Heaven without Christ or apart from grace.”

It was however, obvious from his opening statement that such arguments would not be allowed…

Today, in my own mind, I can imagine a professor at Southern Methodist University opening a discussion on John 10:28 “I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them out of My hand.” with the words, “As Methodists, we know that you can lose your salvation. With that in mind, what do you believe this verse might mean?”

Those of us who grew up in denominational churches are at a terrible disadvantage. They told us, plainly, that the Bible is the Word of God and the ultimate authority in every situation. Then, often not so subtly, they taught us that all Scripture must be interpreted in a manner consistent with our denomination’s doctrine and beliefs… Passages that would seem to reenforce those doctrines were exaggerated, repeated, preached on and taught. Scriptures that, even on the surface, might bring those doctrines into question, were ignored, glanced over, or sometimes imaginatively misinterpreted. While the Methodists freely taught on Galatians 5:4, they cleverly (and intentionally) skipped over John 10:28. The Baptists simply reversed that practice.

Midlife, God gave me a great opportunity… forced to leave one denomination and adopt another, I was given the opportunity to honestly search the Scriptures to find the truth when denominational distinctives clashed… I quickly came to the conclusion that the denominational distinctives on both sides were basically garbage being used to convince parishioners to never visit the church down the street…

Please, for God’s sake and your own, read the Scriptures in plain language… Understand that, while it often uses figures of speech, the Bible says what it means and means what it says… If you will do that, you will cry a lot, learn a lot, and come out a different person than you are now…

PRAY-THINK-PRAY

David…

ONCE SAVED, ALWAYS SAVED

OSAS is not really a doctrine as such, it is a Denominational Distinctive… a teaching taught with the intended end of convincing church members and congregants that their church is better than the church down the street…

Someone, yesterday, asked me if I would write on the subject of once saved, always saved… Okay, here goes…

Once Saved, Always Saved, is a cute and memorable handle for a Denominational Distinctive… We can reduce that to its initials and we will do so here… We will write OSAS because it is shorter and my fingers are tired.

OSAS is not really a doctrine as such, it is a Denominational Distinctive… a teaching taught with the intended end of convincing church members and congregants that their church is better than the church down the street and discouraging them from visiting the other churches in town… We, after all, have a “doctrine” that they do not believe! That clearly makes us better!!

Never mind that the other churches are telling their members that they are much better than that other church because they teach OSAS and we know that that is a false doctrine and it will send them to Hell but we will get to go to Heaven because we are smart enough not to believe that!!!!

The truth is that there are a good number of verses that, ripped out of context and presented in a list, would seem to say that you cannot lose your Salvation…

There are also many verses that, ripped out of context and presented in a list, would seem to say that you can lose your salvation…

So, if you are a Baptist Pastor, you make your special OSAS Bible Verse list and you teach it to your people, assuring them that once they shake the Pastor’s hand and repeat that little canned prayer, they are on their way to Heaven and God himself can’t keep them out.

If, on the other hand, you are a Methodist Pastor or Church of God or any other denomination in competition with the Baptists down the street, you make up your list of all the verses that speak of losing your salvation and you teach that to your people…

But wait! What if someone finds those “OTHER” verses in their Bible and starts asking questions?

Not to fear, over the last couple of hundred years, people in your denomination, have thought much on the subject and they have come up with canned little answers that explain why none of those verses on the other Pastor’s list really mean what they say… You can just look in your books or maybe even use Google and (WOW!) There are all the answers you need to confuse your poor congregant and keep him in his pew…

Do you want to know the real, honest God’s truth on the matter?????

Your Salvation is not nearly so secure as that OSAS Pastor wants you to believe and no it does not really become a done deal when you walk an aisle, shake the preacher’s hand and repeat that little prayer… not even if you say “AMEN!” real loud and get dunked in front of everybody… A faith that does not change you, will not save you!

On the other hand, Your Salvation is a whole lot more secure than that Old Fashioned Pentecostal Preacher told you… You do not have to be afraid that you might be in an accident, say a bad word and die before you can repent!!! You were not saved because you stopped sinning and you are not lost every time you sin…That is stupid on steroids, as I like to say!!!!!

Your salvation depends on grace and faith… Are you still believing? Has your belief changed your life? Are you still under grace? Are you led by the Spirit? Good news, you will go to Heaven when you die!!!!!

We have to get past all those stupid things our pastors told us just to keep us going to their church and keep us out of the one down the street…

Read the Word for yourself and THINK and PRAY… It helps, really!

David…