Tag Archives: Baptists

A personal relationship with Jesus?

04 Thursday Feb 2016

Posted by in Bible, Faith, Salvation

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In Henry IV part 1 Glendower says he will call ‘spirits from the vasty deep’ – the sceptical Harry Hotspur irritates the verbose Welsh prince by sneering: ‘aye, but will they come when you call?’ That’s a question facing every evangelist. From what I can see of the American scene, and from some British examples, a good deal of energy and thinking is put into this – hence the mega-church phenomenon and the emphasis on certain types of music as being likely to pull in people, especially young ones. But we are, as I suggested yesterday, effectively operating in a post-Christian society, where neither the education system nor anything in mainstream culture actually helps prepare people for the Word. Too often you end up with simplistic slogans which people imbibe and they say they are ‘saved’ and have ‘assurance’, and to anyone who asks serous questions quoting the Bible, they say that the ‘unsaved’ can’t understand the Bible – thus closing themselves off from fellowship with anyone but those few who agree with them.

Christianity is not a solitary faith, would be my first port of call – we have no examples in the New Testament of a man claiming ‘I am saved’ and not having fellowship with other Christians. I am deeply suspicious of those who have no fellowship with others because that is not the model we see in Scripture. Hermits may be a part of the longer history of the Church, but I see none of them in the NT, and no call for them. We are called to up and doing. That’s not a ‘works’ theology, it’s a simple fact of Christian life. If you claim to know Jesus and you are no better in your behaviour and your life for it, then your faith is, at best, theoretical, and at worst, a sham. The very idea that you can know the Savour of the world and yet it have no effect on you – except that you go round telling other folk you’re ‘saved’ is, to my mind, blasphemous. I never knew a man or woman who was not changed by the encounter. That’s not saying they, or me, suddenly became a perfect person, or, this side of heaven, ever could be – but it is to say we try, we’re conscious of our sin, we strive to do better. Not, pace idiots who talks about being ‘saved by works’ (has anyone ever met anyone who actually taught this?) because we think that is the way to salvation – but because if we know him it manifests itself in our lives.

Not once, in the whole of the NT, will you find anyone being told about having a ‘private’ relationship with Jesus – not one Apostle says to anyone that they must take Jesus into their heart and accept him as their personal saviour. We are saved into a community of faithful – as every Apostle and disciple was. Of course that means that we develop our own relationship with Jesus – how could we not? But that develops as part of a community of disciples – saints, as Paul calls them – who help each other on their journey. Private little relationships with Jesus, all by our wild lone, are not Biblical – our relationship, whilst personal, is as part of a community – the centre of gravity of that relationship is the called out community – Scripture offers us no examples of ‘saved persons’ with no relationship to the church. In fact, such a thing was impossible, because all the evangelists warn of the dangers of false prophets and emphasise the need to hold on to the tradition inherited by word and in writing. No ‘saved person’ by himself, had access to either – you got them through the church.

Paul is very clear about this. He calls the church the temple of the Lord where “you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit” (Eph. 2:21). Again, Paul prays that “you may be filled with all the fullness of God” (Eph. 3:19), which he already said resides in the local body (1:23). This is why God gave us spiritual gifts (Eph. 4:11-12), so that the body of Christ would be built up, made mature, and become unified where the “fullness of Christ” would radiate (Eph. 4:12-13). There is nothing in this, or indeed anywhere in Scripture, which posits a relationship with Jesus outside of the church. Water baptism, not some ‘sinner’s prayer’ was the instrument of reception into the Church for those who had come to know Jesus. The modern nonsense about it being individualistic is simply a heresy of our atomised society where everything is about ‘me’ and not me serving Jesus and building up his community on earth with others..

So to Bethlehem

22 Tuesday Dec 2015

Posted by in Advent, Blogging, Faith

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One of the benefits of being retired is that you don’t have to go to work; one of the downsides is you don’t quite know when the holidays start. My youngest daughter comes to stay today, and one of her older sisters on Wednesday, with my grandson (and there’s her husband to be sure, but as long as the grandson is here that’s what Mrs S and I look forward to!). So that will start my holiday. I’ll pop in from time to time to see what you good folk are up to, but won’t be as present as usual.

It’s appropriate that it should be the arrival of mother and child (not to mention one wise man and a wise daughter) which brings Christmas to my house. For those from my tradition, what has always mattered most about Christmas was that it was the birth into the world of Christ by whom we are saved – for my tradition and yours, too I’ll wager. That is what we have in common, and it is one of the things we celebrate here. Jessica has created a rare place where Christians of all sorts can discuss their experience of the faith, theorise about it if they must, and, on the whole, do so without too much in the way of enmity. I am not quite sure where else you’d get a Californian ‘born again’ clown, traditionalist Catholics, a Lutheran, a Baptist, Anglicans and Evangelicals all sitting down together – so it is worth, not least now she’s back, saying a big thank you. It is also worth asking what this place is for?

My own view is that it offers us all the chance to reflect on what we have experience in terms of God in our lives, and to be reminded how much bigger he is that we can sometimes try to make him. It is natural, in our fallen state, that we receive him as we find him, and being as we are, we can be quite satisfied with that, and even imagine this gives us some sort of exclusive right to him. As I read what others write here, I am more convinced than ever that we are all like the blindfolded men in the room with the elephant – we all thing that whatever we hold is the whole of the elephant. By comparing notes with others, we can get a better idea of the dimensions of the elephant. Tradition matters more than some in my own tradition might think, but so does personal experience of God, and so does how we read the Bible. Faith, reason, tradition, all have to be brought into some sort of balance – and in his infinite wisdom, the Lord has provided something for each of us – and at different stages of our lives.

The other good thing here is there is no sort of syncretism at work. I don’t feel the need to be less of a Baptist because I can appreciate what Catholics bring to my understanding – in fact I feel a fuller Christian. So, as we come close to Christmas day and to that place in Bethlehem where the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, I wish you all a happy and a holy Christmas!

That’s an ecumenical matter

16 Wednesday Dec 2015

Posted by in Faith

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Those who ever watched TV’s “Father Ted” will recall that the phrase ‘that’s an ecumenical matter’ was something which the eponymous Fr Ted taught the foul-mouthed Fr Jack to say when visiting bishops came to Craggy Island; it was a way of avoiding him saying anything embarrassing. Yet a good deal of what passes in the name of ecumenism is embarrassing enough. Rereading that report on Religion in Society I linked to last week, it struck me that it was a pure product of ecumenism of the sort which in my view has rotted the vitals of the Christian faith in Europe. The sincerity of its members in what they believe is apparent, but is what they believe what Christians have always believed? The answer to that has to be ‘no’.

At the risk of getting myself on some sort of Government list as a fundamentalist and extremist, I am committed to the view that Christ is my Saviour, and that he is your Saviour too; indeed to the whole idea that His name is the one name above all. That has led Christians into bad places in the past, but that is no excuse for so neglecting it that it leads everyone into bad places now. That it was not only wicked but pointless to try to compel belief is something I have no problem with. You can’t make someone a Christian. As I remind some of our youngsters when, back from preaching, they think they have helped bring someone closer to Christ, that is the work of the Holy Ghost, and we are but feeble instruments in His hand – we stand in His strength and have none of our own. But to go from that extreme to the idea that one faith is as good as another is to commit the error at the opposite end of the spectrum of folly. If one faith was as good as another then Paul could have stayed at home, as could Peter, and everyone could have been saved in the way they chose, knowing it was God’s will – or even not knowing that.

We come back here to a point made before on this blog, usually by me, which is that we are being saved from something; Christ suffered, died and was buried, for us, to save us from our sins and to gain heaven for us. His resurrection was the first fruits of His sacrifice, and as we die with Him, so we rise with Him. I am quite happy to respect another fellow’s ‘belief system’, and I am even happy to say that I’ve no idea who will get to Heaven – that’s above my pay grade. But what I am not happy to say is that it does not matter. That is what the report says by implication. We should make spaces for all faiths and for none, that I can follow, but I cannot follow the idea that it is somehow wrong to claim that one’s own faith is the one which saves you – that is truth and we are bound to preach it.

Truth? That’s a problem for an age of relativists, but so much the worse for the relativists. Truth is the Person of Christ, and in His life, death, and resurrection, we shall have life, and life eternal. We are charged with making disciples of all nations. We’ve often made a hash of it, but only the other day we had a fine preacher from Nigeria here, and I thought to myself when I listened to him that the new world was coming to the aid of the old.

Free Speech revisited

15 Tuesday Dec 2015

Posted by in Bible, Church/State, Faith, Persecution

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This blog has been here before – the threat to free speech posed by our idiot laws against ‘hate speech’ being interpreted by even more idiot judges who think that quoting the Bible equals ‘homophobia. The latest one has been the closest call yet. Last March Mike Overd was found guilty of hate speech and ordered to pay compensation to a man who claimed he had been ‘offended’ by Mike quoting from what Leviticus has to say about homosexuality. I didn’t write about it at the time because Mike appealed. I know folk who know Mike, and Mike has preached in Taunton for many years, in much the way I and others do here. Thankfully the appeal judge, a man of sound common sense, decided that the the prosecution had failed to make its case. Mike has had costs awarded in his favour, so some lawyers on the other side, who clearly did a shoddy job, will, nevertheless, have their fees paid; I hope someone looks at their conduct of the case and slaps a fine on them. It is lawyers like that who pose the greatest threat to free speech. I would probably stray into the area of possible libel if I mentioned the first judge and his judgment, so I shall say nothing about District Judge Shamim Ahmed Qureshi, who was, no doubt, perfectly qualified to pronounce on what Biblical verses a Christian should have been using (he thought Lev 18 rather than 20 should have been used), despite appearances to the contrary.

What I will do is quote Mike’s words for truth:

“In this country, we are now in the ludicrous situation where the slightest accusation of a ‘phobia’, be it ‘homophobia’ or ‘Islamaphobia’, is enough to paralyse rational action by the police and authorities. The highly politicised dogma of ‘phobias’ now too often results in trumped up charges and legal action. There is a chilling effect.

“Reasonable, law-abiding people now feel that they can’t say certain things and that is dangerous. Totalitarian regimes develop when ordinary people feel that there are certain things that can’t be said.

“Rather than prizing freedom of expression and protecting it, the police and the prosecutors risk undermining it, because they’ve become paranoid about anyone who might possibly feel offended.”

I have not yet come across a Muslim preacher being brought to court for quoting from the Koran, which is surely just my not finding this happening, and not a symptom of the same cowardice in the face of the professional ‘offendotrons’ of the Left. As it happens, if there had been such a case, I’d be on the side of Muslim preacher. There’s far too much of this sort of thing going on.

Every time our legislators pass laws restricting speech, they dispute the claims made by folk like me that this is corroding free speech to the point at which it is an endangered species. We really need, as a society, to sort this out. A chap sharing the word of God with folk who stop to listen, should not find himself up before the beak for quoting from Scripture. The Law is capable of being an ass, but only because those who make those laws are total asses. I would like to think this would be a wake up call, but don’t think it is.

I am glad Mike is free, and will raise a glass to him – but we will see more and more of these cases.

Watching

01 Tuesday Dec 2015

Posted by in Faith

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Advent is a season of waiting – but also of watching. No man knoweth the time, we are told, and so we watch for them. Of wars, and rumours of war, of the distress of nations and their breaking, there is no end; in this fallen and broken world it is bound to be so. Do we ask why? Have we no shame? Have we no insight into our interior lives? Can we not see from that why the world is as it is? Our small sins which do small damage in our small lives would, given the chance, be large ones and do greater damage; we have no spiritual health in us. Yet God reconciled us to Him even whilst we were his enemies, and once we have received him, in our hearts, by faith, with thanksgiving, we are saved by his sacrifice. But this world remains what it is, and it is in permanent enmity with the Lord and his followers; how could it not be so – the dark hates the light.

What other explanation than the Fall can there be for the refusal of so many in our society to accept the sacrifice the Lord made on their behalf? One of them has to be the witness so many of us offer to the hope that is in us. How often, when talking to folk, have I heard them say that such and such a thing done by ‘the church’ has ‘put them off’. Very often it is not, when you pursue the conversation, the big things. Yes, folk cite things like ‘the Inquisition’ and the burnings at the stake, but when you get into it, it isn’t these long ago happenings, which I think only come to mind because they are out there is the culture and are an easy answer. It is almost a kindness, because if you can draw folk out, it gets a bit more personal: it is the censoriousness, it is the kill-joy quality people see in many Christians; and it is the divisiveness.

We hold information sessions for those who are enquiring into the faith – no point doing our Saturday street preaching if there’s no follow-up for those interested – and one of the things which is always said is ‘what’s the difference between you and the church off the high street?’ That church is the Church of England parish church. The vicar does that, and six other churches locally; when I was a lad the vicar did just that church and the other six had their own vicars, and folk got some religious education at school. All of that is now gone. It may be a self-selecting sample, but not one of those who come to us has any idea what the C of E is, or, for that matter, what a Baptist is (though they somehow know we only baptise adults), and as for Catholics, they know they ‘follow the Pope’ – but beyond these simple generalities, they know nothing. Not one of them ever talks about the love and generosity they have seen any Christians they know evince.

We deliberately avoid any sectarianism in our classes. Rudimentary knowledge is so wanting that we do what I suspect the first Christians did – we talk about our experience of the forgiveness of the Lord Jesus. That almost always hits home, as folk want to talk about what is on their consciences. I’ve lost count of the number who, once they’ve ben able to open up, come to Christ through that process. Which Church they go to is up to them – many choose to remain with us, but that, I think, is simply because they feel at home where they first came. It is not indifferentism, it is a recognition that God calls us and we come. Those who think otherwise, fine, but my question is a simple one – how many people have come to the Lord through the Spirit by your own favoured method and through your help?

 

The paths we follow

30 Monday Nov 2015

Posted by in Faith

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It’s a delight to have had two posts from Jessica, and if I might so say, two such good ‘uns – it’s like she’s not been away. She’s always made us think, and these two aren’t an exception to that. As I read her one yesterday it was patently clear that I was in the presence of one who has walked closely with her God. To anyone reading her posts that’s not an occasion of surprise. There was a point when the trajectory of her journey seemed clear enough. I came to this blog from following her progress on the Telegraph blogs, and thought it a clear example of a journey to Rome. Then, in July 2012, in a moving post, Jessica shared with us that she was encamped on Mt Nebo. Now, to those of you familiar with your Old Testament, you’ll recognised her reference. Nebo was the mountain from which Moses was able to see the Promised Land – but he was never to enter it. After long and prayerful discernment, Jessica could see the Roman Catholic Church, but she could not enter it.

It was about then that I began following. I recognised her point of view. My own journey began is the most Orange of Ulster Protestant traditions, and if I’m hard on young Bosco, it’s because he repeats much of the pile of old rubbish about the Church which I inherited and, God forgive me, believed for a while. Back then there was no Internet, and getting hold of reliable information, and of the books written by the Church Fathers was far from easy. It wasn’t until I was a trainee teacher and met my first Catholic friend that the scales began to lift. Without any discernible effort, my friend was the best evangelist for his church I ever met; anyone so patently good and holy could not be a ‘spawn of Satan’. He bore with my fierce anti-Catholicism with more good humour than I should have, had the positions been reversed, and he had a well-argued answer of my every objection. By that, I don’t mean he refuted everything, I mean that he directed me to reading which helped educate me. I came to realise that the early Church had been far more liturgical than I had imagined, and that the traditions which I’d been taught were later additions, were there as far back as the historian could go. Above all, there was his example. He’s dead these three years now, so he’ll not be embarrassed by my saying that his example did more to dispel old hatreds and prejudices than any book I ever read. We took to praying together, and he gave me something I treasure to this day, his own favourite Rosary. When I pray it, as I do from time to time, I remember him; he was a good man.

If my prejudices faded in the light of reason and history, that was not accompanied by any thought that Rome was my destination. In the good old plain English tradition to which I had come by then, I had found God in the way He meant me to find and serve Him. Politics of any sort has never attracted me, and from what I saw in ecumenical gatherings, there was a good deal of it with my Anglican and Roman Catholic friends; they were for ever complaining about what this or that hierarch was doing, and the faction fighting seemed unappealing. None of that was to say that my own little community didn’t have its tensions, but we had our Confession of Faith, and we had the Creed, and we talked things through as the Apostles of old had. We’d no need to wonder what the Latin original of anything said, or whether some grandee in some palace somewhere would lead the faithful astray.

My own journey has remained with the Lord as it has pleased him to lead me. I long ago gave up confessional arguments. Those who have crossed the Tiber, well I have sometimes wished I’d your conviction, but then if wishes were real, beggars would be kings. In fact the closest I’ve come to leaving my own tradition was a long flirtation with Eastern Orthodoxy, with which I find myself in substantial agreement. But my friends there were Russian, and I am not Russian, and cannot turn myself into something I’m not, so, as with the insights I had from Anglicanism and Roman Catholicism, I have endeavoured to benefit from them. So, like Jessica, I am on Mt Nebo, and having been camped there these many years, extend hearty welcome to all pilgrims who pass through. Yes, I know you are certain you are on the right path, so are all who pass through – and in so far as all are with Christ, then on the view that he who is not against us is with us, welcome.

Christianity in the public square

25 Wednesday Nov 2015

Posted by in Bible, Faith

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One reflection on the fuss over the showing of the advertisement for the Lord’s Prayer in cinemas, would be that it shows up the ambivalence our society has with Christianity and, probably with the idea of religious faith of any variety; I think it does not know what to make of it. My comments apply to the UK, and I’d be interested in what our American readers and commentators have to say about their own situation, but here the only exposure most children get to religion is via school, where, even in Church of England or Catholic schools, teachers bend over backward to be inclusive – which is a euphemism for not teaching much about Christianity. They will get lots of comparative religion, but how much use this is to children who don’t understand what religion is might be a good question to ask. When I was teaching, it was always difficult for Heads to find trained RE teachers and we usually made do with teachers whose expertise was elsewhere; as someone with a doctorate in a religious topic who was also an elder in his local church, I ended up as our ‘lead’ in this area; not ideal, but better than the alternative – which was the PE teacher (who happened to have some spare space in his timetable!). If that was the case in a public school (for our US readers, that means ‘private’ – yes, I know, but the English are odd like that!), then it is even worse in many State schools.

In one sense one might say this has not changed much – there was always a problem filling RE, but back when I started it was easier to do because there were always a number of teachers who, like men played a role in their local churches and could be plugged in to cover the subject when needed. Now that is rarely the case. That reflects the wider aspect of the problem – the gap between wider educated society and religion. So, if our children are not getting much by way of religious education at school, and if the wider society of which they are part is religiously illiterate, it can be said with some confidence that they will not get that sort of education anywhere else.

At my own chapel, we put on a weekly Bible study class, but that is mainly taken by those already members of the fellowship. We started a weekly introductory class back in September, and that has a small membership, but they are all adults, and all came via our street preaching; none of them know much about religion, and we had to start from the most basic of basics. All those in the class had education up to the age of 18, and two of them have degrees, but not one of the eight knew anything much about Christianity except what they’d picked up from the media – and most of that was negative.

After 12 weeks we have made some progress, but when we decided to set up the course, we asked around other churches to see what they did, and found the answer was very little. I’d hoped the C of E, who do something which looks useful, might prove a little more ecumenical than they have, but you can’t always have what you want – or what would make economic sense (they have seven in their class!). But at least we are doing something. Very few others are.

So, I can see where the C of E was coming from with its advertisement – the state of play is dire, and I am not sure how well-equipped we are to deal with a favourable response – but it would be a nice problem to have.

Follow your conscience

17 Tuesday Nov 2015

Posted by in Faith, Pope

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Last week everyone’s favourite free-wheeling Pope said, to a Lutheran woman married to a Catholic man who said how hurt she was at not being able to take communion in each other’s churches:

“life is bigger than explanations and interpretations,” he suggested that individuals should not be obsessed with complex theological debate and decide according to their conscience.

“It is a question that each person must answer for themselves,” he said, suggesting that his own authority was below that of God’s in such personal matters.

“There is one baptism, one faith, one Lord, so talk to the Lord and move forward. I dare not, I cannot, say more,” he said.

What’s remarkable is that he stopped there. Perhaps he realised that saying any more would cause even more of a scandal than the indifferentism to which he’d already given voice? Who am I to judge?

He’s right that we. each of us, answers to our conscience. But I should have expected a Catholic bishop to have been emphasising the importance of that conscience being properly formed; perhaps he took that for granted? It did not sound as though he did.

I shall be corrected here I am sure if I err, but my understanding is that for Catholics, as for Orthodox, taking communion is a sign of full fellowship? It is for us Baptists. To say that those not in full fellowship cannot share at the table with us is not to be ‘nasty’ or ‘uncaring’ or whatever the latest word is which expresses modern man’s inexhaustible list of things which upsets the new, more sensitive man – it is a statement of fact. Modern man seems quite allergic to ‘facts’, which he seems to find offensive when they go against his opinion; quite why his opinion should count for anything is unclear, except for the fact that in a world where relativism rules, the one thing of which he can be certain is his own view – until he changes it.

Were I a Catholic, I should be profoundly concerned by another of the comments he is said to have made:

“What will the Lord ask us on that [Judgment] day? Did you go to Mass? Have you prepared a good catechesis?” …

While these things are important, the deeper questions will be “on the poor. Because poverty is the center of the Gospel. He, being rich, was made poor in order to enrich us with his poverty.”

Jesus didn’t consider it a privilege to be God, but instead “humbled himself unto death, death on a cross. It’s the choice of service,” Francis said.

It’s the choice we will be faced with when we meet Jesus face to face: “did you use your life for yourself or to serve? To defend yourself from others with walls, or to welcome with love? This will be the final decision of Jesus.”

This Jesus he mentions seems not to be the one who spoke about sheep and goats and who warned that few would be saved, and even wondered if there would be any faithful left when he returned. Jesus welcomed all with love, but there was this thing he asked of them – that they should repent of their sins. Would that, perhaps, have upset some of the poor sensitive souls to whom the Pope was speaking?

There is a reason that the great preachers often spoke of sin – it is sin which damns us to hell. Being reminded of our sin is unpleasant – it often makes us feel uneasy. Good, because that is the first step towards penitence. If we feel uneasy about something we have done or said, we should think on that a while – because that’s our conscience, that’s God’ voice telling us that we’re going wrong. That is also an invitation to get it right next time, to apologise – to repent.

I’ve no idea whether this Pope is a Catholic in the traditional sense. He’s one in the modern sense. Whether that’s enough, who can judge?

Denominations

07 Saturday Nov 2015

Posted by in Blogging, Faith

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One reflection from all the fuss in the Catholic Church strikes me forcibly. It seems there are some Catholics who feel free to discard the teachings of their Church when they conflict with their lifestyle. I would guess there have always been, but what is new(ish) is the number who feel emboldened to say so, knowing, they think, that under this Pope they will not be slapped down. In what practical way these folk differ from some Anglicans, who can tell? They are, as Chalcedon commented here the other day, on the same spectrum – those who think the duty of the church is to adapt to our times. They are relativist on everything until it comes to their own views, when they are not; they will criticise as authoritarian those who quote the teaching of the Church, but their own relativism is a form of authoritarianism which allows them to exclude as ‘haters’ those who fail to comply with their own relativism. I suppose it must make a form of sense to them, although to me it looks like a form of cognitive dissonance.

I was struck, also, by a comment from David Monier-Williams who, in addition to managing to be even older than I am, is also (I think) the one cradle Catholic on this blog, and he wrote:

As a “Cradle Catholic,” I guess I put my head down, receive Holy Communion daily, say my Rosary do my meditation etc. etc. and leave Rome to the Romans. I have faith that it’ll all come out in the wash.

Which set me to thinking (or whatever wobbling with the brain is my substitute for it). Isn’t something similar what most sensible Christians do? As a humble Baptist elder, I can;t say I pay any attention whatsoever to what the Grace Union or whatever it is called says about anything. We are an autonomous Church and we busy ourselves with ministering to those here, spreading the Gospel word, welcoming folk to our chapel, and doing our best to cultivate a fellowship which helps all of us, and which is welcoming to everyone. We don’t mince our words, we preach on Saturdays with a banner which proclaims that ‘the wages of sin is death’ – as they are.

I wonder how meaningful the old denominational labels are now? I’m the last one to downplay doctrine – it matters and those who think it don’t have little fellowship with me. But I think I have more in common with an orthodox Catholic and an orthodox Anglican than I do with a liberal Christian of any persuasion, and here I find myself about 95% of the time in agreement with my Catholic colleagues, as, I notice, does Neo. Neither of us (and Neo will correct me if I speak out of turn) have any desire to join the Church of Rome (least of all under this Pope), but what repels us is not the age-old Catholic faith, it is the liberals who infest that Church – and we encounter enough of them, I am sure, in our own denomination.

For my part, because we are a small local church, I confess to not being terribly worried about things that are too high for me. Enough to worship the God who made all things and whose Son died that I should live. To all those who believe the same, I feel a fellowship.

Are you saved?

21 Monday Sep 2015

Posted by in Bible, Blogging, Faith, Salvation

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sweet

Periodically our resident clown stops clowning around and reminds us that we are saved. He gets irritating when he presumes to tell us who is and who isn’t saved; when he matures in the Lord he’ll find he’s better off leaving that judgment to the only Just Judge; He and He alone knows who will be saved. He’ll also find that thinking that you are once saved, always saved, is a bit presumptuous too. But he has a point all the same. The Blood of the Lamb is shed for us all, and though all will not embrace the Lord, all have the chance. That mad and bad idea that God makes some of us for eternal damnation is a most damnable idea itself. What Father makes a child for hell? It is the child who will, as man or woman, reject the Father and embrace hell. I’ve a suspicion, but it’s no more, that heaven and hell are the same place, and that those who reject God and his love experience heaven as hell; they bring it on themselves and to the last, God leaves open the way. The way is narrow, but many are saved as well as lost, and we’re better not speculating on such high things. I find it hard enough to keep my eyes on the finishing line (though I’m near enough to it, God knows), and that’s my main job – as well as helping others know the Lord Jesus.

Our recent disagreements about annulment and the like are part of the wider divide between the Protestant and the Catholic world. I can see why my Catholic friends might think I am preaching cheap Grace when I say that those who embrace Jesus are covered by his blood – where’s the justice in a fellow who has been wrong all his life being able to come to God just the way a fellow who has been serving him all the days of his life? I tell you where, in God. The God who told us that the worker who comes at the last gets the same as the worker who came at the first hour; the God who tells us the Prodigal and the adulterous woman are forgiven. No one who truly embraces the Lord gets cheap Grace, because if they are real in their faith the know the price with which they were bought, and they kneel in amazement before the Lord in thanks and humility. They are not going to go off and so it again – that’s like a Protestant supposing that Confession is a cheap way out – just say sorry and you get let off. It isn’t so. If we are in Christ and He in us, there is sorrow, there is pain, there is penitence.

That’s why, though, some of us get a bit indignant about things like Canon Law and Indulgences and the rest of it. Yes, I can see the argument that you need a system of justice, but most societies have one and we abide by it. Among the brethren we sit down and we work it out. Christ didn’t say go to the lawyers, and if the Church got so big and complex it needs them, it ought to think why and what it could do to be more like the early Church.

There is one mediator – Jesus Christ the righteous. I take my case to him direct. I know some take it to him through a priest or a saint, and that was how they used to do things in the kingdoms of old, when the Queen Mother or the nobles were men and women you lobbied. But Our King is humble, He sits with the sinners whom he came to save. He exalts the little child and the women, those who were outcast. Those whose faith takes them in the direction of intercessions, fine, as with those whose faith does not.

In the end we come to him as we can, as he draws us. if he does not draw us we cannot come. His arms are out for us all, and for me, all who embrace him, however they do, as the saved. I hope we all persevere together, in faith, and meet in the sweet by and by.