Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life. (John 4:13-14)

Friday, September 07, 2007

Does Simple Faith Alone in Jesus Christ Really Save? Checklist Evangelists would say, "No!"

The Duluthian Antagonists and Checklist Evangelists believe that saving faith is assent to a complex series of propositions, containing multiple objects of faith, and is the result of a series of steps. Simple faith in Jesus through His promise is insufficient to save. Imagine Jesus Christ throwing into hell people who trusted in Him alone for salvation but failed to assent to the complexities and added steps that the Checklist Evangelists impose upon saving faith. Jesus would then be telling a lie when he said, "Most assuredly I say to you, whoever believes in Me has everlasting life" (John 6:47). Apparently, according to the Duluthian Antagonists, one can believe in Jesus for eternal life but fail to receive it for lack of assent to their critical and crucial orthodox doctrines. Would Jesus throw people into hell who had a certian hope and complete reliance upon Him through His promise to give eternal life to all who believe in Him for it? Imagine someone considering Jesus to be their absolute Savior and only hope of eternal well-being, but being cast into the lake of fire because they did not assent to the front-loading of the gospel with an array of doctrinal stipulations imposed upon them by the 'fundies'?

Example:

Let us say that I believe Jesus:

1) Was born in Bethlehem
2) Mother's name was Mary
3) Was tempted by Satan
4) Walked on water
5) Healed the sick
6) Gave sight to a blind man who had been blind from birth
7) Turned water into wine
8) Cast out demons
9) Raised Lazarus from the dead
10) said to an adulteress caught in the act, "Neither do I condemn you, go and sin no more"
11) was of the tribe of Judah
12) was of the line of David

AND I believed His promise:

"Most assuredly I say to you, whosoever believes in Me has eternal life."

In other words, I believe that the Jesus who did these things is the Christ, and my Savior, and that through faith alone in Him I have eternal life. YET I do not know and/or understand He is God, for instance (you could read in here any one of their multiple objects of faith, such as Christ's humanity, the substitutionary death, and resurrection).

The Duluthian Antagonists and Checklist Evangelists would believe me unsaved and on my way to hell because I have misplaced faith. I am believing in 'another' Jesus. Such an argument is baseless (I barely know much about many of my readers, but I surely can reference you by using what little unique things I know about you, apart from any of the grander and fuller elements of your personality, character, position, etc.).

Have we not sufficiently delimited the Jesus who is referenced in the above 12 ways to none other than the Jesus of the gospels?

Of course we have.

But the Duluthian Antagonists and Checklist Evangelists insist upon additional theological requirements, ones which neither Jesus nor John required. Their arguments haven't been based upon a biblical requirement mandating one believe that Jesus is fully God, equal to the Father in every respect, for no such commandment or requirement exists. Their arguments have often been framed by the idea that without Jesus' deity assented to our faith will inevitably be misplaced into some ethereal, figment of our imaginations, in other words, some 'other' Jesus. This reasoning is flawed for 2 reasons:

1) Jesus was believed in for eternal life apart from His deity being understood.

2) Many other unique references to Jesus can delimit our referencing of Him to the Historic Jesus who did make a promise guaranteeing eternal life to all who simply believe He has done so.

Antonio

6 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

satan believe all that.....The Holy Spirit would reveal that Jesus was God. I did not trust the Lord until He revealed Himself to me. This is where cults begin.

September 09, 2007 8:59 AM  
Blogger MrGiggs said...

So are you saying you started a cult anon? What is Jesus now, since you said he 'was' God? :)

Good stuff Antonio. I believed in God and Jesus as my savior for eternal life before I understood many other facts about Jesus, one of those being his divinity.

As I matured I gradually learned more and more about God, Jesus, the Bible, etc, etc.. One fact being the deity of Christ.

September 09, 2007 8:02 PM  
Blogger Antonio said...

Hey Mr. Giggs,

Thank you for that brief testimony. I would be very interested in hearing the whole thing. I would love to chat with you. Please email me at agdarosa@cox.net

Again, thank you for your visit and your comments.

Antonio

September 09, 2007 8:11 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I read the transcript of a sermon just last week that seems appropriate to the topic:

Please remember as I have repeated again and again, Christianity never, never asks you to believe for the sake of believing. People always think of Christianity as something where you put your brains in the closet, lock the door and throw away the key. Now that ironically is exactly what modern philosophy is doing. That is what modern philosophy is doing, they’re asking you to lock your mind in the closet and throw away the key. This is existentialism and illogical positivism and all the rest of the movement are largely this kind of faith; empty faith, where you literally must turn your mind off to make the leap.

Now it’s precisely the other way around. In the Bible God never, never expects you to believe Him until you have carefully considered His works and His words. Just as, when you exist in personal relationships, boyfriend/girlfriend, man and woman, man and man, woman and woman, when you have a personal relationship, how do you trust someone? Without getting so philosophical how do you trust someone? On what basis do you trust someone? You men who are in business, how are you going to trust a business partner? It’s not some mythical thing by which you prove Christianity; you do it the same way you do anything else. How do you trust someone? You trust someone by listening carefully to what they told you and watching their behavior. Do they tell you one story tomorrow and another story the next day? If so, then you don’t trust them, but if they tell you something and they stick by their word, and if their works line up with their words, then you trust them, don’t you? In other words, your trust is in fact.


- Charles Clough Divine Institutions Lesson 5

So please in the future add this to your list:

13) Take your brains out of the closet and use them!

Glenn W.

September 11, 2007 10:18 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

For completeness sake the link I enetered in my previous comment does not seem to be working right. The correct address is:

http://www.cclough.info/GHTrans/DivineInstitutions/Clough_Div_Institut_L-05.htm

Glenn W.

September 11, 2007 10:28 AM  
Blogger MrGiggs said...

Que? lol

Your welcome Antonio. When I have some time I'll send you an email.

Ryan

September 11, 2007 7:53 PM  

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