Aunty Jane
Well-Known Member
I guess that depends on whether you subscribe to Christendom's mainstream teachings or not. I was raised in Christendom but never could get a handle on what they taught and believed. If something doesn't make sense to me, it just annoys the daylights out of me.About everything? Do any of us agree 100% in every matter of theology, eschatology, and will those differences have any direct impact on our destiny?
So I believe that doctrinally Christians have to be on the same page as Jesus was....these are his teaching we are supposed to be following and just calling yourself a Christian without living like one doesn't wash IMV. (Matthew 7:21-23)
So doctrinally, after much research and Bible study I rejected the trinity.....immortality of the human soul, and a hell of fiery torment. Those were the 'biggies' for me. And the Bible proved to me that these teaching are not from God's word but from the "weeds" (counterfeit Christianity) that Jesus warned were coming into the world at the hand of the devil. It isn't obvious until you strip away what is at the base of the teaching that you see it for what it is....lies. Something the devil is good at.
There were other ideas too, like infant baptism and the expectation that 'all good people go to heaven'. I could not justify these from scripture. So there has to be agreement about what the Bible teaches and what it doesn't...I think that is fundamental. My challenge was to find those who didn't teach those things.
Both as far as I can tell. The blood of the Lamb will not save you if your doctrines somehow justify what Christ never taught and in fact actually condemned. Like Matthew 5:43-45...What is it by which we are saved... Our correct theology or the blood of the Lamb?
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may prove yourselves to be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous."
There is no room for taking part or even tacitly supporting bloodshed in national conflicts. There is no justification for killing or in even being part of the military to train to kill other human beings.....Jesus words above tell us so. But how many can put their patriotism aside and employ their Christianity especially when the clergy of Christendom are right there in the thick of it? If they were doing their job, they would be telling their charges to lay down their weapons under Jesus' instructions. (Isaiah 1:15)
I also see in James that we need both faith and works, rather than one or the other. I see "Christians" fighting over faith verses works all the time...and its a non-argument as far as I can see.
James 2:24-26...
"You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. 25 In the same way, was Rahab the prostitute not justified by works also when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? 26 For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead."
Rahab was a sinner but her actions in concealing the spies earned her salvation. She had faith because she put her own life on the line in order to save God's servants, so she demonstrated that faith by her works. God doesn't care what you were....he only cares about what you are right now. (1 Corinthians 6:9-11)
Do we assume that she went back to her prostitution after that rescue? Once saved, is not always saved...you need to keep the faith till your last breath. We have to endure to the end, faithful....or there will be no salvation. (Matthew 24:13)
Are we going to sin.....probably yes, because its inherent in every one of us, but a moment of weakness is not the same as pre-meditated sin. Any deliberate action contrary to the teachings of Jesus Christ without remorse or repentance, will not gain forgiveness. Those will forfeit the blessings of the Kingdom.
What are we being "saved" from after all? What do you believe that we are getting saved from?