PTM WEEKLY UPDATE -- MAY 12, 2008
What our readers and listeners say
Which religion is right?
I normally find your articles a refreshing relief from legalist dogma, however when I read Q and A "Which religion is right? -- Are Christians the only ones going to heaven?" in the April 28, 2008 PTM Weekly Update, I was exceedingly disappointed by your evasive response to the very important question regarding whether Christians are the only ones who "go to Heaven" I am hard-pressed to believe that you took the questioner literally regarding their use of the term "religion". It seems pretty obvious that the questioner did not mean the religious establishment you regularly rail against, but simply used it as shorthand for those who give themselves to Christ (aka Christians). You of all people should know that non-believers tend to use the term religion in a neutral (if not positive) capacity, unlike believers who use the term as a pejorative descriptive for dogmatic, legalistic, abusive organizations.
My answer to the question is pretty simple -- which does not mean it is easy to deliver--and that is to refer to God's word regarding Christ. To do so rotely risks offense however, and so I caveat my biblical reference by asserting first that I personally do not know who is redeemed and who is not -- only God knows that -- but that the Bible says some things that seem to pretty clearly indicate what one must do to stand in God's favor. One might also add that there is a spiritual war going on for all of our souls, and that it is naive to believe that the enemy would not employ any scheme to separate us from our creator. Such schemes are both secular (materialism, power, fame) and spiritual (false religions, atheism) in nature, but the end result is the same -- we end up failing to bear fruit as Christ so persuasively explained in the parable of the sower.
Your sermons prove that you are far too smart to have taken the questioner's use of the term literally, which leaves one to conclude that your real intention was to find some sort of mechanism to avoid having to give an answer that would risk offense.
Please do not let the "truth" in PTM fall victim to the desire for popular approval. -- Virginia
• In an attempt to understand your response, I have re-read the article in question. Having done so, I can't see how my answer was at all evasive. Let me attempt to reframe what I said for clarification. Are Christians the only ones going to heaven? Yes and no (I know, that sounds like I'm running for some kind of office!). However, it's the only way to answer the question, for the answer to the question hinges on the definition of "Christian." There are folks who we would not identify as a Christian who are, and there are those whom we would identify as Christians for they seem to have all the necessary external "badges" of compliance, but they are not Christians.
Yes -- Christians are the only ones who are going to heaven -- but God alone determines who and who is not a Christian. Does that help? That, I would say, is far from evasive -- it's direct, yet with a qualification about the definition of the terms that are being used, so that I do not mislead the person asking the question. Please let me know if you wish for me to be more definitive.
Yes, I do "rail against" the religious establishment, and I am convicted that the very fact that you and so many others find such a mission and proclamation "refreshing" is itself an indictment of dead religion, religion without a soul, religion that is bogged down in preserving the status quo rather than proclaiming the gospel. Thankfully, there are many healthy, Christ-centered ministries and churches who recognize this very antiChrist malady/virus/disease - and refuse to bow the knee to the Baal of religion. We absolutely need more Jesus and less religion.
You also assert that there is a spiritual war going on for our souls. This is true - but the issue is this -- who is in danger? Are those who are "in Christ" in danger?
Jesus says, in John 10:27-29, that no one can snatch his sheep out of his hand -- he says "they will never perish." So while there is a spiritual war going on, who is in danger? You state that the enemy might "separate us from our creator." Yet Paul rhetorically asks "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? (Romans 8:35) -- and then, in the verses that follow (verses 35-39) contends that no power in heaven or on earth, not angels or demons, etc. ''will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8:39).
You say that secular schemes of materialism, power and fame, as well as spiritual devices, such as false religion and atheism, might somehow be successful in causing us to "fail to bear fruit" as Christ explained in the parable of the sower. Yet the clear testimony of the New Testament is that bearing fruit in the life of those who submit and surrender to Jesus is the work of the Holy Spirit, so that fruit brought forth in our lives is not because of our innate strength, effort and abilities, but all is to the glory of God.
The parable of the sower does not focus on those who are already in Christ, those seeds that have, because of new life in Christ, already germinated -- as much as it does on the broadcasting (to use an agricultural term) -- the proclaiming -- of the seed. Some seeds fall in rocky places where the soil could not support long term life, some seeds were eaten by birds, some fell in thorny places and were choked by the presence of competing plants. Were these seeds ever in Christ? Other passages would lead us to conclude they were not, for if they were they would not have been snatched away. Finally some seed falls on fertile ground - and produces in various ways, not because of the efforts of the seeds, but because of the soil and other elements of growth (light, water) -- all of which are clearly divinely given and ordered.
Finally, I assure you that PTM does not intend to modify the gospel so that it might be "politically correct." -- In Christ, Greg AlbrechtDefining sin
PTM and CWR has helped me to ponder and more deeply understand the struggle of today's Christian -- the struggle to "do better," "please God more" and to "just have enough faith to be healed or to be free" Why it is so hard for us to understand the true concept of God's grace? We are born into a sinful nature and sinful world, and thus live in a constant "sin" state. We are not free from that UNLESS we have the precious Grace God so freely granted us that day on Calvary. It is in knowing that TRUE freedom and accepting it that we can be free in our lives as Christians.
Too often we find satisfaction in the comfort that we tried hard enough or that we resisted a certain temptation so often. We Christians debate among ourselves what is sin and isn't -- we sit in group meetings for hours trying to figure out if the situation we are currently in meets the definition of "SIN". Why do we devote so much time out of our lives to dwell on our sinful nature? God will reveal to us as individuals when we are straying from his side. As Christians we need to come together as real individuals not afraid to show our struggles or faults, as well as showing our victories and our successes in Christ. Too often we have this false concept of what being a "Christian" is all about -- putting on a fake persona, keeping away from the "social" sins -- and keeping the sins in our hearts out of public discretion. That is not what it is about. If we were truly accepting of God's free Pardon, we wouldnt be afraid to admit, show, and reveal to one another our struggles. It is in and through those struggles that we reveal ourselves to be truly HUMAN. The message for this Age of Legalism and Religion is one of this: FREE GRACE!! BE FREE!! -- EmailRETURN TO PTM WEEKLY UPDATE CONTENTS PAGE
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