anyone else tired

[ml5363]

Just wondering if anyone else is tired of the fellow christians who are so hung up on labels and groups about whose faith is bigger and better...I just want to continue my best to be a follower of Jesus. I am saved and know him as my own personal Lord and Saviour, shouldn't that be enough for us? Am I in the minority?

 

[Leevo]

I feel the same! We are all brothers and sisters in Christ, we need to learn to get along and not get hung up on all of the small stuff! God will sort out all our doctrine when we get upstairs!

 

[Goodbook]

Just dont go to the general theology forum and you'll be alright.

 

[Pedrito]

I agree that the multiplicity of churches that exist, with their mishmash of doctrines and practices, and the squabbles within those churches (Baptist included), are lamentable.

They are a clear indication of, and an obvious result of, human wisdom being superimposed on the original, simple and clear apostolic Gospel.

However, could it be that sometimes, understanding God's specific revelation to us on certain matters is indeed important.

For instance, take the case of a young couple who have just lost their first baby, a few months after its birth.

What would you tell them if they asked you where their baby was?


Continued ...

 

[Pedrito]

A Roman Catholic, Lutheran, or other infant-baptising church would say that the child was in Heaven with Jesus, if it had been baptised, but maybe somewhere else if it had not been. (The RC church has recanted of its Limbo teaching, leaving the fate of unbaptised infants undefined.)

Some Believer's Baptism churches would say that the child was in Heaven because it had not reached the “age of accountability”. But the concept of “age of accountability” does not exist in the Bible. It is therefore unscriptural. That has been admitted – see subsequent post.

Other Believer's Baptism churches would say that the child was either in Heaven or Hell, depending on whether or not God had predestined it for Heaven before it was even conceived. I suggest that the scripturalness of that concept is in doubt also.


So what would you tell the young couple?





Continued ...

 

[Pedrito]

Twin1954 in Post #5 of the thread “Infant salvation” said:

2 things you need to consider. ...

Second is that the Scriptures are silent on the salvation of infants. It never definitely says that they are saved or that they aren't.

I do know that whatever God does is right and good so I can honestly hope that infants who die in infancy are saved but we cannot say for sure either way. Where the Scriptures are silent we ought to be silent.

Also, in another forum (the URL can be supplied), twin194 stated:

The Scriptures nowhere teach an age of accountability, unless you twist, distort and mangle them to fit a philosophy, and they are very clear that salvation doesn't run in blood lines.

So where would you tell the young couple their baby had gone?

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If twin1954 has ever spoken to parents like those above, say at the funeral of an infant, I wonder what he said to them with respect to where their infant then was. Could he have stated his thoughts above, or might he have issued placative statements that conflicted with his true beliefs? I honestly do not know, and I am not implying anything. But the question could be particularly relevant for the Ministry (formal and informal) in general.

So, what would you tell them?



Continued ...

 

[Pedrito]

Would it not be satisfying to know, and maybe even helpful to others to know, what God actually and unequivocally states on the fate of the young – those who die in infancy?

May I direct the attention of ml5363 and any other interested parties, to Posts #153 & #154 on Page 8 of the “Calvinism vs Arminian is a worldview debate” thread.

I would suggest that many troubling questions would be answered, and many entrenched debates vaporised, by simply following the pointers in those posts.

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ml5363 may not be in the minority at the moment, but if she searches the Scriptures as suggested, she certainly will be.

 

[mikedsjr]

Just wondering if anyone else is tired of the fellow christians who are so hung up on labels and groups about whose faith is bigger and better...I just want to continue my best to be a follower of Jesus. I am saved and know him as my own personal Lord and Saviour, shouldn't that be enough for us? Am I in the minority?

Here is the issue. We're sinner. Saved by Grace. And unless you want to go back to a one unified Church, like in the days of the Roman Catholic Church, there is absolutely no way to deal with heresy or false doctrines. Just saying "I want to be the best follower of Jesus" leaves holes for Arianism, it leaves holes for Mormonism. It doesn't answer why we should love Christ. It doesn't answer if he was perfect. It doesn't answer questions on baptism. It doesn't answer questions on is the Lord's Supper really the body and blood of Christ. Honestly it doesn't answer if Baptism and Communion are necessary for today. It doesn't answer a lot of questions. What your asking for is liberalizing and anarchy within church because you boiled church down to one belief and one only.

There is arrogance in the church. But your response is just another type of division. And people like Rob Bell have taken your response and made bad theologies of it.

If your statement intention is to say too much hate is found in the church when you come to forums like this, I agree. As I said first, we're sinners.

 

[Dan61861]

I'm really not concerned with who is holier than me. I am a wretched man, my holiness comes from Christ. It is His righteousness that I stand in, it is His righteousness that is imputed to me. My own righteousness is worthless, my own righteousness is filthy. So, they may indeed be more righteous than my righteousness, yet than can never be more righteous than the righteousness Christ has imputed upon us.

In Christ
Daniel

 

[BenTheBeliever]

Just wondering if anyone else is tired of the fellow christians who are so hung up on labels and groups about whose faith is bigger and better...I just want to continue my best to be a follower of Jesus. I am saved and know him as my own personal Lord and Saviour, shouldn't that be enough for us? Am I in the minority?

Yes. I also get tired of being told I can't be a Democrat or love gays and be a Christian.