I started going to a fellowship a good many years ago. I liked the Pastor, but something was troubling me about some of the folks there and I wasn't sure if they were believers or not. I was beginning to feel like I was some odd ball sort of christian who believed stuff very few other christians believed, and that one could equally get away with not believing. They went about confidently enough and I kind of felt I daren't say or question anything as I was the 'noob' there. Now I understand that in any christian fellowship there will be seekers and non-christians and some perhaps indifferent. But this was a Baptist Church and I thought it was also evangelical. So I approached someone and asked him a few questions, and it turned out he seemed to believe God could just forgive us, and that Jesus didn't need to die for us to be forgiven. Now what happens in a evangelical church in this situation? Here was someone going about confidently around the church (I was fairly new to this fellowship and really didn't know very many people and didn't feel that confident myself) but he seemingly didn't know the Gospel, or had not responded to it yet.
To be honest it called a lot of things into question for me. If this could be the case, how many there were in a similiar position, was the Gospel being made clear in the preaching - that as Scripture says: "Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sin." (Hebrews 9:22) I don't have a problem with there being seekers at a church - of course there will be seekers!! The problem I have is with people there who think God just forgives, no Atonement needed.
I experienced other difficulties there and could not figure out if it was me or the people there.
Oswald Chambers writes "The only ground on which God can forgive us is the tremendous tragedy of the Cross of Christ - to put forgiveness on any other ground is unconscious blasphemy." (My Utmost for His Highest - Nov. 20)
Should I have questioned that chap about what he believed?
To be honest it called a lot of things into question for me. If this could be the case, how many there were in a similiar position, was the Gospel being made clear in the preaching - that as Scripture says: "Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sin." (Hebrews 9:22) I don't have a problem with there being seekers at a church - of course there will be seekers!! The problem I have is with people there who think God just forgives, no Atonement needed.
I experienced other difficulties there and could not figure out if it was me or the people there.
Oswald Chambers writes "The only ground on which God can forgive us is the tremendous tragedy of the Cross of Christ - to put forgiveness on any other ground is unconscious blasphemy." (My Utmost for His Highest - Nov. 20)
Should I have questioned that chap about what he believed?
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