Many people teach that once a person is saved, they must turn from sins and begin to live a holy life as a result of salvation. They say that you don't need to be perfect, but you must at least turn from some of your sins because God made you a new creature.
But here's the problem with this. Whenever you ask "How much?", they never give a clear answer. And now you could have all kinds of different degrees and types of this teaching. For example, imagine that a drunkard gets saved. Now the question is, how much does he need to turn from the sin of drinking alcohol if he is truly saved and a new creature in Christ? He could decrease his drinking by 1%. Some people would probably say that that's not enough. There needs to be more evidence of salvation. So he might decrease his drinking by 10%. Or maybe he needs to decrease it by 11%, 12%, 13%, etc. You get the idea. So now there are literally one hundred different versions of this doctrine. The extreme from of this doctrine would say that the person must decrease his drinking by 99.99% or otherwise he didn't truly get saved. But he doesn't need to be perfect, because he still has that 0.01% of his old sinful habits in his life. Maybe he still drinks alcohol once in five years.
Can you see how bizarre and weird and stupid this is? Why can't the gospel be simple?
But here's the problem with this. Whenever you ask "How much?", they never give a clear answer. And now you could have all kinds of different degrees and types of this teaching. For example, imagine that a drunkard gets saved. Now the question is, how much does he need to turn from the sin of drinking alcohol if he is truly saved and a new creature in Christ? He could decrease his drinking by 1%. Some people would probably say that that's not enough. There needs to be more evidence of salvation. So he might decrease his drinking by 10%. Or maybe he needs to decrease it by 11%, 12%, 13%, etc. You get the idea. So now there are literally one hundred different versions of this doctrine. The extreme from of this doctrine would say that the person must decrease his drinking by 99.99% or otherwise he didn't truly get saved. But he doesn't need to be perfect, because he still has that 0.01% of his old sinful habits in his life. Maybe he still drinks alcohol once in five years.
Can you see how bizarre and weird and stupid this is? Why can't the gospel be simple?