The Only Ones? (Part 4 of 4) by David McClister
(Reprinted from The Palmetto Reminder http://www.palmettochurchofchrist.org/)
"You people in the Church of Christ think that you are
the only people who are going to heaven, and that everyone else
is going to hell."
Have you ever heard anyone say such things about the Church of
Christ? In short, it is a charge of intolerance, narrow- and/or
closed-mindedness, and even spiritual bigotry. It is, to be sure,
a very serious complaint and warrants equally serious attention
and answer.
5. The charge often assumes that the Bible is capable of many
different, even conflicting, interpretations, and no one of them
has the right to call itself "the truth" in an exclusive
way.
Many people understand that we need the Bible for our standard
in religion, but they still defend religious diversity on the
grounds that the Bible sends forth different messages. We are
told that the Bible means different things to different people,
that what the Bible says is conditioned and determined by the
experiences and situations of the person who reads it, or even
that the apostles themselves disagreed on several major points.
Since the Bible either does not represent or does not communicate
a consistent, unified message, then there is nothing wrong with
different churches using the same Bible to teach different doctrines.
So we are told.
This idea - that the Bible as a whole, for whatever reason, sends
forth different messages - is also a very common feature of the
modern religious mindset. It is also the hardest to address, and
available space on this page simply will not allow me to cover
it as fully as I would like. For now, allow me to say that if
the Bible is not sufficiently clear, if the message on its pages
is so vague that it cannot communicate specific truth to us, then
it would seem that we have little use for it. If we are going
to have a standard of authority in religion, it needs to be accurate
and clear if it is going to be of any value at all. To say that
the Bible communicates several different - even conflicting -
messages is to take a very low view of the Bible and to undermine
its fundamental authority and value. If the Bible is such a poor
means of communicating God's will to man, if no one can really
be sure if his understanding of the Bible is correct or not, then
the current mess of religious division is excusable, and, logically,
we should all be agnostics.
Sure, there are parts of the Bible that are hard to understand,
and many careless people have allowed their imaginations or their
wishes to interfere with their efforts to learn what the Bible
says on any given page. But this does not imply that the Bible
as a whole cannot be understood clearly or that every verse in
the Bible is rightly subject to multiple interpretations. Paul
asserts just the opposite as he says "that by revelation
there was made known to me the mystery, as I wrote before in brief.
And by referring to this, when you read you can understand my
insight into the mystery of Christ" (Eph 3:3-4).
The religious world is not generally divided over the mysteries
of apocalyptic symbolism or the unraveling of Biblical riddles,
but over things the Bible states or shows very plainly. I maintain
that the Bible is extremely clear when it comes to telling us
about our need for God, God's plan of salvation, and what He expects
from us in order to please Him. To say anything less is to imply
that God is not able to communicate His will effectively to us,
that He is not intelligent enough to speak to us on our own level
in a way that we can understand Him unambiguously.
6. The charge assumes that religiosity and sincerity determine
one's eternal destiny.
In the modern spirit of toleration, sincerity counts most. If
a person is trying his/her best to do what he/she thinks is right,
if they are consistent in what they do, then no one has the right
to tell them they are wrong. Anyone who advocates strict obedience
to the truth, or who challenges others about the legitimacy of
their creed or practice, is only being a legalist. So the idea
goes.
Sincerity surely is a big part of having a right relationship
with God. I do not know of anyone who would say that participation
or attendance at a mere ritual or ceremony pleases God. Every
religion I know of says that those who worship God must worship
Him from their hearts.
But sincerity is not the only thing that makes a person right
before God. In short, it is possible to be sincerely wrong. No
finer example of this truth could be found than that of the apostle
Paul, formerly Saul the Pharisee. Paul was raised a strict Pharisee,
and was, in his own words, "more extremely zealous for my
ancestral traditions" (Gal 1:14) and was "a Hebrew of
Hebrews" (Phil 3:5). He was convinced that Christianity was
heretical, and he did his best to wipe it from the face of the
earth. "I used to persecute the church of God beyond measure,
and tried to destroy it," he said (Gal 1:13). "I was
formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor"
(1 Tim 1:13). "I thought to myself that I had to do many
things hostile to the name of Jesus of Nazareth" (Acts 26:9).
And yet Paul could stand before the Sanhedrin and say "Brethren,
I have lived my life with a perfectly good conscience before God
up to this day" (Acts 23:1).
Note that carefully. Paul opposed the Lord's church with all his
might, and yet he maintained a perfectly good conscience. You
will never find anyone more sincere about their religion than
Saul was about Judaism. But Saul learned that he was wrong. No
matter how sincere he was about what he was doing, he was not
pleasing God. He came to realize that "I acted ignorantly
in unbelief" (1 Tim 1:13). Again, was Saul sincere in what
he did? Yes. But was he wrong in what he was doing? Again, yes.
It should be noted that the Lord did not condemn Saul for insincerity.
Sincerity of heart was one of Saul's greatest characteristics.
But that sincerity needed to be channeled towards the truth. And
there are many of people today just like that. No one can doubt
that they are sincere. But what we all do and say has to be measured
against the revealed will of God. If what we are doing or teaching
does not agree with God's word, we are wrong regardless of how
sincere we may feel about it.
When someone points out another's error, that person is not at
all necessarily accusing the other of being insincere. When we
in the Church of Christ advocate that we must all follow God's
will without any deviation from it, we are not implying anything
about the sincerity of those whose teachings and practices are
contrary to God's truth. It's just that there is more to being
right with God than being sincere.
Conclusion
One more thing needs to be said about this charge of closed-mindedness
and spiritual bigotry. Whether or not a person, or a group as
a whole, is closed-minded and bigoted depends on their willingness
to listen to and discuss matters in which they disagree with others.
Although I cannot speak for everyone who calls him/herself a Christian,
I can speak, I think, for the Palmetto Church of Christ when I
say that we are willing to discuss what the Bible says with anyone,
openly and freely. We are interested in knowing and obeying God's
will just as accurately as we can, and we have nothing to gain
from suppressing discussion with others. We are willing to discuss
any of these matters, privately or publicly, with anyone who will
show the same willingness and openness.
We do not believe that only members of the Church of Christ are
going to heaven. Anyone who says we do is misinformed or mistaken,
whether they be members of the Church of Christ or not. We do
believe that all mature people are accountable to God and that
we must all follow God's will just as He has delivered it, without
changing it in any way. Like Peter, we believe that "in every
nation the man who fears Him and does what is right, is welcome
to Him" (Acts 10:35). We believe that only faithful Christians
are going to heaven, for so the Bible says. We want unity in religion
just as much as anyone else, but God's will constrains us that
we must insist upon a unity based on nothing other than the revealed
will of God.
Short Exhort - Written and/or Compiled by David J. Riggs (http://www.public.usit.net/driggs/)
"Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world." (1 Pet. 5:9)
There is a story about a young man was at the end of his rope. Seeing no way out, he dropped to his knees and said, "Lord, I can't go on; I have too heavy a cross to bear." The Lord replied, "My son, if you can't bear its weight, just place your cross inside this room, and then open that other door and pick out any cross you wish." The man was filled with relief. "Thank you, Lord," he sighed. He did as he was told, and upon entering the other door, he saw many crosses, some so large the tops were not visible. After searching for a very long time, he then spotted a tiny cross leaning against a far wall. "I'd like that one, Lord," he said. The Lord replied, "My son, that is the very cross you just brought in!"
When life's problems seem overwhelming, it helps to look around and see what others are bearing. We may consider ourselves fortunate. Many of our brethren, in spite of overwhelming hardships and difficulties, continue to faithfully serve the Lord. Let us be encouraged by their examples.
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34748.
Phone: (352) 365-9946 for times of services.
Web site: http://www.geocities.com/~cdillinger/cocbs/cocbshp.htm
MONTHLY BIBLE READING: Genesis 11-35; Job
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BIBLE INSIGHT is published
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Carey Dillinger is the editor. He can be reached at the church
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