One God & One Lord

Believe in God and believe in His Son, Jesus Christ. “Believe in God, believe also in me” (John 14:1).

To believe in “the name” of Jesus Christ (1 John 3:23, 1 John 5:13) is, I believe, to recognize Christ as Lord in your heart and of your life (1 Peter 3:15, 2 Corinthians 4:5), believing that God raised him from the dead (Romans 10:9).

The commandment of God is to believe in His Son, and the commandment of the Son is to love one another. It’s as simple as that.

• 1 John 3:21-23 NASB
  (21) Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God;
  (22) and whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight.
  (23) This is His (God’s) commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He (Jesus) commanded us.

Simplicity and Purity of Devotion to Christ

• 2 Corinthians 11:3-4 NASB
  (3) But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.
  (4) For if one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you bear this beautifully.

Did you ever consider that all the different doctrines that are out there, and the emphasis on what one must believe in order to be “right,” that very mess of confusion itself is a deception leading us away from the simplicity of Christ?

The commandment of God is to believe in His Son, and the commandment of the Son is to love one another. It’s as simple as that.

I am a young earth creationist; I believe the physical heavens and earth were created in six days as accounted for us in the book of Genesis. Answers in Genesis (AIG) is a large, worldwide creation ministry, based in the United States and Australia. In recent years AIG has opened a huge creation museum in Kentucky, which I would like to visit one day. I have attended talks by AIG speakers; they are extremely knowledgeable and engaging. I have financially supported AIG in the past and have subscribed to their magazines.

A couple of years ago I made the decision to not support AIG anymore and not to renew my subscription to their magazine. Why? Because they apparently decided to branch out from their focus of teaching about creation, to promoting in their magazine a specific flavor of theology, namely, Calvinism. I disagree with Calvinism and choose not to support ministries that promote it. However, AIG’s Calvinistic teachings are not what this article is about.

I am a young earth creationist. I am also a preterist. It was on a preterist website that I read about AIG’s craftiness, which I then personally verified for myself.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon is a well-known Calvinist preacher from the 19th century. Content of his sermons and writings are quoted by many, Calvinists, Arminians, and others. At the start of this year, 2009, Answers in Genesis began posting Charles Spurgeon’s sermons to their website in a section entitled, “Charles Spurgeon—Reloaded.” One of those sermons, article #30 posted on 26 February 2009, is titled, “The Power of the Holy Ghost.” Here is a quotation from that sermon on the AIG website:

But if you will look in the first chapter of Genesis, you will see there more particularly set forth that peculiar operation of power upon the universe which was put forth by the Holy Spirit; you will then discover what was his special work. In Ge 1:2, we read, “And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.” Our planet has passed through various stages in creation, and different kinds of creatures have lived on its surface, all of which have been fashioned by God. But before that era came, when man should be its principal tenant and monarch, the Creator initially created the world as a chaotic mass on the first day of creation. It was entirely without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep.

I quoted a bit more than necessary because I wanted to make sure I include surrounding context. Below is a quote from the same sermon, copied from The Spurgeon Archive:

But if you look in the first chapter of Genesis, you will there see more particularly set forth that peculiar operation of power upon the universe which was put forth by the Holy Spirit; you will then discover what was his special work. In the 2d verse of the first chapter of Genesis, we read, “And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.” We know not how remote the period of the creation of this globe may be—certainly many millions of years before the time of Adam. Our planet has passed through various stages of existence, and different kinds of creatures have lived on its surface, all of which have been fashioned by God. But before that era came, wherein man should be its principal tenant and monarch, the Creator gave up the world to confusion. He allowed the inward fires to burst up from beneath, and melt all the solid matter, so that all kinds of substances were commingled in one vast mass of disorder. The only name you could give to the world, then, was that it was a chaotic mass of matter; what it should be, you could not guess or define. It was entirely “without form and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep.”

If you compare the two quotations, you’ll note that some of the language was updated or abbreviated, such as instead of saying “In the 2d verse of the first chapter of Genesis,” the AIG version simply says, “In Ge 1:2.” I don’t have a problem with that. But another thing you’ll notice is that the AIG version is considerably shorter than the original version. Why? What’s missing? Well, here is the original quotation again, this time with the portions highlighted in dark red that were omitted from the AIG version. The bracketed text in green were {added} to the AIG version.

But if you look in the first chapter of Genesis, you will there see more particularly set forth that peculiar operation of power upon the universe which was put forth by the Holy Spirit; you will then discover what was his special work. In the 2d verse of the first chapter of Genesis, we read, “And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.” We know not how remote the period of the creation of this globe may be—certainly many millions of years before the time of Adam. Our planet has passed through various stages of existence, and different kinds of creatures have lived on its surface, all of which have been fashioned by God. But before that era came, wherein man should be its principal tenant and monarch, the Creator gave up the world to confusion. He allowed the inward fires to burst up from beneath, and melt all the solid matter, so that all kinds of substances were commingled in one vast mass of disorder. The only name you could give to the world, then, was that it was {initially created the world as} a chaotic mass {on the first day of creation.} of matter; what it should be, you could not guess or define. It was entirely “without form and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep.”

It does not take a college professor to see that AIG has removed the parts of Spurgeon’s sermon that disagree with the teachings of AIG, and they have reworded portions to agree specifically with their teaching.

Friends, that is dishonest. And that’s all I’m going to say on the matter.

The following is quoted from The Unitarian Advocate and Religious Miscellany, Vol. 1—No. 1, January 1830. The text itself is quoted from “the late Bishop Watson.”

“What!” he exclaims, “shall the church of Christ never be freed from the narrow-minded contentions of bigots; from the insults of men who know not what spirit they are of, when they would stint the Omnipotent in the exercise of his mercy, and bar the doors of heaven against every sect but their own? Shall we never learn to think more humbly of ourselves, and less despicably of others? to believe that the Father of the universe accommodates not his judgements to the wretched wranglings of pedantic Theologues; but that every one, who, with an honest intention, and to the best of his ability seeketh the truth, whether he findeth it or not, and worketh righteousness, will be accepted of him? …

“If different men,” he afterwards adds, “in carefully and conscientiously examining the scriptures, should arrive at different conclusions, even on points of the last importance, we trust that God, who alone knows what every man is capable of, will be merciful to his that is in error. We trust that he will pardon the Unitarian, if he be in error, because he has fallen into it from the dread of becoming an Idolater, of giving that glory to another which he conceives to be due to God alone. If the worshipper of Jesus Christ be in an error, we trust that God will pardon his mistake, because he has fallen into it from a dread of disobeying what he conceives to be revealed concerning the nature of the Son, or commanded concerning the honor to be given him. Both are actuated by the same principle—THE FEAR OF GOD; and, though that principle impels them into different roads, it is our hope and belief, that, if they add to their faith charity, they will meet in heaven.”

This one ties in with my earlier article, “Ecumenical Thoughts,” so I’ll end it with the same words in which I ended that one:

Faith working through love, serving Jesus Christ, living in righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit: this is the kingdom of God. Instead of bickering, biting, and devouring one another, let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds (Hebrews 10:24).

Is there not another class who may properly be named speculative Christians? Christians who profess to have attained a correct religious faith, but who do not exhibit a truly christian practice; whose evidence of discipleship proceeds from their lips, and not from their lives? If so, they do not comply with the injunctions of Christ Jesus. He has no where required a belief in any enumerated set of opinions as a condition of divine acceptance. Sincere obedience is his only test of a christian profession. “Ye are my disciples if ye do whatsoever I command you.” A good life is the only scriptural evidence of a saving faith. The only scriptural heresy is immoral conduct. Continual reference is made by him to the actions of men, and not to their speculative opinions. We are directed to judge of persons by their characters, and not by their creeds. And we are assured that God will render unto every man according to his deeds, and not according to his religious sentiments. A correct faith is indeed valuable. It is of great value, because it is more likely to produce correct conduct; and for this reason we should search for truth as for hidden treasures. But a correct practice is infinitely more valuable; because this is the sum and substance of the gospel requisitions; and this can be secured where the faith is erroneous. For every candid person will allow that there are obedient Christians in every sect; and no man can allow that all religious opinions of every denomination are true. Unreserved obedience is therefore the test of discipleship required by Christ; and without this, a belief in all the creeds in creation will not entitle us to his approbation and acceptance.

Quoted from The Unitarian Advocate and Religious Miscellany, Vol. 1—No. 1, January 1830.

I never thought I’d be having them, but I am. Ecumenical thoughts. I’m not talking about a universal ecumenism among religions of the world, to include Hindus, Buddhists, Wiccans, and Muslims. No, I’m talking about only within the realm of Christianity: those groups who believe in God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ. Those who proclaim Christ as Lord and the only way of eternal salvation.

I participate in online Christian discussion forums and it is truly sad to experience groups of people, all who call on the name of the Lord, accuse one another of the most vile blasphemies, declaring them not to be Christians or not to be saved, or that they belong to a “cult,” with disgust oozing from every letter of the word, even though both sides serve the Lord Jesus Christ. Each group, whether they be Catholic, Protestant, Reformed, Jehovah’s Witness, Mormon, Seventh Day Adventist, Pentecostal, Church of Christ, Christadelphian, Lutheran, Baptist, Biblical Unitarian, or even your generic “nondenominational Christian fellowship,” they all believe that they are the true church, the group that has the majority of the truth, the remnant church, the group most certainly headed for heaven. All the others are viewed as apostate or lost or pagan, but with the right teaching can be brought into the fold. And they all think the same thing about each other. It’s a jungle out there, folks.

Why all this diversity of belief? Part of it can be blamed on the accepting as scripture the writings of men and women who came well after the apostles and disciples of Christ, sometimes claiming to be prophets themselves, sometimes not. Even those who never made a claim to being a prophet or inspired of God, their writings have been elevated to that status by those who came after. The Jehovah’s Witnesses have their Watchtower Society, the Mormons have their Joseph Smith, the Seventh Day Adventists have their Ellen G. White, the Presbyterians and other Reformed groups have their John Calvin, the Catholics have their Pope. All of those groups also accept the canon of Scripture, the 66 books of the Bible, as the inspired Word of God. An amazing giant leap toward unity would be seen simply by forsaking ALL non-biblical sources of guidance. Phrases like “but according to Calvin’s Institutes…..” or “it says in the Desire of Ages that…” or “the Vatican council declared…” or “the prophet Lehi said…” or “according to the Nicene Creed….” Away with all extra-biblical pronouncements! If it is not in the Bible, you have no business enforcing it as a necessary doctrine for all believers or quoting these people as spiritual authorities.

Get back to the Bible and stay there. Yes, there will still be differences of interpretation, but at least everyone will have an agreed upon source of truth for productive discussion. And if we don’t see eye-to-eye on some things, we can still love one another as brothers and sisters in Christ, because when everything else is put aside, we recognize that we are all desiring to please God by serving His Son Jesus Christ.

But some will say, “but their conception of Christ is different than ours!” That may be so, and all cannot be right. If their conception is derived from the Scriptures alone, their intent is noble even if their conclusion is faulty.

• Mark 9:38-41
  38 John said to Him, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in Your name, and we tried to prevent him because he was not following us.”
  39 But Jesus said, “Do not hinder him, for there is no one who will perform a miracle in My name, and be able soon afterward to speak evil of Me.
  40 “For he who is not against us is for us.
  41 “For whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because of your name as followers of Christ, truly I say to you, he will not lose his reward.
• Romans 14:17-19
  17 for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
  18 For he who in this way serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men.
  19 So then we pursue the things which make for peace and the building up of one another.

Let’s look here not at what the kingdom of God is NOT, but at what it IS: Righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. He who serves Christ in that way is acceptable to God.

Is Christ formed in you? (Galatians 4:19) Or do you bite and devour one another?

• Galatians 5:13-16
  13 For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.
  14 For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, “YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.”
  15 But if you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another.
  16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.

The brethren who constantly bicker and make accusations back and forth because they don’t believe the same things about baptism or communion or hell or spiritual gifts or end time prophecy, I think they have turned their freedom into an opportunity for the flesh. It is the desire of your flesh that wants to war and bite and devour. You are using the Word of God as bait for your flesh. However, in the Spirit, love should be manifest always. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires (Galatians 5:24).

With the variety of beliefs out there, just those based solely on the Bible, I believe we are all pretty much on our own about searching the scriptures and coming to a knowledge of the truth. We can share what we’ve learned with one another. Some may be persuaded, some may not. But why do we judge one another over such matters? I’m not talking about sin, because we are to correct one another regarding sin. But regarding our understanding, to our own Master we will stand or fall. As my friend Paul Kelly says,

At the end of the day God knows who’s right and who’s wrong. We don’t. All we know is that we act and believe on what we read and what we’re told….and we try to make sense of that to the best of our abilities. Whether we’re right or wrong, apart from God, who can say? We just try to do what’s right in the best way we can.

Faith working through love, serving Jesus Christ, living in righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit: this is the kingdom of God. Instead of bickering, biting, and devouring one another, let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds (Hebrews 10:24).

Every once in a while you’ll hear someone talk about the curse that God placed on the ground in Genesis 3:17 -

• Genesis 3:17 NASB
  (17) Then to Adam He said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’; Cursed is the ground because of you; In toil you will eat of it All the days of your life.

Some are even convinced that the ground is still cursed today. But I’m not convinced of that. The following scriptures indicate that the ground is no longer cursed, that the Flood cleansed the earth and removed the curse.

• Genesis 8:20-22 NASB
  (20) Then Noah built an altar to the LORD, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar.
  (21) The LORD smelled the soothing aroma; and the LORD said to Himself, “I will never again curse the ground on account of man, for the intent of man’s heart is evil from his youth; and I will never again destroy every living thing, as I have done.
  (22) “While the earth remains, Seedtime and harvest, And cold and heat, And summer and winter, And day and night Shall not cease.”
  

If the ground is still cursed, what is the point of God saying that He will never curse the ground again… unless the curse had been reversed with the Flood?

Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD (Genesis 6:8). Since Noah and his family were the only ones saved through the flood, it would not make sense that God would send him out to freshly populate (Genesis 9:1) a cursed earth.

God brought the flood to destroy all of mankind “with the earth” (Genesis 6:13), so in God’s eyes it was a new (or at least a cleansed) earth onto which Noah stepped from the Ark.

Lamech, Noah’s father, prophecied of God’s plan for Noah when Noah was born and Lamech named him:

• Genesis 5:29 NASB
  (29) Now he called his name Noah, saying, “This one will give us rest from our work and from the toil of our hands arising from the ground which the LORD has cursed.”

The curse of the ground was cleansed from the earth by the Flood, after which God promised to never curse the ground on account of man again. God promised that as long as the earth remains, there shall always be seedtime and harvest. Yes, thorns and thistles still grow, but they do not prevent man from cultivating the land and producing crops.

I don’t believe that the ground is still cursed.

There is a song sung in our church, and I’m sure in many churches throughout the world, titled We Fall Down. Here is a portion of the lyrics:

We fall down
We lay our crowns
At the feet of Jesus
The greatness of mercy and love
At the feet of Jesus
We cry holy, holy, holy
We cry holy, holy, holy
We cry holy, holy, holy
Is the lamb

I’m sure the person who wrote these lyrics believes it is biblically accurate, and I’m sure the people who select this song to sing in their church services believe the lyrics to be accurate, as well. But they are confusing Father and Son, and thinking the Son to be God Almighty.

Let us, however, review the scripture and see the truth.

The idea behind the song is taken from Revelation 4:10, the only verse in scripture that talks about casting crowns or laying crowns. The song lyric was probably from the New International Version, which uses the word “lay” rather than “cast.”

• Revelation 4:10 NIV
  the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne, and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne

• Revelation 4:10 NASB
  the twenty-four elders will fall down before Him who sits on the throne, and will worship Him who lives forever and ever, and will cast their crowns before the throne
  

It is the 24 elders who fall down before the throne of God and cast their crowns. It was back up in verse 4 that we were told about the 24 elders and what they were wearing:

• Revelation 4:4 NASB
  Around the throne were twenty-four thrones; and upon the thrones I saw twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in white garments, and golden crowns on their heads.

Whether the 24 elders are literally 24 individuals or if they are symbolic of something else, we won’t discuss here. I’m sure there is no one who loves God who would hold back casting their crown at His feet, so for the purpose of this article, the song lyrics can refer to 24 elders or to every God-fearing person since the Creation, represented by the 12 tribes of Israel and the 12 apostles of Christ.

Getting back to Revelation 4:10, the elders fall down “before Him who sits on the throne.” The writer of the song We Fall Down wants us to believe the one on the throne is Jesus. Is it? Let’s find out.

To identify who it is that is sitting on the throne, we need to look at the text within its context; therefore, below is a large passage of scripture, spanning the last four verses of Revelation chapter 4 and the entirety of chapter 5. The key verse for the song lyrics is highlighted in blue.

• Revelation 4:8–5:14 NASB
  8 And the four living creatures, each one of them having six wings, are full of eyes around and within; and day and night they do not cease to say, “HOLY, HOLY, HOLY is THE LORD GOD, THE ALMIGHTY, WHO WAS AND WHO IS AND WHO IS TO COME.”
  9 And when the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, to Him who lives forever and ever,
  10 the twenty-four elders will fall down before Him who sits on the throne, and will worship Him who lives forever and ever, and will cast their crowns before the throne, saying,
  11 “Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created.”
  1 I saw in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne a book written inside and on the back, sealed up with seven seals.
  2 And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the book and to break its seals?”
  3 And no one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the book or to look into it.
  4 Then I began to weep greatly because no one was found worthy to open the book or to look into it;
  5 and one of the elders said to me, “Stop weeping; behold, the Lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome so as to open the book and its seven seals.”
  6 And I saw between the throne (with the four living creatures) and the elders a Lamb standing, as if slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent out into all the earth.
  7 And He came and took the book out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne.
  8 When He had taken the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each one holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.
  9 And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.
  10 “You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth.”
  11 Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders; and the number of them was myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands,
  12 saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.”
  13 And every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all things in them, I heard saying, “To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever.”
  14 And the four living creatures kept saying, “Amen ” And the elders fell down and worshiped.

One of the first things we can note, and then move on, is that the four living creatures are saying, “Holy, holy, holy” to “the Lord God, the Almighty” and not to the Lamb. The Lamb is given much praise in verses 9 through 12 and is, indeed “the Holy One of God” (John 6:69), but that is not who the “Holy, holy, holy” is directed towards in this passage.

Beginning at Revelation 4:9, we read that the One who sits on the throne is “Him who lives forever and ever.” It is to this One that the 24 elders fall down and cast their crowns in verse 10 (highlighted blue, above).

Then in verse 11 (Revelation 4:11), we see the elders address the One on the throne as, “You, our Lord and our God.” So far, we are pretty certain that the one on the throne to whom the elders are bowing and casting crowns is God.

Continuing on into chapter 5, we see in verse 1 that the One who sits on the throne is holding a book in His right hand and that the book is sealed. In verse 2, an angel asks “Who is worthy to open the book and to break its seals?” No one was found worthy.

In Revelation 5:5, we are told that “the Lion from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David” has overcome and can open the book and its seals. And, behold (verse 6), the Lamb was seen standing between the throne and the elders. He (the Lamb) came and took the book out of the right hand of “Him who sat on the throne” (verse 7).

It should be clear at this point that the Lamb is not the One who sits on the throne because he takes the book from the One who sits on the throne.

We also know that the Lamb is Jesus (John 1:29 - The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”).

In Revelation 5:8-10, the four living creatures and the 24 elders fall down before the Lamb and sing a new song to the Lamb:

“Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth.”

And later in verse 13 we are told that every created thing gave praise to both God and Jesus, saying “To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever.”

And the four living creatures kept saying, “Amen ” And the elders fell down and worshiped. (Revelation 5:14).

We fall down
We lay our crowns
At the feet of … who?

The Almighty God, who is someone other than Jesus, the Lamb of God.

Maybe the song writer doesn’t claim to base his song on scripture, in which case he can say whatever he wants to say and cast his crowns wherever he wants to cast them.

If you think I’m being too picky, too pedantic, you should know that people memorize song lyrics more readily than they memorize the words in the Bible. I heard someone say once, “But doesn’t it say in the Bible that …” and she was corrected by her husband, “No, that’s just a song.” That’s why we can’t be too picky about the songs we sing, especially in church.

Addendum 03/03/08: One of the members of my congregation made an interesting comment about the song. He wrote, “I didn’t assume that the ‘We Fall Down’ song refers to Heaven. I assumed it was referring to our “earthly crowns” that we humans place so much value on, and the song is saying that we as Christians surrender them to Jesus while we are here on earth.” I think that’s a great way to interpret the song!

It has been over two weeks. This is the longest I’ve gone without posting anything here, so I thought I’d just comment a little bit on the things that have been swirling around my head over the past couple of weeks.

Pride

I’ve been looking into the unitarian group called the Christadelphians. They are a rather small denomination with unitarian beliefs. Of course they don’t consider themselves a denomination, but rather the restoration of the original first century church. So what else is new? I guess that should have been my first clue, warning flag number one.

They have some beliefs that I do not hold, such as when you die, you are completely unconscious/unaware in the grave until the resurrection. Nor do they believe in eternal punishment of the wicked. These beliefs are sometimes referred to as “soul sleep” and “annihilation.” I’ve studied it and I don’t buy it.

On the positive side, they are unitarian and they also believe that full-immersion adult baptism is a necessary step in God’s plan of salvation.

They also hold an uncommon belief that surprised me because it matches a study I did on my own, along with the conclusion that my study was leaning toward. I did not complete the study thoroughly, so I cannot say that I hold this belief; a belief that I thought to be unique since I have never heard of anyone else even considering the possibility. Then, lo, I find an entire denomination that holds to it! Or at least something extremely close to it. That belief is that only believers are resurrected and judged (since only believers receive eternal life). The disobedient believers go to eternal punishment; the obedient to eternal life. There is disagreement within the Christadelphian church, which has actually caused a split in the church, based on the significance of baptism in who will be resurrected. It’s too much to get into here. Someday I may post my own study on this topic, just for information, but baptism was not an element that I addressed when I studied it.

But why did I title this section Pride? In my discussions with Christadelphians, the subject of baptism was brought up. I found out that someone joining their church would have to be re-baptized by them. Warning flag number two. When I asked why, I was told that they needed to ensure that the person believed and understood the correct things. And if someone is unsure of what they should believe, they can attend classes before being baptized. Hello? Where is this in scripture? If you preach the gospel to someone and they tell you they believe, who are you to judge whether or not they truly believe? Perhaps churches need to start using lie detectors before baptizing people. And, by the way, what they require you to believe before they will baptize you is their 30-point statement of faith. Wow.

Anyway, it is arrogance and pride that requires someone to have precise knowledge of specific beliefs, the way they think it should be understood, before allowing someone to be baptized. There are very clear and simple examples in scripture that show us what someone needs to believe before being baptized (Acts 10:34-48 is one example). Any “requirement” beyond that is an addition to what God requires. To think that you (whether a person or a group) know better than the apostles what someone needs to believe in order to be baptized is to place yourself above them, and even above God who inspired the holy scriptures. It is the epitome of arrogance.

Does It Matter?

Some things don’t matter. In an earlier entry (Nativity Tales), I commented on the number of inaccuracies in the story of the birth of Jesus; for example, that it is commonly taught and portrayed that there were three wise men or magi. Someone commented (verbally, it’s not in the comments), “Does it really matter how many wise men there were? No, it doesn’t.” With that I completely agree! It doesn’t matter. If it did, scripture would reveal how many wise men there were. But the fact that we are not told how many wise men there were and whether it matters or not was not the point of my post. The point was that we should not make things up that are not in scripture! This kind of inaccurate information gets passed on in the form of tradition and ultimately gets believed, over what is actually contained in the Bible. The number of wise men and the other false nativity traditions are only examples. Is truth important? Yes! Don’t propagate known falsehood. That’s lying. It is a lie to say there were three wise men when you know full well that we don’t know how many there were.

The following are a few milestones of the Reformation timeline taken from an article in Answers Magazine, Oct-Dec 2007, titled “The Reformation of the 16th Century” by Herb Samworth, Th.D.

• 1384 - John Wyclif, the “Morning Star of the Reformation,” translated the Bible into English because he believed that everyone should be able to read the Bible for himself.

• 1411 - Because Jon Hus rejected the church leadership’s claim to ultimate authority and he encouraged people to read the Bible for themselves, he was excommunicated from the church. Later he was burned at the stake.

• 1517 - Martin Luther’s 95 theses, which he posted to a church door, listed some objections to an unscriptural church practice (the sale of indulgences).

• 1519 - Ulrich Zwingli, a priest in Zurich, started a reformation in his church by preaching through the New Testament instead of reading pre-written materials. Zwingli believed that even the common man could read and search the pages of Scripture.

• 1536 - In Geneva, John Calvin began to write Institutes of the Christian Religion, which stressed God’s character, Jesus’ redemptive work, the Holy Spirit’s influence, the church’s proper role, and the Bible’s final authority over mankind.

OK, so the Reformation came about because Christians saw error in what the church was teaching and in the way the church leadership required that only the church’s teachings (interpretations of scripture) be taught to the people (the church’s claim to ultimate authority). The people should be allowed to read the Bible for themselves! And, indeed, how else are we the people supposed to examine the scriptures to see if what we are being taught is true? Acts 17:11

But what is happening today (and, truly, has been happening since the Reformation began)? Those called “Reformed” (some call themselves Calvinists) tell those who do not agree with them, but who have read the Scriptures for themselves, that they are heretics because they do not hold to “the essentials” of “the Reformed Faith.” Are these “Reformers” not committing the same error of the early Roman church by intending to force feed to the people what to believe, to people who are fully capable of reading and understanding the Scriptures for themselves? Wasn’t that the whole reason for the Reformation, so that the people could read the Scriptures for themselves and not have the Scriptures’ meanings dictated to them by a central, self-proclaimed authority?

It’s not only the Calvinists, but every systematic theology, sect, and denomination is equally guilty. When a person studies the Scriptures for himself and comes to a conclusion different from what he is being taught in his church (denomination), he becomes a mini-Reformer.

This isn’t to say or imply that everyone is right and each person can have their own “correct” or private understanding of the Scriptures. Truth is truth and everything else is a lie. However, we should share our individual understandings with an attitude of love and learning.

The arrogance of the Roman church is alive and well in the children of the Reformation.

• 1 Corinthians 14:26 - When you assemble, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation Let all things be done for edification.