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Tuesday, April 30, 2013

General and Special Revelation


Psalm 19:1 "The heavens are telling of the glory of God; And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands."

Psalm 19:7 "The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul; The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple."

Comparing General and Special Revelation
Psalm 19 instructs you on two types of God's revelation: the general revelation about Creator God available through creation (19:1-6) and the special revelation of this same  God as the Savior and Redeemer in the Bible. (19:7-14)  General revelation is "generally" available to all people by means of observing the universe, creation and God's moral standards in the conscience. (Romans 2:15)  Special revelation is "specifically" found only in the 66 books of the Bible, and "specifically" reveals God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  General revelation is non-saving revelation, meaning that through it man realizes he stands condemned before His Creator. (Romans 1:18-31)
 
Special revelation is saving revelation, meaning that faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. (Romans 1:17) In General revelation God is known about, whereas in special revelation -  God is known through the Fulness of Revelation -  Jesus Christ.  By the convincing work of the Holy Spirit (John 16:8-16) in the special revelation of the Bible, I come to know the God who is pointed to in General Revelation, fully revealed in the Person of Jesus Christ. 
 
Special Revelation's relationship to prayer
Psalms 20-21 are appropriately "next door" to Psalm 19, being that they both give testimony of how God answers the prayers of the believer.  Prayer and the scriptures are hitched always together when it comes to knowing God, with He in turn making Himself known to us. 
 
A New Testament example featuring General and Special Revelation
As you turn to Acts 19, you see Paul and his fellow missionaries experiencing the anti-revival of idolatry in Ephesus.  The people had rejected the general revelation of creation, turning themselves over to an idol of their own manufacture by the name of Artemis.  According to 1 Corinthians 10:19-20, any false gods or idols are demons in disguise.  Thankfully not all the Ephesians would be lost.  God broke through their darkness and with loving affection saved those whom He had lovingly appointed unto eternal life, with they in turn freely believing by His grace through faith.  (Acts 19:17-20; Ephesians 1-2)  If a man, woman or child will but embrace God's general revelation of Himself in creation, God will pledge to send someone with the special revelation of the Gospel, so that the Spirit can do His work that positions that person to freely trust in Jesus for their salvation. (Acts 10; 16; 17; Romans 10:8-17) 
 
Final thoughts
Pray for your unsaved loved ones and friends and then share Jesus to those whom God sends you.

Monday, April 29, 2013

Methods for studying the Bible

2 Timothy 2:15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.

Over the years I have heard various tools and methods for getting into the study and application of God's Word - the Bible.  The opening verse of today's blog commands the Christian to be a diligent student of the scriptures. Below are some Bible study methods that I have learned from others or have found in my own study of God's Word.  A recent statistic reveals that only 16% of people in American churches read their Bibles everyday.  Please feel free to use any of them, since the main goal is to see people get into their Bibles. 

Method #1  S.P.E.C.K.A Bible study method
I heard this method recently from a wonderful Bible teacher and have over the years heard variations of it from other pastors and Bible teachers.  The acrostic s.p.e.c.k.a stands for six diagnostic questions you can ask of any Bible text, namely is there...

Sin for me to confess?
Promise to live by?
Example for me to follow?
Committment I need to make?
Knowledge of God to learn?
Application for my life?

Method #2 Six Questions
I have found the following six questions (or interrogatives) helpful in studying the scripture:

Who is God speaking to, believers or unbelievers?
What is the main point or big idea?
Why did the author write what he wrote?
When did this take place?
Where is the setting of the passage in question?
How shall I live out the truth of this text?

Method #3 Repeated words
This third method is one I use often in Bible study.  If you want to discover the main point of a passage, simply note the main word or idea in the chapter or Bible book.  For example, in 1 John 4, you will find reference to the word "love" around 25 times.  1 John 4 is obviously unfolding to you the Biblical concept of love.  Now the question to ask is: is this talking about God's love, human love or both?  Repeated words can be every effective in zeroing in on what the Lord was intending through the author when the scripture was originally composed.

May God bless you today dear friend as you employ these methods. 

Sunday, April 28, 2013

The Message We Preach


Deuteronomy 27:2-3 "So it shall be on the day when you cross the Jordan to the land which the Lord your God gives you, that you shall set up for yourself large stones and coat them with lime 3 and write on them all the words of this law, when you cross over, so that you may enter the land which the Lord your God gives you, a land flowing with milk and honey, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, promised you."

The Book of Deuteronomy represents the final month of Moses' life as he preaches his final sermons to the second generation of Israelites that descended from Israel coming out of Egypt.1  Within Deuteronomy 27-29 we find an example of what qualifies as the necessary elements for true Biblical preaching.  In other words, what is the message that we ought to preach? Please note the following four elements of Moses' message in Deuteronomy 27-29:

1. PURE WORDS OF GOD.  DEUTERONOMY 27:1-4
Moses instructed the people in the opening of his sermon to erect stone monuments with the words of God inscribed on the face.  The words that were to be written or inscribed in the large stones were to be none other than God's words.2  The words were to be big enough for people to see who would have gazed across the Jordon River. 

What kind of words are God's words? pure words.  When we say pure words, we mean at least three things...

Inerrant wordsBeing that God is pure and without sin (Habakkuk 1:13; 1 John 1:5), it thus stands to reason that everything He speaks is without error.(2 Timothy 3:16) 3  

Infallible Words.  Because God's Word's are pure, they cannot lead anyone astray, a quality that Bible teachers call infallibility. (John 10:35) 

Sufficient Words. Notice what Moses instructs the people to do, to have the words of God alone inscribed on the stones.  God's Word by itself is sufficient to provide God's people with everything that pertains to life and Godliness. (2 Peter 1:3-4)

So the message we preach, in terms of its source, is from God's pure words.  But notice the second element of what we preach...

PERSON OF CHRIST.     DEUTERONOMY 27:5-7
Now the reader at this point may rightly question: where do you see Christ here in Deuteronomy 27?  Moses is of course instructing the people to construct an altar following their arrival on the other side of the Jordon.  Why an altar? To remind the people that without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sin. (Hebrews 9:22)  The shedding of blood by an innocent substitute was enacted by God in the original covenant of grace established in Genesis 3:20-21.4 

But for what purpose were the Old Testament sacrifices? God's people were not saved by the sacrifices, but rather by the Promise pointed to in and through the sacrifices - namely the Person of Jesus Christ.  Hebrews 10:11-12 shows what the sacrifices pictured - "Every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins; 12 but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God."
In the Old Testament economy in which Moses wrote, it was fitting for him to focus upon the shed blood of innocent sacrifices, since such activites point to the final sacrifice performed by Jesus on the cross. (Hebrews 9:14-15)  The Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 2:2 "For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified."

So if we can say that Pure Scripture is the source of the message we preach, then Jesus Christ is the Person that we are to preach.  With that said, we consider a third trait of Biblical preaching that we can glean from Deuteronomy, namely...

PERSONAL APPLICATION.  DEUTERONOMY 27:8-28:68

God's word was revealed to be preached in order to be applied
We read in Deuteronomy 27:8 You shall write on the stones all the words of this law very distinctly.” The underlined word translated "distinctly" comes from a Hebrew Word that could be easily translated: "to explain, make clear, make plain." What is assumed in this command to "write down the words" is the fact that the words are going to need explained, announced and preached to the people.  In fact that same Hebrew Word is used in Deuteronomy 1:5 "Across the Jordan in the land of Moab, Moses undertook to expound this law, saying".  The phrase "to expound" refers to the sermons Moses was going to preach to the people. 

How the preacher encourages the Word to be applied



As Moses preaches in Deuteronomy 27-28, he issues forth warnings (27:8-26; 28:15-68) and promises (28:1-14).  Every preacher in every age impresses upon the hearts of their hearers God's Pure Words, about the Person of Christ, through a two-fold method of application - the warnings of the law and the promises of grace. When Jesus spoke to His disciples in His post resurrection appearances, He spoke first from the "Law, Prophets and Psalms" all the things concerning Himself.  Why? Because the Law of God is designed to be a school master, pointing me to Jesus. Galatians 3:24 notes -  "Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith."

On the soil of the human heart, the sinner needs to hear the thunder and lightening of God's law in order to receive the fresh rain of the Gospel. (Hebrews 6:7)5 

The Holy Spirit takes the message from the head to the heart
Whenever applying God's truth, the preacher starts with the courtroom of the mind but ultimately aims at the heart.  It is the Spirit's Attendance in the preaching that ensures that the message will make the journey from the head to the heart.  I preach to apply, however only the Spirit can make the necessary application needed in that moment. Once that message is in the heart, the listener must demonstrate they "got it" by acting on the word.  

So the Message we preach is from the Pure Words of God, about  the Person of Christ, Preaching to be Applied and fourthly...

POWER OF GOD.  DEUTERONOMY 29:1-9
The Power of God speaks of the Goal of what we preach.  Frankly unless the Power of God is aimed for and empowering the preaching, the sermon will never turn into a message.  Without God's power, God's people will be no more effective in lighting the world for Jesus than burned out light bulbs.  Moses reminds his listeners in Deuteronomy 29:1-9 of their need for God's Power:

1. It was His power that first saved them out of Egypt.  29:1-4
2. It was His power that sustained their parents and them through the 40 years of wilderness wanderings.  29:5-6
3. It was His power that enabled them to defeat their enemies. 29:7-9

Lest God's Power is the beginning and end of the message we preach, no one will get saved and no one will be able to live the Christian life.  This is the the message we preach.  My little sermons are like loaves and fish in the hands of the Master.  I give them to Him, He blesses the words and through my frailty He feeds His sheep. 6

Conclusion
We have considered the message we preach, as relayed to us by the inspired pen of Moses.  We first noted that we preach the Pure words of God: words that are inerrant, infallible and sufficient.  Second, we preach the Person of Christ, concealed in the sacrifices and fully revealed in the New Testament.  Thirdly, we preach for Personal Application by means of Law and Gospel, exhortations and encouragement.  Then finally, we preach for the Power of God to be shown, since God's power is the beginning and ending of true, Biblical preaching.     

Endnotes__________________________

1. Among other descriptions, we could easily say that Deuteronomy is a book about preaching, by a preach of unparalleled rank - Moses. God had truly gifted this man who upon his initial calling as a prophet and stateman claimed to have no ability to communicate. (Exodus 4:11-17)  Throughout Deuteronomy we see three sermons: (chapters 1-4; 5-26 & 27-30) along with final instructions, farewell and death of Moses (chapters 31-34) In Deuteronomy 27 we see Moses beginning his third sermon with what will turn into an unfolding of the future of God's people. 

2. These words, though not specified as to their contents, were most likely either the ten commandments or the words that were to follow in Deuteronomy 27-30. 

3. Central in the doctrine of scripture is the idea of God's words being pure - or inerrant. Proverbs 30:5 "Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him." Psalm 19:7 "The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple." We preach the scriptures that are inerrant in regards to their original composition and which continue to carry forth such authority in the preserved doctrines, details and words of every copy and translation.

4. God killed two animals in the place of Adam and Eve, whereupon their confession of faith they received forgiveness, justification and thus were clothed in the skins of their substitutes. Such a pattern would be repeated in picture and prophetic form throughout the Old Testament. (Isaiah 53:6)


5. In fact at the end of Hebrews 12, we see two mountains compared and contrasted: Mount Sinai, representative of the Law, and Mount Zion, representative of God's saving grace in Christ. Only when the threatenings and curses are used by the Spirit to show me to be lost will I then be ready to be found by the Good Shepherd who is seeking me. When Jesus spoke to His disciples, He started with the Law, however His final instructions to them entailed the Gospel, the Great Commission. (Matthew 28:18-20) 

6. Whenever I approach a church service, I often think this thought: the music has been practiced, the sermon has been prepared, the prayers have been said, the people will soon arrive. But unless He, the Spirit of Truth breaths upon it all, not one thing will be accomplished. And don't you know it, whenever I go up to that sacred desk and open the Bible, the Spirit attends the preaching. He shows the sinner the Savior and Lord who died and raised for them, and to the saint he shows the same Savior and Lord who desires to live through them, and He in them. We need His power in the message we preach. 

Friday, April 26, 2013

Saturday April 27, 2013 Identifying Marks of God's Love

Note to the reader: This post is intended for Saturday April 27, 2013, even though it has been posted today, Friday April 26, 2013.  May this blog be used of God to strengthen and encourage the reader to fix their eyes on Jesus, the Author and Finisher of Faith. (Hebrews 12:2)

1 John 4:7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.

The story of the little creek that turned into a mighty river
As a boy I can recall a little creek running through the middle of our property.  In the dry summertime that little creek would get so law as to be barely a trickle.  When playing outside I would often find big rocks and sticks to create dams to see how high the water would get.  Of course the water would dam up and then break the little obstructions I had put in the way.  Over the course of the year, the bottom of that little creek would be littered with big rocks and fallen logs.  When spring came, the heavy rains of April would turn that little creek into a might river.  As the water swelled to overflow the banks, all of the obstructions and debris would wash down stream.  That mighty river was unstoppable, and in its wake was left a clean channel for the little creek to run.

Christians are dry river beds in need of God, the mighty stream
1 John 4 presents to us the mighty river of God's unfailing love.  I am fearful that we as Christians feel like we fully understand and grasp the love of God.  God's love is a mighty ocean in the banks of 1 John 4.  As Christians, we fail to remember that without the Lord, we are Wadis or dry river beds.  Jesus notes this in John 7:37-39 - Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. 38 He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’” 39 But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified."

Jesus promised that the Father would send the Holy Spirit in His name, a promise which came to pass in Acts 2.  Now that the Holy Spirit is active in the lives of all true Christians, we come to understand that it is He who sheds the love of God abroad in our hearts. (Romans 5:1-5) Literally God by the Person and work of the Spirit is that mighty river.  The Holy Spirit brings through the child of God the mighty torrents of the Father's mighty power and Jesus Christ's incomparable Person. 

We as Christians often have the clutter of life fill our hearts.  We are in need of God the mighty river to clear away whatever is obstructing our growth and passion for Him.

Identifying Marks of God's love
So how can you and I tell when God's love is flowing in our lives and in the lives of others? In using the acrostic l.o.v.e, we can discover from 1 John 4:7-21 the following four traits of God's love:

Lives through the cross.  1 John 4:9,10,19
1 John 4:9-10 states - By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. 10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.  God's love was manifested or shown through the cross.  Romans 5:8 uses the language of "demonstration" to prove what God did in showing His love.  We know that God's love in the sending of His Son was effective in that Christ's finished work "propitiated" or "satisfied" the wrath of God. 

What Jesus Christ as God in human flesh accomplished in six hours on the cross would require the book of Acts and 21 New Testament Epistles to unfold.  The incredible love of God flows unceasingly and unhindered from the cross.  Though the cross is barren, and thought our risen and glorified Savior is at the Father's right hand, the truth of the matter is that God's love lives through and around the cross.  A Christian who is operating in God's love will have the cross in the hearts and Jesus on their lips.  But notice another trait of God's love here in 1 John 4:7-21...

Overcomes anything.  1 John 4:7,12,17,18,20,21
1 John 4:7 states - "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is [a]born of God and knows God."  God the mighty River of love cannot be stopped by anything.  In this section of 1 John we see God's love overcoming the following:

a. Disunity (1 John 4:7,12).  The command to love one another with God's love is the only thing that can diffuse disunity, bitterness and hurt that we so often see in churches today.  My love is limited, His love is unlimited.  My love will make conditions, however God's love has no strings attached.  My love can wane and waver, whereas God's love does not wane and cannot waver.

b. Fear (1 John 4:17,18).  1 John 4:18 tells us that "perfect love cast out all fear".  Whenever you see that phrase "perfect love", of what sort of love is John speaking?  It certainly cannot be human love, since perfection is not attainable in this life.  Only God's love can be deemed without flaw and without limitation.  Every phobia and psychological disorder can be traced back to fear or anger. When Adam and Eve hid in the garden, they hid because they were fearful.  Only God's love can destroy fear.

c. Anger (1 John 4:20-21).  Of the 10,000 times we sin mentioned in the Bible, bitterness or anger against another person is mentioned some 2,000 times.  God warns us about the dangers of anger and bitterness more than any other sin.  This is why we need His love. 

Validated by the Spirit. 1 John 4:13
1 John 4:13 makes this observation - "By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit."  The Holy Spirit is the Third Person of the Triune Godhead - meaning that: a. He is God along with the Father and Son b. He is a Person or "He" c. He comes to abide within every Christian at salvation. (John 14:17,23; 16:8-16; 1 Corinthians 2:12, 3:16, 6:17-18, 8:16-17)  The Holy Spirit in the Christian bears witness of who they are and Whose they are.  Included in this witness of the Spirit is the reality of God's love. (Romans 5:1-5)

Expressed in sound doctrine  1 John 4:14-19
As we close out today's blog, we note that God's love is evidence by life through the cross, overcoming all things and validated by the witness of the Spirit.  In terms of expressing such truth, sound doctrine - and our attitude toward it, will often tell whether or not we have God's love.  If we love God, we will also love His truth.  In 1 John 4:14-19 we see the following sound doctrines:

a. Person of Christ (100% God and 100% man) 4:14-19
b. Work of Christ (you cannot separate His Person from His work) 4:14-19
c. Righteousness of Christ (relying on His act and accomplishment in both His perfect life and substitutionary death) 4:18
d. God's unchanging love 4:19











P6 Christianity vs Mormonism - Doctrine of Sin

Romans 5:12-13 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned— 13 for until the Law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law.

The intent of this particular blog series has been to carry out, in an informative yet evangelistic manner, a comparison between Mormonism and Biblical Christianity. Today's blog will conclude this series on comparing Christianity to Mormonism.  The one question we have aimed to ask in every post has been: "is Mormonism another Christian denomination or is it a non-Christian system of belief? Thus far the findings have shown Mormonism to be totally incompatible with Christianity in the following five areas:

1. Doctrine of God
2. Doctrine of Jesus Christ
3. Doctrine of the Word of God
4. Doctrine of Salvation
5. Doctrine of Man

We have appealed mostly to an article entitled: "Always Ready, Sharing the Gospel with your Mormon Friends" , found in the March 2012 issue of "SBC Life" (an online magazine accessible through the website: www.sbc.net). Additonally, these blogs have utilized primary source materials from the Mormon website lds.org and the Southern Baptist Website sbc.net. My aim in this entire series has been to balance honesty and fairness with a heart to share the Gospel with those involved in Mormonism. There are many more areas we could cover, and may very well do so in future blogs.  However for today we will compare what both have to say about the doctrine of sin.

What Biblical Christianity defines sin to be
When you read Psalm 51, you get a summary of the three most common ways the Bible explains the concept of sin: "sin", "iniquity" and "transgression" (tresspass). 1 The article "Always Ready, Sharing the Gospel with your Mormon Friends" has this to say about the Biblical view of sin: "Human beings are sinners by nature and by choice. All have sinned against God, rejecting His nature, and pursing life opposed to His essential character and revealed law. Romans 3:1-23; 7:14-25; Ephesians 2:1-5; 1 John 1:8-10

The SBC doctrinal statement has this to say about sin: "By his free choice man sinned against God and brought sin into the human race. Through the temptation of Satan man transgressed the command of God, and fell from his original innocence whereby his posterity inherit a nature and an environment inclined toward sin. Therefore, as soon as they are capable of moral action, they become transgressors and are under condemnation. Only the grace of God can bring man into His holy fellowship and enable man to fulfill the creative purpose of God."2

What Mormonism defines sin to be
When we compare the above statements to what we see Mormonism teaching on sin, the article "Always Ready, Sharing the Gospel with your Mormon Friends" explains:

"People sin by disobedience to God's laws. Adam's fall, a part of Heavenly Father's plan, caused a loss of immortality, which was necessary for mankind to advance. According to LDS scripture, Eve declared "Were it not for our transgression we never should have . . . known good and evil, and the joy of our redemption, and the eternal life which God giveth unto all the obedient" (Pearl of Great Price [PGP], Moses 5:11). Each person is responsible for his or her own sin."

From what we can gather, Mormonism teaches that people are sinners because they sin.  The Bible on the other hand teaches that people sin because they are sinners.  This is a major difference, since sin is not viewed as having to do with the fallen nature of man insomuch as it is man behaving badly.  As we saw the other day, Mormonism's view of salvation is the following:

"The Mormon plan of salvation is built on the premise that all people have eternal life, but only the most faithful Mormons enter the celestial kingdom. Jesus' atonement provided immortality for all people. Exaltation (godhood) is available only to Mormons through obedience to LDS teachings: faith in the god of Mormonism, baptism in the LDS church, endowments, celestial marriage, and tithing. 3

Conclusion
Therefore the problem of Mormonism's view of sin is that it does not take into consideration the desperate state of the fall.  The problem is that sin has not merely affected mankind's behavior, but also his mind, emotions and will.  If all that sin requires is an organized system of man-made religion to modify negative behavior, then the cross is truly an unnecessary add-on, and thus Christ died for nothing.  As the Apostle Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 1:17  "For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power."

Endnotes___________________________

1. The word "sin" itself refers to someone falling short of a target - thus mankind at his best still falls short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23) Secondly, the word "transgression" or "tresspass" means to slip off of the beaten path or to cross the line with God. Then finally, "iniquity" refers to a repeated, longstanding, willfull sin pattern. Like a spiritual corpse, man is dead in his trespasses and sin. (Romans 3:10-23) Man is not merely a sick patient in need of some medicine, nor an ignorant creature in need of enlightenment, but rather a spiritual corpse in need of a spiritual resurrection. (John 5:24-25)

2. The scriptures used by Article III in the BFM 2000 are as follows:
Genesis 1:26-30; 2:5,7,18-22; 3; 9:6; Psalms 1; 8:3-6; 32:1-5; 51:5; Isaiah 6:5; Jeremiah 17:5; Matthew 16:26; Acts 17:26-31; Romans 1:19-32; 3:10-18,23; 5:6,12,19; 6:6; 7:14-25; 8:14-18,29; 1 Corinthians 1:21-31; 15:19,21-22; Ephesians 2:1-22; Colossians 1:21-22; 3:9-11.

3. March 2012 SBC Today article: "Always Ready, Sharing the Gospel with your Mormon Friends"

Thursday, April 25, 2013

P5 Christianity vs. Mormonism - Doctrine of Man

Hebrews 2:5,8 (5) For He did not subject to angels the world to come, concerning which we are speaking. 6 But one has testified somewhere, saying, What is man, that You remember him? Or the son of man, that You are concerned about him? (9) But we do see Him who was made for a little while lower than the angels, namely, Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone.

The intent of this particular blog series has been to carry out, in an informative yet evangelistic manner, a comparison between Mormonism and Biblical Christianity. The one question we have aimed to ask in every post has been: "is Mormonism another Christian denomination or is it a non-Christian system of belief?  Thus far the findings have shown Mormonism to be totally incompatible with Christianity in the following four areas:

1. Doctrine of God
2. Doctrine of Jesus Christ
3. Doctrine of the Word of God
4. Doctrine of Salvation

We have classified the above four areas as the "short-list' for evaluating the truth or error of any given belief system - including Mormonism.  What follows in today's blog are other important doctrinal areas that scripture communicates.  We have appealed mostly to an article entitled: "Always Ready, Sharing the Gospel with your Mormon Friends" , found in the March 2012 issue of "SBC Life" (an online magazine accessible through the website: www.sbc.net). Additonally, these blogs have utilized primary source materials from the Mormon website lds.org and the Southern Baptist Website sbc.net. My aim in this entire series has been to balance honesty and fairness with a heart to share the Gospel with those involved in Mormonism.  In today's post we will compare what both have to say about the doctrine of man.

Biblical Christianity's view of man
Today will begin today's blog by noting the above text quoted from Hebrews 2.  The writer of Hebrews bases Christ's capability to be our Savior by the work He did in becoming a man by way of the virgin birth - what is termed "the incarnation" (in the flesh).  His ability to save derives from His full undiminished Deity, His capability derives from the full humanity He assumed upon Himself at the virgin birth.  How we understand the nature and creation of humanity will determine how we understand the work of Christ as it touches His humanity, as well as evaluating whether or not Christianity and Mormonism can truly be deemed compatible. 

Article III of The Baptist Faith & Message 2000 states the following about man:

"Man is the special creation of God, made in His own image. He created them male and female as the crowning work of His creation. The gift of gender is thus part of the goodness of God's creation. In the beginning man was innocent of sin and was endowed by his Creator with freedom of choice. By his free choice man sinned against God and brought sin into the human race. Through the temptation of Satan man transgressed the command of God, and fell from his original innocence whereby his posterity inherit a nature and an environment inclined toward sin. Therefore, as soon as they are capable of moral action, they become transgressors and are under condemnation. Only the grace of God can bring man into His holy fellowship and enable man to fulfill the creative purpose of God. The sacredness of human personality is evident in that God created man in His own image, and in that Christ died for man; therefore, every person of every race possesses full dignity and is worthy of respect and Christian love."1

The article cited at the beginning of this blog: "Always Ready, Sharing the Gospel with your Mormon Friends", states the following about mankind:

"Human beings are the crowning act of God's good creation, created in God's image by God Himself. Each person is a unique being of dignity and worth, formed by God in his or her mother's womb. Human beings are not gods. Genesis 1:26-27; Isaiah 31:3; 44:2; Psalm 139

When we sum up the Biblical teaching on man, we discover the following basic facts:
1. Man was created in this world by God out of the dust of the ground and all human beings begin life in conception in the womb. There is no concept of man's physical pre-existence prior to this world. (Genesis 1:26-28; Genesis 2:7; Psalm 8, 51; Jeremiah 1:5)

2. Man is a soul, containing a spirit, clothed with a body. This means that man is created with the needed to capacity to know God as a spiritual being (i.e his spirit), the ability to know himself in his soul (mind, emotions and will) and to interract with this world (i.e his bodily five senses). (1 Thessalonians 5:23; Hebrews 4:12)  Human beings at the end of history will be raised with transformed bodies that will either be raised to glory like Christ (for believers) or contempt (for unbelievers).

3. God and man are in totally different categories, meaning God is infinite, man is finite; God has no beginning and end, man has a beginning and will continue either in hell as an unbeliever or heaven as a redeemed in Christ by faith; God is Spirit, no physical parts, whereas man is physical and spiritual in nature.

Mormonism's view of man
 The article: "Always Ready, Sharing the Gospel with your Mormon Friends", states the following about Mormonism's view of mankind:

"People are the preexisted spiritual offspring of the Heavenly Father and Mother. "All men and women are . . . literally the sons and daughters of Deity. . . . Man, as a spirit, was begotten and born of heavenly parents, and reared to maturity in the eternal mansions of the Father, prior to coming upon the earth in a temporal (physical) body" (Smith, "The Origin of Man," Improvement Era, November. 1909, pp. 78, 80, as quoted in GP, p. 11). A commonly quoted Mormon aphorism (attributed to fifth LDS president Lorenzo Snow) says, "As man is, god once was; as god is, man may become." Every person has the potential of becoming a god by keeping the requirements of Mormonism."

When you compare the Mormon view of man with the Bible, you find conflict at every turn.2  

The conflict that exists between the Bible and Mormonism's three religious books
With such profound differences on the doctrine of man at every turn, how can the Bible on the one hand and Mormonism's three other books on the other be deemed God's Word when both groups of books differ significantly on such a fundamental issue as the nature of humanity? Frankly only one can be right, and the other wrong.  As we have been saying in this series: If I get God wrong, I get Jesus wrong.  If I have the wrong Jesus, it is due to having the wrong book and thus no salvation.  Consequently to be incorrect on the doctrine of man leads to an incorrect view of salvation, Jesus Christ and knowing the difference between God and man. 

Conclusion
Just as we have witnessed in the doctrines of God, Christ, the Bible and Salvation, Mormonism and Christianity differ prfoundly in the realm of the doctrine of man (also called anthropology).  In closing out today's blog we offer two more witnessing tips from the article: "Always Ready, Sharing the Gospel with your Mormon Friends":

-"Use the Bible itself to show what Scripture teaches about salvation as God's act of grace through faith in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus."

-"When a Mormon uses the Bible or cites a Bible verse, ask him or her to read the verses aloud in their complete contexts."


Endnotes__________________

1. The Baptist Faith & Message 2000 offers these cross references concerning the doctrine of man:
Genesis 1:26-30; 2:5,7,18-22; 3; 9:6; Psalms 1; 8:3-6; 32:1-5; 51:5; Isaiah 6:5; Jeremiah 17:5; Matthew 16:26; Acts 17:26-31; Romans 1:19-32; 3:10-18,23; 5:6,12,19; 6:6; 7:14-25; 8:14-18,29; 1 Corinthians 1:21-31; 15:19,21-22; Ephesians 2:1-22; Colossians 1:21-22; 3:9-11.

2. Mormonism teaches man had a pre-existence as a spirit child that then was born as a physical being, whereas Scripture teaches man has no physical pre-existence. Second, the Biblical final state of man in eternity is as either a redeemed believer, resurrected with God and Christ and ultimatley in the New Heavens, or as a resurrected suffering unbeliever the lake of fire. Mormonism proposes a continual development of man into a being like God. Then thirdly, Christianity sees an infinite difference between God and man, whereas Mormonism sees man as a god in transition to final godhood.

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

P4 Christianity vs Mormonism: Doctrine of Salvation


1 John 4:4-6 "You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world. 5 They are from the world; therefore they speak as from the world, and the world listens to them. 6 We are from God; he who knows God listens to us; he who is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error."

The intent of this particular blog series has been to carry out a comparison between Mormonism and Biblical Christianity in an informative yet evangelistic manner.  The one question we have aimed to ask in every post has been: "is Mormonism another Christian denomination or is it a non-Christian system of belief?  In light of 1 John 4:1-6 we have been testing the spiritual claims of Mormonism to see if it is a restored form of the true Gospel.  Thus far the findings have shown Mormonism to be totally incompatible with Christianity in the following three areas:

1. Doctrine of God
2. Doctrine of Jesus Christ
3. Doctrine of the Word of God

We have appealed mostly to an article entitled: "Always Ready, Sharing the Gospel with your Mormon Friends" , found in the March 2012 issue of "SBC Life" (an online magazine accessible through the website: www.sbc.net).  Additonally, these blogs have utilized primary source materials from the Mormon website lds.org and the Southern Baptist Website sbc.net.  My aim in this entire series has been to balance honesty and fairness with a heart to share the Gospel with those involved in Mormonism. 

Today's post will focus on what Mormonism and Christianity each have to say about the very important subject of salvation.  Again we begin with a quote from the article: "Always Ready, Sharing the Gospel with you Mormon Friends".

Mormonism vs Christianity on the Doctrine of Salvation
The Doctrine of Salvation - Historic Christianity
"Salvation is release from the guilt and power of sin through God's gift of grace. Prompted by God's love, salvation is provided through the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the Cross and is received by personal faith in Christ as Savior and Lord. John 3:1-18; Acts 4:12; 13:38-39; 20:20-21; Romans 3:20-28; 10:9-13; Ephesians 2:8-10"

In Article IV of The Baptist Faith & Message 2000 we see the following definition of salvation:

"Salvation involves the redemption of the whole man, and is offered freely to all who accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, who by His own blood obtained eternal redemption for the believer.....There is no salvation apart from personal faith in Jesus Christ as Lord."

As you can see, salvation hinges upon accepting by grace through faith Jesus Christ.  We must in the context of this blog series specify which Jesus, since the Mormon Jesus and the True Jesus are two totally different persons.  Jesus Christ alone is the necessary and sufficient grounds of salvation and faith alone is the sufficient and necessary means of receiving salvation.  So how does Mormonism define salvation?  The article "Always Ready, Sharing the Gospel with you Mormon Friends" explains:

Mormonism's view of salvation
"The Mormon plan of salvation is built on the premise that all people have eternal life, but only the most faithful Mormons enter the celestial kingdom. Jesus' atonement provided immortality for all people. Exaltation (godhood) is available only to Mormons through obedience to LDS teachings: faith in the god of Mormonism, baptism in the LDS church, endowments, celestial marriage, and tithing.
Additionally, Mormons must keep the "Word of Wisdom" by abstaining from alcohol, tobacco, and caffeine; attend weekly sacrament meetings; support the Mormon prophet; do temple works; and be active in their support of the church. Some of the blessings given to exalted people include:
1. They will live eternally in the presence of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.
2. They will become gods.
3. They will have their righteous family members with them and will be able to have spirit children also. These spirit children will have the same relationship to them as we do to our Heavenly Father.
4. They will have everything that our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ have—all power, glory, dominion, and knowledge (See GP, p. 302).
5. They will receive a fullness of joy.
Baptism or "immersion performed by the living for the dead," provides post-mortem salvation for non-Mormons. This ordinance is "performed in temples" (GP, p. 375)."

The Mormon gospel is so profoundly different from the Biblical Gospel as to be no gospel at all.  The Mormon Jesus who is supposed to be their Savior functions as a backdrop to the true grounds of Mormon salvation: participation in the Mormon system of belief.  The failure of Mormonism to be a saving message is the fact that it believes in the wrong God, revealed by a wrong Jesus, out of a wrong set of books (Pearl of Great Price, Book of Mormon, Doctrine & Covenants). 

Conclusion

We have discovered that Mormonism is a non-Christian system of belief based upon its different doctrines of God, Christ, the Word of God and salvation.  I would urge the reader to read the entire March 2012 SBC Life article from which we have been drawing much of our material in this series.  The article covers many other areas that detail the profound differences between Christianity and Mormonism.  I leave the reader with some final tips on sharing the Gospel with Mormon from the resource: "Always Ready, Sharing the Gospel with you Mormon Friends" .

-"Don't hesitate to repeat the basics of the Gospel again and again in your conversation. The Gospel of Christ is "the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes" (Romans 1:16)."

-"Do not feel like a failure if your friend does not come to faith in Christ after a single witness. Very few followers of Jesus were saved the first time they heard the Gospel."

More Tomorrow.....

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

P3 Christianity vs Mormonism - Doctrine of God's Word


1 John 4:4-6 You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world. 5 They are from the world; therefore they speak as from the world, and the world listens to them. 6 We are from God; he who knows God listens to us; he who is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

Review
For the past couple posts we have been working through a series of comparisons between Biblical Christianity and Mormonism. The simple question we are asking is this: is Mormonism another Christian denomination or is it a non-Christian religion? In exploring the Doctrine of God, we discovered that Mormonism and Biblical Christianity are completely different.  Likewise in yesterday's post we saw two profoundly different ideas about Jesus Christ.  Thus far in this study we have discovered profound differences that both have over the doctrines of God and Christ:1

Comparing Christianity and Mormonism on what constitutes God's word
Having seen profound contrasts in the doctrines of God and Christ, can we see any differences in their views of what qualifies as Divinely inspired scripture?  We once again will appeal to the article: "Always Ready, Sharing the Gospel with your Mormon Friends", which is in the March 2012 issue of the online journal: "SBC Life", which is accessible through the SBC website: www.sbc.net

"The Doctrine of Scripture and Authority - Historic Christianity
The Bible (Old and New Testaments) is the unique, revealed, inspired, inerrant Word of God. It is the sole authority for faith and practice for Christians, thoroughly equipping the believer for every good work. The Bible explicitly warns against adding to or detracting from its teaching.
Deuteronomy 4:2; 2 Timothy 3:15-17; 2 Peter 1:19-21; Revelation 22:18"

As the above quote indicates, the historic Christian view of scripture is that the Bible Alone is the unique, revealed, inspired and inerrant word of God.2  In the Baptist Faith and Message 2000 we see much the same description in its article on the Bible.  For the sake of the reader I have tried to underscore the pertinent words in red lettering for ease of comparison:

The Holy Bible was written by men divinely inspired and is God's revelation of Himself to man. It is a perfect treasure of divine instruction. It has God for its author, salvation for its end, and truth, without any mixture of error, for its matter. Therefore, all Scripture is totally true and trustworthy. It reveals the principles by which God judges us, and therefore is, and will remain to the end of the world, the true center of Christian union, and the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds, and religious opinions should be tried. All Scripture is a testimony to Christ, who is Himself the focus of divine revelation.

Now why labor so hard on this particular matter of Biblical inerrancy? For several reasons.  First, the Mormon's founder Joseph Smith claimed to had been given revelation from God that would reclaim the true form of Christianity.  Second, Mormonism's claim to be the rediscover and restoration of the Gospel lost for nearly two millennia includes its claims about the what constitutes divinely inspired scripture.  As will be shown, Mormonism denies the inerrancy of the Bible and claims other books to be the Word of God alongside the Bible.  Again we consider the resource: "Always Ready, Sharing the Gospel with you Mormon Friends"-

Mormonism's view of what constitutes God's Word
"Four books are regarded as authoritative scripture. These include the King James Version of the Bible "as far as it is translated correctly." Smith made more than "six hundred corrections" to its text. Other "standard works" include the Book of Mormon, which Smith declared is "the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book"; the Doctrine and Covenants, "a collection of modern revelations . . . regarding The Church of Jesus Christ as it has been restored in these last days"; and the Pearl of Great Price, a book that "clarifies doctrines and teachings that were lost from the Bible and gives added information concerning the creation of the earth." The Book of Mormon alleges to have the "fullness of the gospel," telling the story of a supposed migration of Israelites in 600 BC to the American continent. These Israelites lapsed into apostasy, but their story was preserved on golden plates written in Reformed Egyptian, an otherwise unknown language. After Smith translated the plates by the "gift and power of God," they were returned to the angel Moroni who returned them to heaven. The church's president is regarded as "a seer, a revelator, a translator, and a prophet" (D&C 107:91-92).

Joseph Smith evidenced a denial of belief in the inerrancy and sufficiency of scripture from the beginning. Such a belief is necessary in order to make his three man-made works fit into the Mormon view of authority.  A more modern-day example comes from a 2001 address to the Harvard Divinity School by Robert L/ Millet, former head of religious education at Bringham Young University, wherein he openly denies of the inerrancy of scripture.

The question that needs to be asked is this: if the Bible is neither inerrant nor sufficient in its revelation of Jesus Christ or any other detail, then how can one claim it to be reliable? Whenever inerrancy of the Bible is denied, it is guaranteed that some other man-made document will be placed above it.4 

Conclusion
Once again we find incompatibility between Mormonism and Biblical Christianity.  Why make such a big deal over the doctrine of scripture?  Here is why: If you have the wrong Book, you have the wrong Jesus.  Furthermore, if you have the wrong Jesus, you fail to know the only and True God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Consequently then, the wrong book, the wrong Jesus and the wrong God leads you to having no chance of salvation.  As with the other past posts, I want to close out with two more suggestions from the SBC Life article: "Always Ready, Sharing the Gospel with your Mormon Friends:

- "Share the plan of salvation with your Mormon friend. Emphasize that salvation is a gift to be received, not a merit to be earned."

- "Disarm your Mormon friend with multiple acts of kindness. Develop a first-name relationship. Speak the truth in love. When you show kindness, you deal from strength through the power of the Holy Spirit."

Endnotes____________________

1. Consider the respective differences between the doctrine of God and Jesus Christ in Mormonism vs Christianity:

A. Mormonism presents a deity that is an exalted man-like spiritual being that works alongside a lesser man-like spiritual being which was begotten/created by him. This lesser being is what Mormon's claim to be Jesus. This Mormon Jesus came to earth and was born, lived, died and lived again. By not being fully God, the Mormon version of Jesus was shown to not be truly human, since the Mormon writings conflict with the Bible on the nature of human beings. The Mormon Jesus is incoherent and leads to idolatry, thus not proving to be the genuine Jesus of the Bible.

B. Biblical Christianity teaches that God is One in Being and Three in identity - Father, Son and Holy Spirit. God the Son not only pre-existed in eternity, but has always been co-equal with the Father. As being truly God as much as the Father, the Son (also called the Word) chose to come in the virgin birth in order to become a fully human man. By being the Word made flesh, Jesus Christ is truly the manifestation of God in human flesh. Touching His Deity, the Son has always been God. Touching his humanity, Jesus was virgin- born over 2,000 years ago. Only this Jesus, and no other, can be deemed the True and only Savior of the world.

2. Lest anyone think that the doctrine of inerrancy is a recent invention of conservative Bible believing Christians within the past two centuries, let the reader consider the following quotes from the earliest Christian leaders on the nature of the Bible:
-Clement of Rome "The utterances of the Holy Ghost" (90-100 AD)
-Clement of Alexandria "Received from God through the scriptures" (150-211 A.D)
-Origen "The authorship of the Holy Spirit precludes mistakes by the human authors" (185-254 A.D)
-Irenaeus "scripture is the perfection of God's words" (200)
-Polycarp "scripture is the voice of the Most High God" (65-156 A.D)
-Tertullian "the writings and words of God" (160-225 A.D)
-Samuel Rutherford "The Bible is surer than direct oracle from Heaven" (1600-1661)
-John Calvin (1483-1546), John Knox (1509-1546), George Whitfield (1510-1572), John Wesley (1714-1770) and Chalmers (1703-1791) also held to the inerrancy of the scriptures and the Bible alone being the word of God. 

3. Millet is quoted as saying: "We believe the accounts of Jesus' life and ministry recorded in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John in the New Testament to be historical and truthful.  For us the Jesus of history is the Christ of faith.  While we do not believe the Bible to be inerrant, complete or the final word of God, we accept the essential details of the Gospels and more particularly the divine witness of those men who walked and talked with Him or were mentored by His chosen apostles."  The transcript of this address is available on the Mormon official website lds.org.

4. Mormons often claim that the Bible is the word of God "in-so-far as it is right translated", however their claim about Joseph's Smith's "Book of Mormon" comes from Joseph Smith himself, wherein he stated that the Book of Mormon is the most perfect book on earth.