Questions on Christianity

A lot of years ago, a commercial airliner with a full load of passengers was poised for takeoff.  There were three pilots aboard this aircraft and they had completed their pre takeoff checklist.  Everything looked fine but as the pilot started their takeoff run, a warning horn sounded that told them of a problem.  They aborted the takeoff, returned to the start of the runway, and ran through their checklist again.  As before, everything checked out and they began the takeoff only to be greeted with the warning horn again.  Again they aborted the takeoff and returned to the start of the runway.  Again they checked all their instruments and all were where they should be.  Evidently, they concluded, the warning horn must have a problem so the captain instructed one of the pilots to pull the circuit breaker for the warning horn.  On the third attempt, the aircraft had about reached takeoff speed when the first officer noticed the flaps where set to two degrees when it should have been 5 degrees and yelled for the captain to abort the takeoff which he did, just barely in time.

The question the crew asked themselves as they taxied back to the start of the runway was:  How could all three pilots misread the flap gauge three times?  Evidently, they concluded, they had expected to see a five degree setting and so that is what they saw. [1]

I had a similar experience in regards to what the Bible says about salvation.  All my life I was taught that salvation is only through belief in Jesus and his death for our sins.  But what about the over 70 verses in the Bible that talk about salvation through means other than belief in Jesus?  Evidently I expected to see only verses that supported the belief I was taught and so ignored the others.

What about you?

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[1]   Barry Schiff, “Rabbits on the runway”, AOPA Pilot, March 2020, p. 20.

Protestant doctrine is firm in the belief that no action is required for our salvation.  If we could do something, that might mean we earn our salvation and the Bible is very clear we cannot earn our salvation.  That is why Jesus came to this earth to die for our sins—we could not do it ourselves.

Also, there is no particular action that we can take to be saved.  What action is acceptable to God is different depending upon the person and their situation.  C. S. Lewis gives us an example.

When a man who has been perverted from his youth and taught that cruelty is the right thing, does some tiny little kindness, or refrains from some cruelty he might have committed, and thereby, perhaps, risks being sneered at by his companions, he may, in God’s eyes, be doing more than you and I would do if we gave up life itself for a friend.

It is as well to put this the other way round.  Some of us who seem quite nice people may, in fact, have made so little use of a good heredity and a good upbringing that we are really worse than those whom we regard as fiends. . .God does not judge [a man] on the raw material at all, but on what he has done with it. [1]

In this blog we have demonstrated that belief in Jesus and his death for our sin will not in itself give us salvation.  See last week’s blog for an example and look at the “What the Bible Says about Salvation” tab on this blog.   So if our action and belief will not in themselves give us salvation, what must we do to be saved?

All the above reasons are why in this blog we maintain that salvation is the renovation of our soul.  God’s main concern is the type of person we are and are becoming.  Beliefs and conduct are only tools that we have used to become the person we are.  We need to use these tools to become more like God.

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[1]   C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, New York:  The Macmillan Company, 1952, p. 71.

Sometime ago, we had a contractor do some work on our house.  The work was not done to our satisfaction and so we called the contractor to have the situation resolved.  On the phone, the contractor acknowledged our problem, agreed it needed to be fixed, and resolved to correct it.  However, each time we called the contractor, they always had some excuse as to why they could not resolve the problem.  But also each time we called they resolved to fix the problem as soon as possible.

So let me ask you:  This contractor said all the right words.  They said they recognized we had a legitimate problem and they stated they would resolve the problem.   So do you think the contractor fulfilled their obligation?  What do you think of their customer service?  Most likely, your answer will be negative.  Why?  Because all the contractor did was talk and did not actually resolve the problem.

If this is our answer, then why do we think God is different?  Our doctrine of salvation says all we need to do to be saved is to believe; all we need to do is to say some words in a prayer to God.  No action is required on our part.  And as we have shown in this blog, this is not what the Bible teaches.

Many of the other major and minor prophets in the Old Testament agreed with admonishment of Amos that we noted in the last blog:  God is not interested in sacrifices but “let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream.”

1 Samuel 15:22, Proverbs 21:3, Jeremiah 6:19-20, Jeremiah 7:21-26, Jeremiah 14:11-12, Hosea 6:6, Micah 6:6-8, and Malachi 2:11-14 all state that God prefers obedience to sacrifices.  These passages leave no misunderstanding of what is important to God: right actions.  Right actions were more important to God than the sacrifices which were established by God for the forgiveness of sins and which Christians teach foreshadowed Christ’s death and shedding of his blood for our sins. [1]

Micah amplifies this concept when he tells us no matter how much we sacrifice to God, no matter what the value is of the sacrifice we offer, sacrifice is not what God wants.

“With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before God on high?

Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old?

Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil?

Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my   soul?”

He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”   (Micah 6:6-8 ESV)

So why do our doctrinal statements only include belief in Jesus and the death for our sins as the only way of salvation and not address our actions.  Does not James say:  “So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.”  (James 2:17 ESV)

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[1]   See my book:  The Renovation of Our Soul, pp. 66-67.

Larry P.  Arnn, the president of Hillsdale College, has stated that the purpose of education is to educate the whole human being.  This education involves more than acquiring knowledge.  “Humans not only think, but also do.  Their doing and their thinking work together to form their characters.” [1]

Then why does our Christian theology, particularly our doctrine of salvation, just discusses our thinking, our beliefs.  No mention is made of “our doing” as an essential element of our salvation.  The problem is that the Bible teaches our actions are essential.  Just look at the tab on this blog labeled “What the Bible Says about Salvation”.  So why do we ignore this aspect of our salvation?

Are our beliefs the only part of our being that God wants to save?  Or does he want to save our entire person, our character, our soul?

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[1]   Larry P.  Arnn, “Four Pillars:  Educating for America”, Imprimis, Volume 48, Number 12, December 2019, p. 2.