January 21, 2011
Redneck
I have a Christian brother who unabashedly tells others, ‘XYZ Organization has too many Mormons and there’s a group of people who are getting ready to do something about it.’ The first time I heard his comments I put him in the Christian Redneck category and mentally looked the other way. Recently however, this Christian brother actually went so far as to tell my young Mormon friend these same views. I’m not sure if I should interject myself into the situation or how to approach it if I did. However, I am sure about one thing…the thought, ‘And you call yourself a Christian’, is hard for me to take captive.
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5 comments:
Gail;
-----Dealing with doctrinal error is difficult. I think the first thing that must be remembered is Paul’s caution that we all see dimly as in a mirror. There is one theological viewpoint that is completely without error and perfectly true to the last detail. It is God’s viewpoint. The rest of ours range from somewhat error prone to greatly erroneous, but none error free. Therefore, the question becomes, “What degree of error taints a doctrine to the point those holding it are not walking in the light, not saved, and not part of the brotherhood of Jesus Christ?” Personally, I believe it is the very first degree of error, because nothing of imperfection can save you; only perfection can save you, only Jesus Christ.
-----Yah. I admit that was a bit sly. But it is true. Doctrine does not save us. Our call upon the name of Christ does. The Mormons call on that name, too. So, what does doctrine matter? Why does Paul warn us to avoid those who create difficulties and dissentions in opposition to the doctrines we’ve been taught, pronouncing that such men do not serve Jesus Christ?” (Rom 16:17) Why does doctrinal deviation represent to Paul a departure from the faith, “...through the pretensions of liars whose consciences are seared?” (I Tim 4:2) Why does Paul commission Timothy to, “...charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine,” (I Tim 1:3) if doctrine does not matter to one’s eternal life?
-----We too much divide this mortal life from that eternal life. We have eternal life right now, “But if Christ is in you, although your bodies are dead because of sin, your spirits are alive because of righteousness.” (Rom 8:10) Our spirits will never die; their life is in the living leaven of the Holy Spirit through Jesus Christ. They are like bread. But our bodies live only by the chemical leaven of baking soda; they are like biscuits; they will die. So our sandwiches are made of one slice of biscuit, meatloaf, Mayonnaise, and a slice of bread in which our eternity has begun. Now, to which slice is our Mayonnaise going to glue the meatloaf? That is, will we intellectually function through an emotional connection to our spirits made alive in the Spirit, or to our bodies - dead in the world? Will we intellectually relate according to purposes of the self, or to purposes of God?
-----Basic doctrine is clear in the Word, if we allow the Word to assemble it. The Pharisees wanted to stone Jesus because He claimed upon Himself the I AM. They understood that as meaning He claimed to be God. If He was not God, He would either not have made that claim, or would not have been perfect for claiming something false. John outright states that, “...the Word was God.“ (John 1:1) And Paul rather puts it together clearly for Titus, “...awaiting our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.) (Titus 2:13) Therefore, the Word itself clarifies that Jesus was God. But the Mormons deny He was God. Is their denial just a problem with their meatloaf, or a problem with both slices of their sandwich being biscuits?
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-----I over-simplified my analogy for the sake of clarity. Actually, our meatloaf is glued by Mayonnaise to both slices of our sandwiches, and the fact that the Holy Spirit has made alive our spirits does not also assure their perfect connection with our minds and emotions. We are complex and still error prone. And denying that Jesus Christ is God is a big error. But is it a mental error, or a spiritual error? We know by I Corinthians 3:12-15 that everything of a person’s meatloaf and Mayonnaise can be wrong and can be burned up in the fire, but that his bread will not. Then, his doctrine must have been produced by mental error. But another man, who may be as doctrinally close to God’s viewpoint as anyone, might be completely consumed by the fire because both slices of his bread were biscuit; he was not made alive in the Spirit, and his slight error of doctrine was spiritual error. (But, Lord, Lord!)
-----The fact is, we just do not certainly know what accounts for the error in another person. Sometimes I wonder if we really know for certain what accounts for the error in ourselves! But we do know that if a man knows enough to not pump gasoline into his diesel pick-up, then his meatloaf is probably good enough to figure out that Jesus did not correct the Pharisees’ impression of His claim to be I AM because He meant it, and that, “...the Word was God,” actually means Jesus was God because Jesus was the Word. For even a somewhat less than reasonably intelligent man to deny those connections in the Word does tend to make someone else at least wonder if his spiritual bread is really a dead biscuit.
-----We also know that just because one man may not wish to use his meatloaf in figuring out the Bible does not mean we all must scrape the meatloaf from our sandwiches into the dirt, too, whether or not we all are alive in the Spirit. I regard leaders as being more accountable for the use of their minds than followers. If XYZ Organization is for leaders, I would more understand the Rednecks barring Mormon participation than if it were some lay organization. But even if it were a lay organization, if it was just an association of brethren for some specific purpose, and not actually a gathering in the sense of a church, I can also understand them not desiring to scrape any of their meatloaf into the dirt merely to accept the participation of another brother who does not at all wish to use his meatloaf. And even if they would accept him, he should be totally expecting to be corrected often, because those of us who won’t scrape our meatloaf into the dirt also use it often for relating to others.
-----We are commissioned to accept those who are weak to please them. (Rom 15:1-2) But we are also commissioned to not recognize anyone who thinks he is spiritual, yet does not acknowledge what Paul writes as being a command of the Lord. (I Cor 14:37-38) It is difficult.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
Steve,
For clarity XYZ Organization is not a church, but a professional community organization.
Gail
Steve, Mormons do believe that Jesus is the god of the Old testament. He created the earth through the direction of God the Father. The Godhead is made up of three separate beings, God the Father, God the son who is Jesus, and the holy spirit. Do a little research on the facts before you make statements. OK?
Lisa S;
-----You are right. They believe the Godhead is made up of three separate beings not being one. They believe Jesus was indeed created, like the angels, and that in fact, each one of us will eventually become a God, too. This idea is the rebirth of the ancient belief that the Supreme God was too holy to come into contact with physical matter. So He created a lesser God of lesser holiness to create and interact with matter. I really didn’t say the Mormons denied He was a God. I said they denied He was God. Anyway, the Mormons themselves have yet another fish to fry - The Book of Mormon. “I warn every one who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if any one adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, and if any one takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.” (Rev 22:18-19) But it can be said that this warning is written only in Revelation and applies only to it. Yet the Scriptures treat themselves as a unified message, therefore maybe it applies to the entire Bible. Whichever might be the error, this is just a good example of whether a person might be in error because of confused thinking or spiritual denial.
-----In the end, we don’t know if a Mormon or a Jehovah’s witness, or a Christian Scientist, or a person holding one of so many other theologies out of line with the Word of God is messed up in thinking or in spirit. Paul refers to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons in I Timothy 4:1. John acknowledges antichrists who went out from us because they were not a part of us. But can we specifically identify which person is not of Christ and which one is?
-----XYZ Organization, being an association of brethren for a specified purpose, is in its rights to accept or deny the involvement of the theologically impaired. It is an association of brethren having efforts focused upon specific goals. But it gets much trickier in a church. Jesus is its head through being the head of every soul in whom He has brought life and the Spirit. Anyone having the Spirit must be welcome in His body and pleased (Romans 15). So we can not throw one another out of fellowship because of doctrinal differences. The fellowship belongs to Christ. Yet we have the ability to know the basic message formed by the Word and to discern it from doctrines having no root in Biblical constructs. The Bible directs church leaders to shelter it from error. I don’t believe that means the believer of error must be banished (and I might be wrong), but only that the spread of error must be prevented. We just do not know whether his error arises from a mixed up mind or a dead spirit.
-----Jesus did say that you will know a man by his fruit. Mormons and Jehovah’s witnesses take care of one another far better than do most all other denominations. And their common members are far more involved in missionary efforts. So are they more alive than are we? Or do even the wicked take care of their own? Maybe the fruit is in why people do things more than in what they do, in why they believe more than in what. And since we can not make the final measurement of another man, any closer to finality a measurement must be made must only be made in measuring ourselves.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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