"Lordship Salvation" is deceiving

From time to time I've listened to "Grace to You" with John MacArthur. We've brought up issues with him before, but I thought I'd give him a chance, & most of his messages I have no problem with. Today he started a series entitled "Examine Yourself", & some of his statements were true. In this message he said you have to come to salvation on Christ's terms, not your own, & there's no doubt about that. But he came out & said that believing in Christ is not enough to save you. If he was just thinking about how, "the demons believe & tremble", that can be backed up, but I think he was taking it farther than that. He said that true Christians live "righteously", which is true, except it sounded like he was implying that it's our own responsibility to live righteously - but we can't live righteously without the Holy Spirit! He was using the Sermon on the Mount as a pattern that Christians must live by, without saying that we can't live that in our own strength. I think because of when the Sermon on the Mount was preached - the context - it was like the Law, showing us that we don't meet those standards & need Christ to interceed. It's true that true Christians will bear the fruit of the Spirit, but that's the result of salvation, not the means of salvation. I guess my point is this: John MacArthur is preaching truth, but emphasizing the wrong things. He needs to better explain what the words "believe" & "righteousness" mean, because from the context of his sentences, one could get the wrong interpretation. The Law is a mirror to show us our sin, so we need that! But "not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us..."

Just a thought

I was thinking about the way the King James Version of the Bible sounds. Sure, words like "Thee" & "Thou" are still recognized as synonyms for "You", & they sound more formal. But what about words like "cometh"? Did people really talk like that? I wonder if someone was dictating who had a lisp, & the scribes wrote it down like it sounded. He meant to say "comes" but it sounded like "com-th" so the scribe wrote "cometh". None of us were there to hear if English-speaking people spoke that way back then, hence this theory. Go ahead & prove me wrong & I won't be upset; it's just a fun thought.

Maybe some Christians reading this are of the "King James only" persuasion, & I don't mean to judge or offend you. I don't know why you feel that way, though. The Bible is inerrant in the original languages in which it was inspired by God, & while we don't have the actual original manuscripts (if we did, people would probably worship the paper instead of the God they read about), we have some mighty old ones, that when compared with each other are practically identical (some words might be different here & there, but it doesn't change the meaning anywhere). When scholars study the original & compare it with translations in different languages, they can tell whether the translation fits with the meaning of the original languages. English-speaking people needed the Bible in their own language so they could read it, & the KJV was one of the first, but even it has been adapted over time. If we don't speak that way anymore, why should we have to read the Bible that way? It's just another translation - not the original! It's fine, but other translations are fine, too, & people should read something that they'll understand what it means. There wasn't anything special about the people who translated the KJV - the Word of God is powerful, & it is meant to be understood. [On the other hand, we have a lot of English translations already, so translators should focus on the thousands of languages that have no Bible translation.]

Don't check your brains at the door

Our common culture has given the impression that faith & science don't mix, & the sad thing is, many Christians would go with that. They would rather ignore what "science" teaches & just say "I live by faith", but as a Bible-believing Christian & an analytical person, I want to discourage that. First, we have to understand what "science" means.
Here is a dictionary definition: science~ The investigation of natural phenomena through observation, theoretical explanation, and experimentation, or the knowledge produced by such investigation. Science makes use of the scientific method, which includes the careful observation of natural phenomena, the formulation of a hypothesis, the conducting of one or more experiments to test the hypothesis, and the drawing of a conclusion that confirms or modifies the hypothesis. If that's what science means, Bible-believing Christians have nothing to worry about. Don't be afraid to take Genesis 1-11 literally, either; there's factual evidence to support it!
A danger is, there is so much twisted material out there, people have a hard time making & defending decisions about anything. I found a website - www.truechristian.com - that sounds good until you actually open it. I don't know what the intent of the founder is, but it makes Christians just sound stupid!
Everyone is taught that macro evolution (Darwinism) is science, but by the above definition of "science", macro evolution can't be defended. Creation can't really be called science, either, because no human alive today was there to see it happen. But the Bible was inspired by Someone who was there! From what I've learned from objective study - Christian & secular - (as objective as can be expected, because everyone has biases), the Bible fits with historical & scientific evidence. Believe the Bible because it's true, & study the evidence. Anything you believe & practice takes faith, but I want to put my faith in something that can be defended!

Helping Others

When you see someone who seems to need help, or asks for a favor, for what reasons might you hesitate? Yes, there are some areas you need to be discerning about. For instance, if someone on the street asks for some money, you probably usually shouldn't just hand them money, because the truth is, they might spend it on alcohol or drugs, & that won't help them. But what is okay to do? It's up to you & the leading of your heart, but I'm of the impression that giving someone some food to eat or gas for their car - for some examples - isn't going to hurt anything. But what if it's a scam & they don't really need your help, or what if they're bad people & helping them might hurt someone else later on?
The first example that comes to my mind is Clark Kent (a fictional character). Some of the people he saved turned out to be bad people, & if he had not saved them some other people would not have been hurt later, but at the time he saved them he didn't know that. He came to the realization that it was his responsibility to save anyone he had the opportunity to save - whom to save & not save was not his call. We don't have superpowers like Clark Kent, but I think the principle can apply to us, too.
Maybe you think, "I have needs, too; why should I help someone else?" Sometimes that's a valid argument, & it's no reason to feel guilty if you're unable to give; but the widow in Mark 12:41-43 & Luke 21:1-3 who gave everything she had comes to mind. If you know Jesus as your Savior, just do what the Holy Spirit leads you to do.

Checkers

Re: previous post - If you don't like to think of yourself as a "grape" or a "pumpkin", "tomatoes" & "watermelons" would also fit the analogy. The point is, true Christians all bear the same fruit of the Spirit, but it can grow different ways.

I thought of another analogy that fits with the sovereignty of God in our salvation (keeping in mind that no analogy fits perfectly, but they can help you think) People are kind of like checker pieces that God moves around. He is able to move every piece, but when a piece is "kinged" it's kind of like when a person is saved. First, his identification is with the King (Jesus Christ), & also now he can be moved around much more - more useful to God. People are responsible for the choices they make, just like checker pieces reap the consequences of where they are moved. Now God doesn't make any mistakes as a person playing checkers can, so the analogy breaks down there; but the point is Someone Else is in control of your life, so yield your life to Him!

For sale on EBAY

John Schneider (Bo Duke/ Jonathan Kent) is selling the General Lee on EBay! You got $2.5 million just lying around?

Grapes or Pumpkins?

One of the biggest things I've had to learn that I am still learning, is that people are all different, & because they are different, they do things different ways, & the things that work for one person won't work for another. That may seem obvious to you, but let's analyze it a little more (because that's the kind of person I am!)
Some people are like grapes -- I am one of them. Grapes grow on vines, but they need to be hung up & given structure or they won't grow. For me, without structure I couldn't function. It seems everyone in my immediate family is like that, so for a long time I was under the assumption that everybody is like that. But my wife, Angie, has taught me that not everyone can work that way -- some people work better without structure! Angie & I were talking about this last night, & we came to the conclusion that some people are like pumpkins. Pumpkins also grow on vines, but if you hung them up like grapes, they couldn't grow! They need to be left alone to grow along the ground -- & they bear fruit!
God has created you to be the way He wants you to be, & if you have accepted His Son Jesus as your Savior, you are indwelt with the Holy Spirit, & you will bear the fruit of the Spirit; but different Christians bear the same fruit in different ways.