Ben... On Point!: Theology

Can we know if someone is saved?

Wed, 07 Mar 2007 10:59:52 GMT

In a recent email, someone asked me the following question(s):

I know that the Bible says that God will not be mocked... but what about someone who leads one type of life (that is not God pleasing at all) and then gets up in front of the church on Sunday morning to lead worship and talk about how great it is to be in the house of the Lord and such? I'm trying to figure out is if that person is truly saved, and just living in sin, or if that person is not truly saved, and just living a lie. What I am concerned about, is that if this person is truly saved, then this person is living a life outside of church that mocks God. How long will God allow such a person to do that, since God’s word says that God will not be mocked? I have read/heard many speak on the idea that God will take out a person (end the person’s life) who is mocking Him... Does this question make sense?

Having received permission from this person, I will address this issue publicly because it touches on some issues that I’ve heard repeated time and time again over the years. What follows is my response:

Dear ___________,

I’m saddened to know that a situation relatively common to man has manifested itself in your family’s life. To be uncertain about the eternal destiny of a loved one is a terribly gut wrenching experience. Please know that my prayers are with, first of all, your loved one, that your loved one would be granted faith and repentance by the Holy Spirit. Second, I pray that God would give you great faith and peace, knowing that God’s purpose WILL be accomplished and that God’s will is perfect... even when we don’t feel like it is. I know how difficult it can be for our souls to be comforted by the knowledge of God’s goodness when our hearts are screaming “WHY?!” So I will pray for faith and peace to this end. Third, I pray that you – and other Christians in your family – would be both bold and consistent in proclaiming the glorious Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ to this loved one.

Your question can be addressed from a number of perspectives. I hope to broaden your concern to the matter of hypocrisy, which is the basic sin which results in the “two-facedness” of your loved one. When I put it in that light, hopefully some things will fall into place.

I want to address your final question first: Contrary to the scare-tactic based moralistic preaching of some (“You’d better be good… or God might kill you!”), in Scripture God has NOT promised or threatened to kill people who “mock him.” In fact, it is one of the recurring complaints of the Psalmist, and one of the mysteries of life to the Teacher in the book of Ecclesiastes, that the wicked often live long, happy, successful lives on the earth while it is the righteous who often do not!

Yet in spite of our human experience, we are told – as you’ve pointed out – that God will not be mocked. But God IS (apparently) mocked! Look at people like Larry Flynt of Hustler fame… this man produces porn yet claims to be a Christian. If this isn’t a perfect example of the type of thing to which you refer, I don’t know what is… but look at him: he’s going on 65 years of life, he’s insanely rich… So what about God’s promissory warning that He cannot be mocked? I believe the passage in which this warning is placed calls us to have an eschatologically oriented perspective. Let’s look at the passage in its entirety.

Gal 6:7-10 (ESV)

7Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. 8For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. 9And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. 10So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.

I don’t want to get technical so I won’t get into the Greek tenses involved that shed light on the meaning because I think the bottom line can be observed in the English translation. Notice verse 8 – notice that sowing to the flesh will ultimately reap corruption, and that this stands in contrast with the one who sows to the spirit and reaps “eternal life.” For the contrast to hold, the corruption that is reaped by the one who sows to the flesh must be of the same – eternal – magnitude as the life which is reaped by the one who sows to the Spirit. This, plus the fact that the Bible speaks of ONE event at which everyone will receive their just desserts… namely, at the judgment to occur at the return of Christ… strongly suggest that what Paul is saying here is: “Look, people may think that they’re getting away with something right here, right now… but they aren’t. The day is coming when each person WILL reap what he has sown. The day is coming when, for those who’ve been congratulating themselves thinking that they’ve been able to get away with wickedness on the sly, for them… well, the joke’s going to be on them. ” (Ok, that was a very loose paraphrase. But I hope you get the point.) So, far from saying that God is going to kill you for making a mockery of Him, this verse is saying that at the return of Christ you’re going to get your just desserts: so Christian, continue to do good because it is not going unnoticed… hypocrite, you aren’t going to get away with anything… so repent while you still have the chance.

You also ask (essentially) if we can tell if this person is saved or not based upon his/her gross hypocrisy.

Unfortunately we cannot know with absolute certainty. However, we are told that we will be judged by our fruit… and when it comes to relating to another person we simply cannot practically take an agnostic approach. We either deal with the person as a sinning brother, or as someone who is lost.

Some would say that because this person professes faith in Christ, that settles it! We must consider him/her to be saved because of that profession. Concerning this person’s hypocrisy, these same people would point out that to some extent we are all guilty of hypocrisy… not to mention that sin has a presence in all of us.

However, we should remember that Jesus warns his followers that not everyone who says “Lord, Lord, will be saved.” Additionally, both the apostle Paul and the apostle John caution us to test ourselves to see if we are really in the Faith… because it is possible that we can be self deceived. In other words: it is possible to deceive ourselves into thinking that we are saved, when in reality we are not. In one such “litmus test,” the apostle John advises us that no one born of God continues to live a life given over, or characterized by sin. We are reminded in Scripture that, “we all stumble in many ways.” Yet the life of someone born again and indwelt by the Holy Spirit is characterized by a progression towards holiness. This is called “sanctification.”

It has been wisely said that sanctification is less about how much we do or do not sin than it is about our desires and attitudes towards sin. I believe this to be a fairly accurate summary of what the Bible teaches.

The biggest question is not “do this person’s acts of sin prove him to be unregenerate,” because it is impossible for us to “prove” the point given that sin will continue to be present in all of us, and the Holy Spirit sanctifies us along a “personalized” time table. However, the question of ongoing sin is relevant when we consider someone who is habitually “given over” to a particular sin. Does this person love his/her sin so much that it is a part of his/her identity?

While the question of habitual sin is helpful because it serves as an indicator, I believe that it is MOST appropriate to ask the following types of questions:

“Is this person broken and repentant concerning his/her sin… once he/she is made aware that the particular action is sinful?”

“Does this person in any way demonstrate this his/her desire is to live a life of holiness in response to God’s grace?”

“Does this person callously believe nothing is seriously wrong with his/her actions?”

My suggestion to you is that if this person is callous and unrepentant, you should warn him/her because his/her heart attitude is more inline with a person enslaved to the flesh than a person who is born of God. If the person is generally contrite and broken, warn them against this sin and seek to build up your brother/sister.

Of course, either way, you should bring the matter to the church. By this person’s public role in the life of the church, his/her hypocritical actions will inevitably bring scandal and disrepute upon the congregation and upon the name of Christ. The task of executing discipline has been entrusted to the church – vested in the officers of the church – in order to promote the peace and purity of the body of Christ. Please allow Christ’s appointed means to work towards Christ’s glory and the good of your loved one’s soul.

I hope this helps.

Until later,

Ben

Something Wicked This Way Comes: The Perniciousness of "Adult Material"

Tue, 13 Feb 2007 09:28:11 GMT

I probably should have said something about this subject earlier. However, I’ve been quite busy and the issue wasn’t on the forefront of my mind. But a recent counseling session served to remind me of the destructiveness of pornography. And it needs to be addressed.

The production and distribution of porn has gone through the roof in recent years. Those inside the walls of the church have not been able to escape its onslaught. Now, statistically speaking, approximately 20% of the women in Christian churches view porn on a regular basis. For men the percentage is horrifyingly high: approximately 50% of all men who call themselves "Christian" regularly view pornography. I don't want to bog this entry down with horrifying statistics, but if you're interested just do a Google search on the subject. The results may astonish you. This state of affairs is unacceptable. It is unacceptable that members of Christ’s visible body should present a veneer of holiness but in the quiet of their homes engage in behavior that fundamentally undermines the relationships between God and man, Christ and Church.

There are many reasons why porn is destructive, but ultimately one reason why it is wrong: God forbids it. We’ll come back to that… Unfortunately, in our day and age people are more concerned with the destructive aspect because that is where the consequences are acutely felt in the here and now. We don’t get all worked up about offending God, because we presume upon His forgiveness. We’re more worried about whether or not it’ll affect me temporally – as if violating God’s law has no long term consequences! We are fundamentally "person" centered, even in our understanding of sin. In fact, the Barna Research Group tells us that only 17% of "evangelical Christians" define sin as primarily an offense against God.

Why do people view porn? Because they love the darkness. To sinful beings, sin is fun. Fallen humanity’s one constant pursuit and passion is the suppression, rejection, and perversion of God’s will so as to attempt to live autonomously – “as gods”, as if we can ever escape our knowledge of, or dependence upon, God.

Pornography represents such an attempt for many reasons. Some are:

1. Pornography seeks to make perversion and deviancy appear normal. I do not here refer to the act of filming sex, per se, but to the specific type of sexual activities depicted by porn. Porn is a medium for altering perceptions about what constitutes legitimate sexual behavior. The axiom “A picture is worth a thousand words” is repeated because in an empirical age, “seeing is believing.” People come to accept as normal that which they see. This is why the local Afghani workers think that in America we’re all rich and drive fancy cars: that is what they see in movies. One expressed surprise when I told him that movies are not an accurate depiction of reality. So powerful is visual representation in altering our perceptions that Communist governments made sure that a television was in every house: if you control what people see, you control what they think. Porn conditions us to think that certain deviant practices are acceptable. This is unacceptable because our attitudes are only rightly formed by the Word of God.

2. Porn conditions us to be selfish lovers. This is one of the more immediately destructive tendencies of this genre of film. Everything about porn, from the camera angles, to the music, to the rhythm of the actors – EVERYTHING – is designed to lead towards self-gratification without any particular concern for the pleasure of the partner. It is all about getting and never about giving. I’ve seen these effects manifested as guys in the barracks would seek to “act like” their favorite porn star. Porn is a conduit for cheap thrills and quick release. If you let porn influence you then you will become a selfish, sorry lover. And I mean that: you will be a sorry lover. Your main concern in the bedroom will be the gratification of yourself. You may be willing to try the same freakish antics necessarily employed by porn producers in order to keep things from getting boring, and you may even confuse these antics with being exciting. But it is all a smoke screen: those things are done because the partners do not have the innate concern or desire to please each other. They just want to get, and if that involves some freakish act, so be it.

3. Porn leads us to believe that our sexuality belongs to ourselves, and that expressing it is a right. We think that the physical world exists for its own sake. But this is simply not true. The physical world is real and important, but there is a lot of typology and symbology at play in our world to point us to the things of God. Sex is one such thing. God gave us sex to depict the kind of closeness and compatibility that should exist between God and man, Christ and church, with both relationships existing in and by covenantal union. Thus, sex is only permissible within the covenantal relationship of marriage, which is itself a picture of God’s relationship with his people. Sex is like a living parable: when we engage in sex within a different context, we are creating a picture or image that stands in opposition to the one instituted by God. In short, when we engage in sex outside the covenantal relationship of marriage, we present a picture of a torn humanity seeking to replace closeness with God with the creativity of his own mind. This is why the language of Romans 1:24-26 is so shocking in the Greek: Paul is essentially saying that homosexuality is, itself, a judgment from God to depict in physical terms the spiritual counterfeit of mankind’s idolatry. But unnatural heterosexual relationships are just as vile in their depiction of man’s rebellion and defection from a right Creator/creature relationship with God. Contrary to the assumptions on which porn operates, sitting alone in one’s room attempting sexual self-gratification is not a legitimate venue for sexual expression because it does not convey the covenantal love and faithfulness of God towards his people. This is important because many of the folks who view porn would “never” (so they say) cheat on their spouse physically. But they think that indulging in self-gratification is permissible because, after all, they are not with another person… so (the argument goes) they are not being unfaithful. Hogwash! You are lusting after another woman which, according to Jesus is of the same essence as adultery. You who think that you’re being faithful even as you seek sexual arousal and gratification from thoughts or images of another woman: Jesus is saying that YOU are a faithless covenant breaker just as is the one who seeks such gratification with the woman herself. Your sexuality belongs to your wife. And only your wife. Your wife’s sexuality belongs to you. And only to you. You are not the legitimate master of your own sexuality... your spouse is! This informs the basis of Paul’s command that we not deny our spouse our bodies as well as the Old Testament injunction that a husband had a sexual obligation to his wife. Your body is not your own and you are not permitted to express sexuality in any context other than with your spouse because any other expression constitutes a depiction of idolatry, which is in fact an act of idolatry.

4. Porn encourages us to give in to our base passions. People like sex. I know I do! People like feeling the sensation of orgasm. I know I do! But the problem arises when they give in to these desires and seek to live them out like mindless beasts. Beasts follow their instincts, hormones, appetites, etc… without any rational thought or self restraint. This is why during the rut (mating season) deer are killed along the road with much greater frequency: they’re so worried about sowing their oats that they cast off the caution which normally governs their actions. Acting like animals is BAD because we are NOT animals. We were created in God’s image to govern this world. One of the chief tools God has given us by which we carry out our task is our MIND. It is our mind, not physical strength, agility, or prowess, which enables us to create things to survive and thrive. What porn does is make sexual gratification easy to attain. And mindless beasts are ensnared because they just want what comes easy. It conditions you to adopt a mindset of instant gratification and this spills over into other facets of life. You end up simply pursuing your own interests, your own good, because you’ve been conditioned to live like an animal. It happens all the time. People routinely lose their family because they get “addicted” to porn and this attitude of easy self-gratification spills over and they start using people for that end, stop serving others, etc… and pretty soon, they’ve pushed everyone away. Live like an animal and you’re good for little else than to be hunted and killed like one. You are not an animal, you’re a person. Be conformed to the will of God and bring your physical passions under control.

5. Porn entices us to seek to escape from reality. The world of porn is pretend. We are invited to enter this fantasy world, if only for just a few minutes, to have a little fun and feel the titillating excitement of sex… all within the comfort of our own home. “Never mind your spouse,” it says, “you aren’t hurting her… and besides, these ladies look so good!” “When things get rough, come enjoy yourself… don’t worry about working through your problems… here… let me offer you a little diversion.” “Come here, good sir… your wife is a dud. She isn’t meeting your needs and she won’t change… so don’t mind her… just come to me and I’ll show you what you need…” Such are the alluring words of porn to the undiscerning. And once we give in, once we begin to follow our base passions and begin to think that we are the masters of our own sexuality, our problems mount and we continue to seek the escape. We eventually become trapped as we allow the sexual gratification we get from porn to become our anesthesia to help us avoid the stress and pain of our miserable existence. But reality doesn’t stop just because we try to escape it. Your problems will mount, your relationships will not heal themselves… you will eventually plunge headlong into the destruction that has caught hundreds of thousands of surprised men off guard. And you will weep for a chance to redo your life, but another chance won’t come. The escape that porn offers is a deadly lie. Eventually her warm soft embrace will become a stranglehold. Flee it at all cost!

These five reasons alone should compel us to denounce porn in every possible venue – especially in our churches. But the chief reason porn must be repudiated, and why Christians must be warned, is because pornography is a violation of God’s holy law. By viewing porn we violate the 7^th Commandment, “Do not commit adultery” (because as we have seen, Jesus declares that the 7^th Commandment rightly includes the internal acts of lusting as part and parcel of the physical act). Additionally, we violate the 10^th Commandment in that we express dissatisfaction with our own life and circumstances while wishing to have another wife, life, or circumstance…

Please do not presume upon the mercy of God. Do you really think that the Judge of the world is fooled when you say with your lips “Lord, I love you” but then willfully and unrepentantly continue to live as a pagan? Do you really think that you can turn God’s grace into license with impunity? God knows the difference between us saying “Please forgive me” and us meaning “Please forgive me.” The New Testament is replete with warnings to Christians – to members of the New Testament Church – of the judgment that will await them if they fall away. We are to pursue the holiness without which no one will see God. We are reminded of the horrible judgment that befell the Israelites after experiencing salvation from Egypt… We are warned of the wrath to be endured by the one who has “trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace.” After declaring the words of God that “Vengeance is mine,” the writer to the Hebrews declares: “It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”

I beg you: for the good of your family… for the good of your life… for the good of your soul... repent of your desire for porn, flee it, turn to the cross and seek forgiveness. Trust in Christ alone for your standing before God, knowing that the Spirit we are given will change our desires and behavior to bring us into an ever increasing conformity with God’s will. God is good. He will do it.

Until later,

Ben

The problem with "Decisionism"

Wed, 31 Jan 2007 13:18:24 GMT

Since I last posted an update I’ve had two counseling sessions that have providentially served to highlight two significant dangers – from opposite ends of the spectrum – of a type of conversion theology called “Decisionism.”

In the first session a young soldier came to me with great anxiety. When I asked him what issue brought him to see me, he confessed that for the past several months he’d been in anguish concerning whether or not he is saved. He went on to say that he had “accepted Jesus into his heart” when he was 16, but now he is struggling with the question of: Did he really mean it at the time? He thought he meant it back then, but he wasn’t sure if he “really” meant it. I asked him if he presently believes the Gospel and he said yes, “but I don’t know if I really meant it back when I asked Jesus into my heart.”

More about this in a moment.

In the second session, which was far graver in its immediate context than the first, a young man was brought to me after having tried twice to take his own life in addition to doing some other “bad things” that have him facing very serious consequences. During the course of our two-and-a-half hour counseling session I asked him about his faith. He said that he is a Christian. I asked questions to see how he reconciled his (supposed) faith with such a committed desire to take this destructive path. He confessed that he has “backslid” and that he hasn’t given God much thought for several years… he even declared that he wasn’t particularly sorry for all the things he’d done. So why, I asked, do you consider yourself a Christian? His response, “I know that I’m saved because when I was 9 I went forward and made a decision to accept Jesus as my savior.”

“Decisionism” is a dangerous theology because it places all the onus (and assurance!) of one’s salvation in a once-for-all “decision.” If this decision to “allow Jesus into your heart” or “accept Jesus” is made with true sincerity (we’re told) then this decision becomes your basis for an assurance of salvation… no matter what else you may eventually believe. Conversely, according to “Decisionism,” if you don’t make this formal decision – with sincerity – then you have no hope for eternal life, even if you believe!

I’ve spoken to literally dozens of people in college, seminary, and the local church who were raised in a godly home and who were taught the Gospel from such an early age that they can never recall a time in which they didn’t believe. Just like they can never recall a time at which they cognitively came to know who their mom and dad is, neither can they remember first believing... but because of “Decisionism” they were led to believe that the presence – and confession – of faith is/was not enough… they had to “make it official” by “making a decision” to ask Jesus into their heart. This is dangerous because, its unbiblical nature notwithstanding, just as in the case with the first soldier, it can leave people who (currently) sincerely believe God’s word and who love Jesus very much wondering if they were truly sincere back “at the moment of truth” – the all important moment at which they “made a decision.” I, and I'm sure many of my readers, have known people who over the course of time have, because of "Decisionism," made several decisions for Jesus, prayers to accept Jesus, etc... thinking - and hoping - that this time their decision is made with more sincerity than was the previous one. I've talked to someone who has prayed "to receive Jesus" FIVE DIFFERENT TIMES because he keeps doubting the sincerity of the previous decision.

In regards to the second soldier, since “Decisionism” puts all its eggs in the basket of a once-for-all-time decision, it can – and often does – lead to people believing that an on-going presence of faith is unnecessary… just as long as they were sincere when they made that all important decision.

Certainly, some – in fact, many – people come to Christ through a dramatic “crisis of faith” conversion moment that they can locate at a specific time and place in their lives. (I.e., “One night, in college, it all made sense… I understood the Gospel and I believed it to be true. I received Christ that night.”) But others come to Christ so naturally, so imperceptibly, that they never recall when it happened… they just know that they believe.

To be sure, I've spoken with many who cannot conceive of a person having faith without making a decision, i.e, saving faith simply cannot be had without the formal making of a decision. For them, "praying the sinner's prayer with sincerity" is the de facto Evangelical sacrament that separates the sheep from the goats. It doesn't take much conversation with such a person to realize that many who think this way actually place more faith in their decision than they do in Christ himself.

Perhaps you can point to a specific moment in which you came to believe. Great! Maybe you've grown up in a godly household and you can't recall ever not believing. Fantastic! The bottom line is that a past decision isn’t that important. What is important is the presence of faith RIGHT NOW. God isn’t concerned with “I believed.” He’s concerned with “I believe.”

Until later,

Ben