Sunday.....Christianity.....Have You Considered

Quite a number of years ago, someone asked theologian R. C. Sproul if he expected to see Billy Graham in heaven. It was a rhetorical question for the answer was obviously yes, and meant to make R. C. squirm, but he didn't fall for the bait. He answered something like this I don't know if I'll see him for he will probably be so much closer to Jesus than I. R. C. Sproul is a Reformed Theology theologian and Billy Graham's theology is Arminian, as is most of America...today. Does it matter who is right? What I would like to do here is just pose some questions. If you think that it might indeed be important, I'll mention a book that explains Reformed Theology very well and you can research this issue for yourself. If the word theology turns you off, you might want to consider that that very statement is a theological dictum and you are a theologian! Reformed Theology centers on God's sovereignty and man's total dependence upon Him. There are five points in Reformed Theology, also known as the Five Points of Calvinism, and also used in the acrostic tulip. The T stands for total depravity in that every aspect of a person's being is effected by the fall of Adam and Eve. The U stands for unconditional election, more often referred to as predestination, in that God makes His decisions on individual salvations apart from any standing that individual would bring. The L stands for limited atonement in that Christ's atoning blood was shed for some and not for all. The I stands for irresistible grace in that when God's Holy Spirit calls one, he (she) cannot reject that call. The P stands for perseverance of the saints in that all who are called and thus respond with faith...will persevere to the end. Now I imagine that this raises hackles on the neck of most who have read what I just wrote. I rejected these doctrines untill I was 40 years old. Michael Horton, of the White Horse Inn http://www.whitehorseinn.org/ has said that when he was confronted with the truth of these same doctrines in scripture, he threw his bible across the room. I'm purposely not going to try to defend the five points for R. C. Sproul's book Grace Unknown, The Heart of Reformed Theology (isbn 0-8010-1121-3) does this infinitely better than I could do. I simply want to ask some questions and if they spark an interest in you, you might let Sproul give the defense. I believe that if you do look into this, you will be in for a great surprise. The questions are these:


If, as a Christian, you do believe that "man" fell in the Garden of Eden through Adam's fall, is there any part of man that might have not been effected?

Are we to interpret the bible statement that man is "dead in sin" to really mean that he is only "sick" albeit "very sick," in sin?

In your prayer time with God, can you honestly say to Him that you, even in a most minute way, have done something that was the "straw on the camel's back" in determining your salvation?

If you could say this, would it not elevate you over those who have not responded to God's grace, and if so does this feeling that you are more worthy than someone else not cause you to wince as you admit it?

Multitudes have died without hearing the Gospel, would not you be forced to either say that God was not fair with them...or...out of necessity, change the Gospel in that everyone does not really have to have faith is Christ's righteousness for redemption?

If Christ's atoning work was for every human being that ever existed, would it not be correct to say that His blood was 100% efficacious?

If the Holy Spirit of God, the God who not only created every molecule in this vast universe but who holds everything together to this day, called you, would you really be able to overcome His power?

What would it say about God if many people who were "born again", adopted into His family, made a brother of Christ, their name written in the Book of Life, in whom God loves and has promised to be with forever, would lose their everlasting life with Christ and go on to an eternal destiny apart from Him?

If you cannot understand why God would call some to salvation and not others (you would be, with me, part of a very large club) are you then going to say that God cannot possibly explain His ways and His plan, more than adequately and more than wonderfully, when we are with Him?

Have you considered that "man's" natural reasoning leads him to believe that he alone must determine what his destiny is?

Would you deny that it would be possible for God to communicate to us with "commands" to believe and "warnings"of what will happen if we do not, because that is the way we think and because that is part of His perfect plan?

Would the testimony of many who have said that, upon their salvation, they thought that they chose God, only to find out later that they were in deeper trouble than they even thought and that God's salvation and mercy was much greater than they originally rejoiced in, cause you to pause and reconsider?

As you have read of the many stalwarts of the Christian faith over the centuries and great evangelists in foreign lands, are you aware that most of these believed in these doctrines? Would you consider for a moment that as America departed from these doctrines, that it also departed from discernment and developed theological systems that bear little resemblance to the Gospel and much resemblance to our "modern" and now "postmodern" culture?
And finally, would you take some time and meditate on the problems that can arise "if" these "Doctrines of Grace" are true but not believed?

I'll give you one example; if we believe that an individual's choice determines his salvation, then, over time, we will increasingly evangelize with our own devices and innovation, rely less on proclaiming the cross and eventually attempt to coax and manipulate others to "believe". The church will fill over that time, with people who have "joined" something rather than being "born again" through the power of God. A new form of the Gospel will creep in, one more amenable to gaining "converts," and the church will be weakened and confusion will reign. Understanding these doctrines does not make one Christian superior over another, in fact it tends to make them feel even more inadequate in proportion to the greater grace that is understood. It does not stifle evangelism, it increases it; for the salvation of others is rightly seen as God's work, not ours. We cannot fail to win someone to Christ. What we can do is fail to proclaim Christ and His cross and partake in the blessing that He gives us as we proclaim Him and see the same forgiveness that was extended to us, bestowed on others! We can plead for the salvation of loved ones and others, for God has even given us this desire. All the glory is His and this is the most wonderful thing of all!