Paul's Passing Thoughts

“This is why Steve Lawson, regardless of the huge stakes, was unable to say “no” to an elicit affair with another women.”

At what point might Churchians think it is time to rethink the whole church thing? Once again, a celebrity pastor, this time, a really big fish in the Protestant pond, is caught with both hands in the cookie jar. But, once again, I ask, “Why would he have to resign?” Week in, and week out, these guys proclaim the “We are all sinners saved by grace” Protestant gospel. As TANC has bemoaned for years now, the biblical definition of a “sinner” is someone who is yet unregenerate. And that, in fact, is the Protestant gospel; the idea that a “saved” person remains unregenerate (fundamentally unchanged) and is only declared righteous legally through church membership. The big picture of Protestant doctrine and history is completely illogical and downright goofy. Furthermore, unlike any other religion or cult in the world, most Protestants are totally unaware of what they believe. Most Protestants would vehemently deny their orthodoxy.

Protestantism is unique because there is a huge disconnect between its intellectual testimony and its function. Protestants function according to its original doctrines, but deny the doctrines intellectually. For example, authentic Protestantism denies the biblical new birth and redefines it, and most Protestants function that way. Hence, they are still “sinners,” and no real change in state-of-being has taken place. Why? Well, because they can’t keep the law perfectly. Note that justification is defined by perfect law-keeping, but that’s NOT how the Bible defines justification. The Bible defines justification as being God’s literal offspring through the new birth. It’s NOT a mere declaration, it’s a reality, leading to a change of heart and the saved person’s relationship to the law. They are no longer under the law’s condemnation, and consequently, enslavement to sin. The Bible is clear: the power of sin is the law. An unregenerate person that is under law is also enslaved to sin and is not able to say “no to sin” like a truly born again believer. This is why Steve Lawson, regardless of the huge stakes, was unable to say “no” to an elicit affair with another women.

However, of course, the born again do not always say “no” to sin, but not for the same reason. The born again fail to love like they should, according to the Bible, because of weakness (mortality). When it gets right down to it, for the most part, when the chips are down, the born again are able to say “no” to sin more and more through growth in sanctification. The Bible states that believers grow in sanctification through biblical teaching enabling them to “beat my body into subjection.” That’s NOT what Protestantism teaches about sanctification. Clearly, Protestantism teaches that sanctification is the progression of justification through a perfect law-keeping substitution, what is known as the Protestant doctrine of double imputation. This substitution is found in “participation in Christ” or the “ordinary means of grace” found only in church membership. Nevertheless, Protestants usually confirm a new state of being intellectually, while also confessing doctrines that contradict new creaturehood. Protestantism is clearly an under-law justification, and in essence, the Galatians problem revisited.

So, why is Steve Lawson totally toast after his “fall.” Because a righteous life, or changed life, is mere pretense in Protestantism. Intuitively, people seek God because they know they need to change. Protestantism allows people to assume that Protestantism holds to that in order to draw them into the church where they are slowly indoctrinated into the sinners saved by grace gospel and acceptance of an additional mediator other than Christ, viz, the church. Hence, the primary pretense is the moral character of the leaders, who preach weekly that everyone is totally depraved, including believers, and nobody even blinks.

Hence, what I have been saying for 14 years now: I am not the least bit surprised that there is so much sin in the church; the Protestant gospel is an under-law gospel and being under law empowers sin. With that said, what is the alternative? The alternative is replacing the church, a word that is not in the Bible, with an organic home fellowship movement modeled after the New Testament. This is a cooperative body with different gifts and roles, not a hierarchical pecking order. It is a cooperative body with ONE head, Christ. It displaces “worship” from a place and makes it the whole life of the believer, and it meets where real families meet, in homes.

paul