Paul's Passing Thoughts

Answer:

It’s pretty simple; Catholicism and Protestantism, and the vast majority of other religions expressed in institutional church buildings hold to Progressive Justification. This is a soteriology that makes salvation a “process” and not a finished work. And, that process can only be completed through church membership. Most Protestants would deny this because they don’t know what Protestantism is. Few Protestants have read the documents of its orthodoxy for themselves, but rather rely on the doublespeak and nuance heard weekly at church and on “Christian radio.”

The motivation of edification alone would hardly support the massive infrastructure of the institutional church, but be assured, the motivation of ongoing salvation will keep the money rolling in.

This ministry has documented this charge extensively with book publications and hundreds of articles. John Piper has said several times that “Christians still need to be saved.” MacArthur and those who teach under him continually refer to salvation as a “process” and “atonement” (ie., a covering for condemning sin, not an ending of sin). Furthermore, the Calvinism aspect of Protestantism, though Calvinists deny it because many professing Calvinists don’t really know what Calvinism is, completely rejects assurance of salvation and promotes fear of eternal damnation as the primary motivator for sanctification. But basically, all Protestantism, at least its official orthodoxy, makes sanctification the progression of justification, or “justification in motion.”

What do we believe? We believe in a literal new birth into God’s family, and once you are born unto eternal life you cannot be unborn. We also believe that the literal new birth through the baptism of the Spirit changes our relationship to the law. We believe the two relationships are “the law of sin and death” versus “the law of the Spirit of life.” When we die with Christ, we die to the law of sin and death (under law) and are resurrected to the law of life (under grace). The law is no longer our condemner, but our rule for loving God and others. Per MacArthur et al, it is impossible for ANY individual to fulfil the “righteous demands of the law” (viz, perfect law-keeping) because they don’t understand how the new birth changes our relationship to the law. In other words, Protestantism holds to a single perspective on the law; “under grace” means that we are still under law but Jesus fulfilled/fulfills the law in our stead if we partake in the “means of grace.” According to what we believe, you are under one or the other law alone; you cannot be saved by being under both, and grace is not a progressive cure for remaining under law.

If one is under grace, love indeed fulfills the law; we are not still “sinners (a biblical designation for those still under law) saved (perpetually) by grace.” Technically, true Christians do not sin under the law of sin and death, but fail to love under grace. Moreover, the answer is a return to home fellowships which express the gospel of literal new birth into the literal family of God and the emphasis on individual gifts. Fellowship, not membership, and a cooperation of individual members of Christ’s body with Him being the only head, not the authority of mere men. A priesthood of believers offering living sacrifices from the temples of our body where the Spirit dwells, not an institutional building with top-down authority.

paul

There are, according to the Bible, two groups of people in the world; under law, and under grace. According to church orthodoxy, everyone is under law, but if you are also under grace Jesus satisfies the “righteous demands of the law” for you. So, according to church orthodoxy whether Catholic or Protestant, you are only under law (unsaved) or under law and grace both (saved). This is contrary to what the Bible states; you are under one or the other only.

So, how does being under both function? Well, if people live by “the means of grace” (found only in church membership—go figure) available to those under grace, Jesus will fulfil the righteous demands of the law they are still under. If you are only under law, you don’t have access to the means of grace. Therefore, love doesn’t get you into heaven, only the means of grace get you into heaven. From this, you might surmise that church folks would spend much more time doing grace through the church sacraments than doing love…and you would be right about that.

While church folks rant on and on about the Pharisees, they are the Pharisees. The true gospel cancels the condemnation of the law and frees real Christians to focus entirely on love without fear of condemnation. Love casts out fear of condemnation, and you can’t sin while you are loving anyway. The Pharisees and those who placed themselves under their authority operated in contrast to being under grace only. The results, like “stupid is what stupid does,” and in this case, under law is what under law does, follow. Because they fulfilled the law through the traditions of men and thereby made the law void regarding love, they were antinomian inside and out. In other words, their inward thoughts were unloving as well as their outward actions. Jesus also said they lacked mercy and justice.

Our ministry receives testimonies continually from people who have been treated poorly by church people. And usually, it involves petty issues. This month, our ministry experienced such firsthand. Between the back of the Potter’s House and the neighbor’s fence/property line, we have a space that is useless for anything except what I utilized it for this month: the building of two storage sheds. Apparently, the neighbor didn’t like it that the roofs of the sheds can be seen through her tree line if you look closely enough, so she researched the city zoning laws to see if we are in full compliance, and we aren’t. She filed a complaint with the city, and Susan and I attended the zoning hearing on Monday.

I might mention, she not only deliberately waited until the sheds were completely built before filing the complaint, but waited until we moved everything in that was left over from my brother’s benefit yard sale. Both sheds are packed full of stuff. With the building of the foundation deck, the sheds, and all of the moving, Susan and I invested 2500 dollars, hundreds of hours of labor, and this on top of fulltime employment while caring for my mother and brother.

At the hearing, we not only presented a solid case for allowing the sheds legally, but Susan tearfully explained the severe hardship for us that would ensue if we have to remove the sheds. Then the neighbor presented her case, and she was completely merciless. She not only hammered hard on the technicality of the zoning law, but curiously, complained that we “didn’t even ask her permission to build the sheds.” Hmmmmm, really? Oh, and by the way, she also lied under oath.

The zoning board ruled in her favor. However, the zoning officer has allowed an unprecedented amount of time to remove the sheds. What does that tell you? Without citing how I know, the neighbor is a run-of-the-mill churchian—go figure.

Xenia is a church community, and trust me, we get our fill of unmerciful behavior accordingly. Another case is the “Christian” owned auto repair shop that tried to rip us off twice; once for 400 dollars, and another time for around 600 dollars. We also experienced an absurd situation with a local “Christian” printing company.

This is how people who live under law act. Those under law who don’t go to church do better living by their consciences. When they do so, they are at least loving others. But when you are busy avoiding the law and replacing it with the traditions of men, using the law for love is pushed aside and…

…under law is what under law does. That’s church.

paul