The Bible alone can't save you. You also need Faith.

Without getting into a deep theological debate or discussion, I want to talk about the term Saving Faith. The term in evangelical Christianity is usually referred to as something called the born again experience. The term "born again" refers to a theological doctrine called regeneration. In the Catholic tradition, this takes place at baptism, but one must remain in a state of Grace up untill the point of death to enter Heaven. In Pentecostalism or the Pentecost Church the doctrine of being born again is believed, however in this church, it is taught that one can loose their salvation. The difference between an evangelical church and a Pentecostal church is that one must maintain their faith at conversion in order to get to Heaven. There is usually no coming back to the faith, after a period of being away from it, for they hold that one must recommit their life to Christ, or become born again again.

Saving Faith is the faith you have in the present moment, rather than something you experienced in the past. I believe in the doctrine of justification, however I believe this is an ongoing process. When the bible talks about being justified, "and those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified" (Romans 8:30 NIV) it is referring to a time in the past where you might have made a conscious choice to follow Christ, or it can also be referring to a conscious choice in the present where you are already following Christ or the Bible.

I used to believe in the evangelical doctrine "Once saved always saved" but what was missing from my theology was the doctrine of God's perseverance. Notice that I didn't say my perseverance, because my perseverance is finite and human, but God's Perseverance is infinite. This is why Saving Faith is debated in the church, because one person will say it is my faith that saves me, another will say it's the Church that saves me, and some will say that Faith is a gift, given by God, and you can never loose it, this is where Once saved always saved comes from.

Wherever you believe you Faith comes from, it is usually not debated that God is the giver of faith. So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God (Romans 10:17 KJV). The Bible clearly states that the word of God is needed and so is faith. Without a belief in God, and actively perusing God through my faith, it would be impossible to please God, "And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him" (Hebrews 11:6 NIV).

This is Mike.

Comments

Catholic Identity.

I was born into the Catholic Church and was baptized as an infant, I had my first communion and reconciliation as a child, and was confirmed as a teenager. Although I was never devout, I accepted Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Saviour when I was 21 through an evangelical Christian radio ministry, which in turn gave new life to my Catholic faith. Although I remained a Catholic, I identified as a born again Christian. It wasn’t until much later in my life that I learned the difference between the two denominations and what they taught about being born again. Regardless, there was a significant change in my life back then, which continues to this day. Being Catholic is much like an identity to me and I remember growing up under the papacy of St. Pope John Paul II. The culture I grew up in was largely affected by his papacy, and the way the culture viewed the church was significantly different from the way the current culture views it. Growing up, the pope didn’t try to be rele...

Age of Brokenness.

We are living in an age of brokenness, no matter what age you are, you probably have been touched with relationships falling apart, which causes more and more people to live in isolation. In this generation there is less of an incentive to heal and reconcile relationships, but that doesn’t excuse the amount of people who are broken. Why people don’t seem to be motivated to heal relationships is because our beliefs about faith and God have changed, really giving us less of an incentive to do what our religion says. If I act from my personal beliefs, but the person that I am responding to has abandoned religious beliefs, than the response to my wanting things to be better can be misinterpreted and rejected then by someone else. Generally when a society has expectations about broken relationships, loneliness and isolation, and the beliefs are generally accepted, society becomes a more compassionate society, because all value the same things. When religious values are undermined and ...

The Biblical Meaning of “Life in the Spirit.”

“Life in the Spirit” is an example that the Apostle Paul gives in the book of Romans starting in chapter 5 and going through to chapter 8. He begins by telling us we are justified by faith (5:1), and have gained access by faith into the grace of God (5:2). We have been delivered from God’s wrath (5:9) and we have been reconciled to God through the death of His Son (5:10). He goes on to explain that through Adam all die (5:12), and that the free Gift of God brings justification and righteousness to the believing sinner (5:15-17). Through our conversion we are baptized into Christ and into his death, which frees us from the law and makes us dead to sin (6:2-4). He explains that just as Christ was raised from the dead, we are given new life in Christ (6:4). Our old unregenerate self was crucified with Christ so that our body of sin might be done away with (6:5-6). Because we have died to sin, we now submit ourselves to God being that we are now under grace, not the law (6:8-1...

The Super Blogosphere of a parallel word.

Search This Blog