Save the Babies and Natives!
Wanna see more people saved? According to some, here's what we need to do:
# 1. We need to bring home all the missionaries and stop preaching the Gospel!
According to many modern Evangelicals, God would never condemn a person who has never had the chance to hear the Gospel. For these well meaning Evangelicals, sin isn't the issue. No, for them it's whether or not a person has a chance to hear the Gospel -and then reject it- that sends the person to Hell.
If this theology is true, we have to conclude that it's actually by the preaching of the Gospel that people are being condemned! We must also conclude that all the tribes in Asia -with no Gospel witness- actually have a better chance of seeing Heaven than people in the U.S.A. with the Gospel being preached on almost every corner!
# 2. Support abortion!
That's right! A gentleman in my old denomination (the Church of God of Prophecy) once told me that he would not oppose abortion because he believed all aborted children go straight to Heaven! He actually said that it would be better for them to be aborted, than to be born into this world and perhaps have a chance to grow up and reject the Gospel!
Therefore Christian, if you want to see more people saved: support Planned Parenthood! Go out and hold "pro-choice" signs instead of witnessing and handing out gospel tracts. Write your representatives in government and tell them to protect Roe vs. Wade!
Reality Check:
Does anything sound strange about these proposals?
Yeah... I agree. They're absurd!
The question of what happens to aborted infants and those dying in infancy is a hard question that is often very sensitive and hurtful for those who've lost a child.
My personal belief is that the infants are redeemed -by God's Grace alone. Many Reformed theologians have also affirmed the same. However, it must be noted that if they are saved, it's not because they have no sin -for they are guilty of Original Sin imputed from Adam- but because God is Sovereign.
God is providentially in control of the situation. Because I do not believe Salvation hinges solely upon human choice and freewill, I fully believe that God is able to regenerate these infants and bring them to saving faith even in the womb in such cases. (Even in spite of my views here, I believe we need to oppose abortion because it is an abominable evil!)
For the "innocent native" in Asia, I believe the situation is much more dire. The native would be not innocent at all. In actuality, he's guilty not only of Original Sin, but also of committing actual sin. Because these people have a conscience and God's law is written upon their heart, the fact they have never heard about Christ is no excuse. I believe these people will be lost unless they repent and believe in Christ.
In conclusion, no matter what happens in these cases, I believe whatever God does: He is right!
7 comments:
In 1st Thessalonians 2:14-16, Paul talks about Christians who suffered at the hands of the Judeans, "...who killed both the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they do not please God and are contrary to all men, forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they may be saved, so as always to fill up the measure of their sins; but wrath has come upon them to the uttermost."
In 2002, I was on a trip with my church to reach the Navajo in Arizona. One Navajo fellow asked me, "My people did not hear about Jesus until 1922. What happened to them?" To tell him they were lost was the hardest thing I've ever had to do. But to say otherwise would be near heresy. That would mean that we deserve to be saved, and that we don't do anything that is worthy of our condemnation. And anybody that thinks that needs to go back and read Romans chapter 3.
That comment by your former pastor about not opposing abortion was just dumb on his part. I guess now we should merely permit evil that good may come...
I also reject the concept of infant damnation, but perhaps on slightly different grounds: I believe the nature of all men is tainted by the sin of Adam, but we are not conceived automatically guilty of his sin (nowhere is this stated in scripture). We fall short of God's glory when we knowingly commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors, meaning that sin is not imputed where there is no law, for by the law is the knowledge of sin (conscience serving as a de facto law to Gentiles), and it is by such means that a man incurs spiritual death.
J.C.,
I'm not sure if we can really know if infants transgress conscience or committ sin in the womb, but I can tell you from being a parent 3 times over that they are born sinful!
(If they are born sinless, I promise you, it doesn't last long at all...!! LOL!)
Obviously I would agree all are born tainted by Adam's sin. However, I think if we confess that fact then it still means that we are all born already "falling short of the glory of God" -prior to the first actual transgression. I think we still end up with the same problem by putting it in these terms.
One of the biggest testaments to the theory that infants are sinful and/or imputed with Adam's sin is that from conception they can and do die.
I'm not sure if we can really know if infants transgress conscience or committ sin in the womb, but I can tell you from being a parent 3 times over that they are born sinful!
Yeah, I've got a 3 year old myself, but I didn't need to have one to understand the nature of human beings. I also think it's fairly well evident that someone who is not developed mentally does not have a developed conscience or sense of moral law.
One of the biggest testaments to the theory that infants are sinful and/or imputed with Adam's sin is that from conception they can and do die.
I know all too well that infants can die from conception...however keep in mind that in a fallen creation even the subordinate creatures who have not committed transgression also die; yes even the sinless Christ suffered physical death (the major difference being that He did not have Adam's taint in His nature, and was therefore an acceptable sacrifice for sins).
Obviously I would agree all are born tainted by Adam's sin. However, I think if we confess that fact then it still means that we are all born already "falling short of the glory of God" -prior to the first actual transgression.
Well, it states that "all have sinned," 'sinned' being 'hamartanō.' a verb which describes a definite action by which men fall short of God's glory, not just some state of being or spiritually inherited trait (though that is obviously the means by which said action occurs). The idea that the action and knowledge of sin incurs spiritual death is also found in Romans 7:7-10,
What shall we say then? [Is] the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet. But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin [was] dead. For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. And the commandment, which [was ordained] to life, I found [to be] unto death.
The wicked are estranged from the womb; they go astray from birth, speaking lies. (Psa 58:3 ESV)
Lol. I assume you're making a joke from the hyperbole.
Not really. I think it illustrates our depravity quite well.
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