Even though one’s a christian, can he still have objections about the things God, Jesus, the apostles, the angels, and all the good guys have done and said in the Bible (like God allowing slavery and Moses’ “shall be put to death” laws)?

Sincerely,
Conscientous Objector

Dear Conscientous Objector,

We can object to human behavior as much as we want – but part of being a christian is agreeing that God knows better than us.  If we don’t submit our will to God’s, then we really don’t trust Him to be our Master (Matt 6:24).  If God says that something is wrong, we must have faith in His judgment.  And if God says something is right, we must listen and follow.

Having said that, we must differentiate between God’s ways and our ways (Isa 55:9).  God is responsible for all of the capital punishment laws that Moses gave (Ex 31:18), and therefore, we must accept that God deems capital punishment a good thing in certain circumstances.

However, slavery is an entirely different issue.  God does address slavery in the Bible.  He makes it clear that it is better when people are free; freedom is what God desires for all men (1 Cor 7:21).  However, God also deals with how people can live in a world where slavery does exist… hence, verses like Col 3:22.  The fact that God gives us practical laws for how to live in a world with slavery doesn’t mean He condones it.  Just because we don’t have slavery in America doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist elsewhere, and mankind must learn how to be faithful to God in whatever circumstances we are living.

I have been attending a Charismatic church with my husband.  I saw one of the posts where you mentioned it’s sinful.  Is that really so?  We are so confused now if the Charismatic church doesn’t do any good.  So which churches are good, and which should we attend?  Lutheran?  Also, what’s the difference between Christian and Catholic?  Catholics pray to God through the mother Mary?  I was told they pray to the same God.

Sincerely,
Where To Next?

Dear Where To Next,

Yes, the Charismatic church is not from God.  The Charismatic movement believes that in order to be saved, you must have the Holy Spirit take control of you and give you spiritual gifts.  They also teach that God still gives people prophecies and visions, even though we have the complete Bible.  Both of these teachings are false and dangerous.  Please read “Lying Wonders” and “Just Gibberish” for further details on that particular religious group.

The Catholic church also isn’t from God because they don’t do what the Bible says (read “Catholics Or Christians?” for some of the reasons why the Catholic church is a false religion).

Many churches profess to serve God, and they profess to love God – but it isn’t enough to say that we love God; our actions must back that up.  Jesus said, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” (Jhn 14:15)  A faithful person and faithful churches must have the right attitude toward God and the right biblical behavior (Jhn 4:24).

Churches that are faithful are ones that use the Bible and the Bible only.  They don’t add to God’s Word, and they don’t subtract from it (Rev 22:18-19).  They don’t replace God’s teachings with their traditions (Mk 7:8).  The denominational world is very confusing because most churches have replaced sound Bible teachings with manmade traditions.  They hold the Bible in their hand, but these churches don’t do the things that we read about the church doing.  For an in-depth look at the problem, read “Down With Denominationalism”.  If you would like, we would be happy to get you in touch with a congregation in your area that could talk to you about these things further.  If that would be of use, please feel free to e-mail us at askyourpreacher@mvchurchofchrist.org.

Does God know the future?  If so, how can bad things that happen be justified?

Sincerely,
Trouble Ahead

Dear Trouble Ahead,

God knows our days upon this earth, but He also gives us the freewill to shape various aspects of the world that we live in.  Just because God has knowledge of how you and I will behave does not mean that He causes our behavior to happen in a certain way.  Foreknowledge is not the same as causation.  A doctor may know that a patient is going to die of cancer, but that doesn’t mean the doctor caused the patient to die of that ailment.  God gives mankind the freedom to make decisions, but He also has the wisdom to know how those choices will affect the future (Job 12:13).

I was wondering if it is possible to ever lose your salvation?  And what verses back up your answer?

Sincerely,
Looking For A Guarantee

Dear Looking For A Guarantee,

Yes, you can lose your salvation – but not by accident.  There are two extremes when it comes to discussing salvation.

One extreme is the Calvinistic view that your salvation is never in jeopardy, regardless of what you do.  This view is called ‘Perseverance of the Saints’ – the belief that if you are saved, you will always persevere without ever needing to worry about your salvation.  This view is simply not biblical.  Consider several verses from the book of Hebrews.  Heb 6:4-6 talks about ‘enlightened partakers of the Holy Spirit’ (certainly this refers to saved christians) who then ‘fall away’ and ‘crucify afresh the Son of God’.  There can be no doubt that this is talking about people losing their salvation.  Heb. 10:26-27 talks about knowledgeable christians rejecting the gospel and the terrifying expectation of judgment to come upon them.  Paul said he feared that his preaching had been in vain to the Galatian brethren because they were turning away from the pure word of God (Gal 4:11, Gal 1:6).  Yes, we most certainly must watch how we live and act so as to not miss the prize of heaven (1 Cor 9:25-27).

The other extreme is to have zero confidence in your salvation.  This is the attitude of “unless I am living perfectly, I am going to be lost.”  This view is also wrong.  Christ died to save sinners (1 Tim 1:15), and it is His blood that pays the price for your entrance into heaven (1 Pet 1:18-19).  Your salvation is not dependent upon perfect living but FAITHFUL living (Eph. 2:8): hearing God’s word (Rom 10:17) and then living by that Word (Jas 2:14-18) to the best of your ability.  Perfection is not a requirement of salvation in Christ – commitment is.  A committed christian, though he often may fall short of who he wants to be, can be confident in his eternal reward.

What role does economics play in the Christian lifestyle?

Sincerely,
Giving An Account

Dear Giving An Account,

Economics plays a huge role in the life of christians.  It has been said that Bible has over 15,000 verses that pertain to money.  Anything that is talked about that much in the Bible is obviously an important topic!  Money is neither good nor bad – it is amoral.  People do good things with money, and people do bad things with money.  Money isn’t sinful, but the love of money is the root of all sorts of evil (1 Tim 6:10).  A christian’s attitude towards money is vitally important.  Whether you have much or little, learning to be content is the key to godly living (Heb 13:5).

I have a question about 1 Cor 5:1-13; when would you apply it to a member?  And if leaders of a church ignore what Paul said about handing this brother over to Satan, could they then be responsible if that sinful member loses eternal life at the Day of Judgment?

Sincerely,
Tough Love

Dear Tough Love,

1^st Corinthians chapter five discusses the process of a church withdrawing from a christian who is living a sinful life.  It is important to note that the man who Paul said needed to be disciplined was living a life that was actively and unrepentantly sinful (he had his father’s wife – 1 Cor 5:1).  That is the type of person that a church should withdraw from.  If someone is caught doing something sinful, and they continue to do that behavior without any remorse or attempt to change, the church must act.  So how do you know someone has reached that point?  Matt 18:15-17 tells us that if we know a christian is sinning, we should attempt to talk to them one-on-one.  If that doesn’t work, we should bring one or two others to attempt to further persuade the person, and lastly, if that doesn’t work, the church should rebuke the individual and withdraw from them.  The principle is that the person should be given ample opportunity to repent because you don’t want to discipline too early, but if it becomes clear that they aren’t interested in obeying God’s Word, the church must stand firm.

If the church doesn’t act, it will have to answer to God because it didn’t stand up for the truth.  Paul told the Corinthians that they were arrogant for not addressing their errant member (1 Cor 5:2), and he warned them that if they didn’t act, the church would eventually be rotted away by sin (1 Cor 5:6-7).  A church that won’t stand by the truth is bound to fall away from the Lord and cease to be a faithful church.  When someone sins, they are responsible for their own behavior, but if the church doesn’t warn them, they have sinned as well (Ezek 3:18-19).