Words Worth Reading!

April 6, 2024

DEFICIENT, WRONG, FALSE, LIES of ridiculous theories of Atonement

Atonement means the reconciliation with the LORD God that Christ accomplished through His life and resulting Crucifixion and Resurrection for the forgiveness of sin and the granting of eternal life and ability for righteousness through the complete salvation of His Followers.

In this holiest of Seasons that celebrates the Crucifixion and Resurrection our our beloved Lord Jesus Christ and the atonement of our sins through His shed blood, there are many lies and false teachings floating out their in the carnal world of wickedness. Here are possibly some of the lies you will hear:

False Theory – Ransom made to Satan

Defender – Origen (A.D. 184-254)

False Idea – Satan accused of maintaining hold on people, requiring Christ’s shed blood as a ransom on their behalf for their release

Weakness – This is an offense to Christ’s sacrifice upon the cross for the salvation of human beings; the judgment is upon Satan, and he is NOT in control!

Modern Day – This gives some falsely perceived support to Satanic worshippers who think the devil is more powerful than the LORD God.

False Theory – Recapitulation

Defender – Irenaeus (A.D> 130-200)

False Idea – Christ lived a full life of experience in the same pattern as Adam; thus, he sinned.

Weakness – Scripture upholds the sinlessness of Christ (1 John 3:5) and fully contradicts a duplication of Adam’s fallen state.

Modern Day – Efforts made to suggest Christ’s fallen state, marriage to Mary, collusion with Judas in arranging his own death are some of the popular media false reflections of Christ.

False Theory – Satisfaction

Defender – Anselm (1033-1109)

False Idea – The LORD God’s honor is betrayed and lessened by sin which can only be restored through Christ’s honoring death. Once honor is restored, God is able to forgive sins.

Weakness – Makes God’s honor an attribute that rises above all other attributes and refutes the doctrine of vicarious atonement.

Modern Day – Not much of a problem today because of the purposeful intentions of the worldly to remove all honor from the LORD God.

False Theory – Moral Influence

Defender – Abelard (1079-1142)

False Idea – The need for the atonement of sins in human beings is unnecessary. They need only to have hearts made ready to repent, accomplished through Christ’s death.

Weakness – Atonement become unnecessary an the achievement of holiness the goal.

Modern Day – Adherents include Friedrich Schleiermacher, Albrecht Ritschl, and Horace Bushnell

False Theory – Example

Defender – Socinus (1539-1604)

False Idea – Christ’s example of obedience toward the LORD God inspired reformation of sinful behavior; Christ’s death was unnecessary.

Weakness – Denies the deified part of Christ, declaring him to be fully human and a great example for human beings to emulate.

Modern Day – Adherents include Thomas Altizer and the denominational Unitarians.

False Theory – Governmental

Defender – Grotius (1583-1645)

False Idea – Christ’s death paid a token to the LORD God, that gave Him the opportunity to forgive people of their sins, through the governance of His law.

Weakness – Denies the changelessness of God. Also allows His law to be negated in order for Him to forgive human beings without need for payment of sin.

Modern Day – Adherents include Daniel Whitby, Samuel Clarke, J. McLeod Campbell, Richard Watson, H.R. Mackintosh.

False Theory – Accident

A. Schweitzer (1875-1965)

False Idea – Christ formed a Messiah ideology that caught him up accidentally into events leading to his death.

Weakness – Denies Christ’s purposeful sacrifice and substitutionary atonement.

Modern Day – Some popular media and extremist efforts develop an accidental life of Christ as a moral teacher that was caught up in events beyond his control.

THE BIBLICAL TRUTH REPRESENTATION OF THE ATONEMENT OF CHRIST:

The Lord Jesus Christ purposely went to the cross for His crucifixion after prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. He was sinless in all ways during his time spent on earth. He was crucified, taking upon himself the original sins of His Followers. When He shed His blood, it became the atonement that He would offer to His Father, the LORD God. This offering of atonement of Christ’s blood is based upon the promise the LORD God has made to forgive all sins and grant salvation and eternal life to all those covered in Christ’s blood. Following Christ’s resurrection, all followers became eligible for the Baptism of Jesus Christ and the Baptism of the Holy Ghost to assist in the full process of walking eternally with Christ.

April 6, 2024

USA TODAY Letter to the Editor By Kathy L McFarland “Salvation only through Jesus”

USA TODAY May 26 2011 Page 10A

http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/letters/2011-05-26-beliefs-about-heaven-and-hell_n.htm

Author Rob Bell’s words do not hold true when evaluated through the inerrant word of God. Jonathan Edwards, a colonial‐era pastor, had it right. The difference between the most carnal, sinful, wicked people in the world, compared with the most righteous, spiritual, saintly ones, is one of appearance rather than fallen nature. Those who are able to seemingly rise above common sin have done nothing of the kind; they just have the tools to hide it better from others.

When someone is lucky enough to be born in an environment that teaches these hiding skills, then he or she has the tools needed to look “good” and escape condemnation or restriction from society. Those born within a culture that neglects teaching the necessity for the outward appearance to hide sin receive blunt judgment and accusation from the perfumed pews of Christian pretenders.

Kathy L McFarland
Peck, Idaho

USA TODAY Letter to the Editor by Fulton J Waterloo, “Theology and Nuance” (June 1, 2011)

USA TODAY reader Kathy McFarland made some valid points about the fallen nature of all people in the eyes of God and their continuance in sin in her Thursday letter “Salvation only through Jesus.” However, the possible implications of her theology are nothing short of mind‐boggling.

It is one thing to state correctly, that “Hitler and Mother Teresa were sinners.” It is another to deny the reality that many people cooperate with God’s grace rather than resist it. In the reader’s world, every man is a wife beater; every adult a child molester; every mechanic a cheat; and every lawyer an ambulance chaser, but we just aren’t aware of it.

If the only difference between Hitler and Mother Teresa was that she was “lucky enough to be born in an environment that teaches these hiding skills” then we need to begin a search for the millions of innocent people that she murdered.

Even more dangerous, if there is no difference in the “lived faith” of individual people, does sin even matter? To McFarland’s credit, she has taken the doctrine of “salvation by faith alone” to its obvious conclusion.

This evening, God willing, I will obey the speed limits on my drive home. Inevitably, a motorist will blast by me, only to be pulled over several miles down the road by a state trooper. In McFarland’s reality, the speeding motorist and I were driving the same speed; I just had better “hiding skills.”

Perhaps her letter demonstrates the danger of theology without nuance, and interpretation without guidance.

Fulton J. Waterloo Aston, Pa.
Rebuttal to Fulton J. Waterloo, “Theology and Nuance” (June 1, 2011)

USA TODAY Rebuttal to Fulton J Waterloo’s Letter to Editor dtd June 1, 2011 by Kathy L McFarland

Clearly, Fulton Waterloo has learned the hiding skills of traveling the speed limit, whereas the speeder that passes him is sinfully negligent (if speed could be defined as sin in Waterloo’s world). And Mother Teresa, bless her works in His name, learned from a young age that walking the way of her beloved Christ was preferable to submitting to her fallen nature and allowing it to guide her along a life path. Hitler was evil, through and through; his fallen nature overtaken by the worst of darkness, a glaring example of what happens when fallen nature walks so far away from God.

Beware! It is easy for “good” sinners to compare themselves to “bad” sinners, and convince themselves that the salvation of Jesus Christ is not needed. Sadly, that trick of the mind convinces many to trust in their own perceived righteousness, rather than relying upon the saving grace of Christ, and that error will one day doom them.

Kathy L McFarland
Peck, Idaho

April 5, 2024

Keyword: Evil

Expression:
“Wherefore the man who lives according to God, and not according to man, ought to be a lover of good, and therefore a hater of evil. And since no one is evil by nature, but whoever is evil is evil by vice, he who lives according to God ought to cherish towards evil men a perfect hatred, so that he shall neither hate the man because of his vice nor love the vice because of the man, but hate the vice and love the man. For the vice being cursed, all that ought to be loved, and nothing that ought to be hated, will remain.”

Voice: Saint Augustine

Circumstance: Book 14, Section 6: “Of the character of the human will which makes the affections of the soul right or wrong”

Citation: Saint Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, The City of God, trans., Marcus Dods, Modern Library Paperback ed. (New York: Random House, Inc., 2000), 448.

The City of God (Modern Library Classics)

April 5, 2024

Words Worth Reading!

Keyword: Christianity
Expression:
“Christianity is more than a moral code, more than a philosophy, more than a system of rites. Although it is sufficient, in the abstract, to divide the Catholic religion into three aspects and call them creed, code and cult, yet in practice, the integral Christian life is something far more than all this. It is more than a belief; it is a life. That is to say, it is a belief that is lived and experienced and expressed in action. The action in which it is expressed, experienced and lived is called a mystery. This mystery is the sacred drama which keeps ever present in history the Sacrifice that was once consummated by Christ in Calvary. In plain words – if you can accept them as plain – Christianity is the life and death and resurrection of Christ going on day after day in the souls of individual men and in the heart of society.”

Voice: Thomas Merton

Circumstance: Introduction to St. Augustine’s The City of God

Citation: Saint Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, The City of God, trans., Marcus Dods, Modern Library Paperback ed. (New York: Random House, Inc., 2000), xvi.

Read More: The City of God (Modern Library Classics)

April 3, 2024

Words Worth Reading!

Keyword: Bible Study

Expression:

Many, many Christians focus over and over and over again on material that is already known, and fail to delve deeper into Scripture with a mature mind that fears God but yearns more relationship with Him. Hebrews 6:1-8 speaks about this practice of repeating study, over and over, about the same things without advancing knowledge further.

Hebrews 6:1-8

“Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. And this will we do, if God permit. For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame. For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God: But that which beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned.”

That Scripture is full of typological solutions to encourage Christians to move past the study of sin, faith, baptism in Christ, baptism in the Holy Spirit, death, resurrection and eternal judgment once those principles of the doctrine of Christ are known. Hebrews 6:4-5 speaks of the real change made in Christians who have received the Holy Ghost and partaken of the full Bible Study with gifts given to them by God. And it reminds believers not to crucify Christ again and again.

It is my opinion that most Church gatherings do exactly that. They speak the same words every week, according to the Church schedule. Each sermon is predictable and spoken to the lesser in the congregation. Mature Christian development is overlooked constantly. I would think that as mature Christians, we should not only learn the skills of hermeneutics, but recognize that as we grow in faith, depth in His Word demands our studies. This requires development of typological, analytical, and associative skills as well as the need to develop the recognition of patterns in His Word that can intrigue our exploration with His guiding.

Voice: Kathy L. McFarland

Circumstance: Discussion Board 4

Citation: Kathy L. McFarland, 201240 Fall 2012 NBST 652-D01 LUO, November 2012

Read More:
Guided Bible Studies for Hungry Christians: 001 Foundation

April 3, 2024

Words Worth Reading!

Keyword: Baptism

Expression:

“Baptism shall be given to all those who have learned repentance and amendment of life, and who believe truly that their sins are taken away by Christ, and to all those who walk in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and wish to be buried with him in death, so that they may be resurrected with him and to all those who with significance request it of us and demand it for themselves. This excludes all infant baptism, the highest and chief abomination of the pope.”

Voice: Anabaptist Swiss Brethren

Circumstance: Statement of belief

Citation: The Schleitheim Confession (1527)

Schleitheim Confession

Separation And The Sword In Anabaptist Persuasion: Radical Confessional Rhetoric From Schleitheim To Dordrecht (The C. Henry Smith Series)

April 3, 2024

Words Worth Reading!

Keyword: Scripture

Expression:

“Unless I am convicted of error … by the Scriptures to which I have appealed, and my conscience is taken captive by God’s Word, I cannot and will not recant of anything, for to act against our conscience is neither safe for us, nor open to us. Here I stand. I can do no other. May God help me! Amen.”

Voice: Martin Luther

Circumstance: Spoken by Martin Luther to defend his stance at the Diet of Worms in 1521 according to unconfirmed traditional account

Citation: James P. Eckman, “Exploring Church History” (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2002), 48-49.

“Exploring Church History”

“Here I Stand – A Life Of Martin Luther”

April 3, 2024

Words Worth Reading! (Studying the Word of God)

Expression:

“And why this strange contradiction? It is because of the difficulties which studying the Bible presents. We must agree that on beginning it, there are many difficulties and obscurities; and, as much labour is required to clear them up, and the mind of man is naturally idle and lazy, we lose courage little by little and limit ourselves to reading the same scriptures over and over again. This unvaried sort of study hardly penetrates beneath the surface, nor does it learn new things; but always going over the same things repeatedly, inspires in us a kind of weariness, as if the Word of God was not interesting-as if it was not as inexhaustible as God Himself! Beware of thinking, however, that these difficulties are insuperable. No, my friends; but we must be prepared to take trouble; and there, as in prayer and in all parts of the Christian life, God wants man to be co-worker with Him. Knowledge of the Bible, taste for the Bible is the fruit and reward of this humble, sincere and persevering labour…If anyone, using by faith the resources which God puts at his disposal, and relying on God to guide him, follows out these thoughts of mine, which I can at this moment do little more than sketch, he will discover in the Word of God treasures which he never even suspected were there. Then it will become for him as firm a support as it was for Jesus, when He was tempted in the wilderness. And it will become for him what it was for the saints, in both the New Testament and in the Old Testament; what it was for David, and for Daniel, for Paul and all the saints of God.”

Voice: Adolphe Monod

Circumstance: Teaching

Citation: Monod, Adolphe. “A Dying Man’s Regrets 2”. The Study of the Word of God. 20 January 1856, 67.

Read More:
Living in the Hope of Glory: A New Translation of a Spiritual Classic

Adolphe Monod’s Farewell To His Friends And To The Church

Life And Letters Of Adolphe Monod, By One Of His Daughters (s.m.).