Another Perspective

We were wrapping up a home group meeting one Sunday night when the host asked me, “Don’t you believe in eternal security?”

Eternal security is a doctrine that basically says, once you have trusted Jesus Christ to be your savior, you are eternally secure. You are saved from your sins and you will be going to heaven no matter what you do for the rest of your life.

I had been up since 5:00 am that morning, driven two hours to Oracle, AZ to preach for two church services and then driven two hours home. It was not a good time for me to discuss a doctrine which often divides believers.

I wanted to respond to my friend’s question when I wasn’t tired. The short explanation is that many scriptures encourage Christians to trust God and believe his promises to protect us and bring us safely to heaven through the trials of life. While many other scriptures warn us that there are severe consequences if we depart from the faith by denying the Lord or returning to our old sinful lifestyles.

F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote, “The test of a first rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function.” Scriptures which emphasize different aspects of truth are not actually contradictory, but they do create paradoxes which require the wisdom of the Holy Spirit to understand.

To use a natural illustration, let’s pretend you are running away from a group of angry bad guys. They have chased you to the edge of a cliff overlooking a river. Which of these two contradictory sayings should you apply. “Look before you leap.”  or, “He who hesitates is lost.”

Both of these saying can be true, but the correct answer depends on how close the bad guys are to catching you. If they are still a good distance away, then look before you leap. If they are right behind you, then he who hesitates is lost.

Since my friend plays golf, I’ll share some factors that good golfers consider before hitting a putt. Golfers often look at a putt from both sides of the cup before putting. The contour of the green is a major factor in determining which way the golf ball will break as it rolls towards the cup. Sometimes if you look at a putt from below the cup, it appears the green breaks to the left. Then, when you look at the putt from above the cup, the green seems to break in the opposite direction. Golfers contemplate this illusion before determining where to hit the putt.

They consider other factors as well. If you hit a putt hard, it won’t break (or curve) as much as it travels towards the hole. If there is a mountain in the near distance, the entire green usually slopes subtly away from the mountain.  If there is a pond near the green, the green probably slopes towards the water. Later in the day, the grass may be growing towards the setting sun and the grain of the grass effects the speed and curvature of the putt.

In the same way multiple factors influence a golf ball, there are multiple scriptures that must be factored into the formation of sound biblical doctrine, and sound doctrine effects people’s lives.

Unwise teachers gather scriptures that support a doctrinal position they prefer and ignore other scriptures which emphasis another biblical perspective which counterbalances their position.

For instance, some teachers say believers will experience tribulation before Jesus returns and they site scriptures which say this clearly. While others emphasize the rapture, which will enable believers to escape tribulation.

There has been much debate about whether believers receive the power of the Holy Spirit at the moment of conversion, or as a subsequent experience at a later date. There are examples in Acts of believers being filled with the Holy Spirit when the apostles lay hands on them days after their conversions i.e. (ACTS 8 and Acts 9). Yet in Acts 10, those at Cornelius’s house are filled with the Holy Spirit the moment they realize Jesus is raised from the dead.

These scriptures illustrate that may God work in the lives of believers in different ways according to His timing and their needs. It is false to say that what happened in one setting is what happens to all people in every setting, as these different experiences in Acts illustrate.

Political pundits also often simplify complex dilemmas into simple judgments. For instance, is our president a good guy or a bad guy? If he is in our party, he is a good guy, his decisions are good and we will defend them. If he is in the other party, he is a bad guy, his decisions are bad, so we will attack them.

Those are naive assumptions. I assume you and I are both good guys, and though most of our decisions are good, in hindsight, some of our decisions have been bad. Haven’t they?

We have to resist being pulled by political parties into one camp or another and instead make our judgements about what is right or wrong based on what the word of God and the Holy Spirit show us.

Our responsibility is not to judge the politicians, but to pray for those in authority and submit to them as long as they don’t require us to disobey God. Since Jesus is the head of all rule and authority (Colossians 2:10), those in authority will ultimately answer to him.
We believe that we should obey the law. Yet if our neighbor is bleeding to death, we will take him to the hospital in haste and have a clear conscience if we break the speed limit as we drive to save his life.

Emotionally healthy people can hold two seemingly contradictory ideas in their mind at the same time. They can accept the paradoxes and ambiguities of life. We accept the people we love in spite of their imperfections. Our challenge is to extend our love and faith beyond our family and friends so we can expand the borders of God’s kingdom as we preach the gospel and bring people the grace of God in Christ.