Quote Source – A Pastor for over 40 years.

A Biblical Christian worldview perspective – One of our readers, responding to an article on Roman Catholicism, made the point that many of the Protestant theologians I quoted, who were publicly opposed to Catholic salvific theology, were being pharisaical in their views. I suspect he was also accusing me of the same, in a very gentle and respectful fashion. My response, in two brief parts, was:

(1) “I think there will be many Catholics in Heaven. When I speak on the subject, I am speaking on the official stance of the church, but on that too, I could certainly be wrong. However, I do think the evidence stands for itself, and those who I quoted were more brave than pharisaical.”

(2) “On the subject of afterlife surprises, sadly, the far greater majority will come from those who are not in Heaven rather than those who are.”

Conclusion

What does a Biblical Christian do when a religion …

… which seems to align so closely with our faith and God’s truth on both social and theological issues such as abortion, transgenders in sports, the Trinity, same-sex marriage, Jesus Christ, and, to a large degree, even the Bible itself,

… yet has within it such twisted views on salvation, tradition, purgatory, sacraments, the priesthood of believers, confession, and Mary among others?

I would offer that the answer is to keep the main thing the main thing. Every Christian, every person who ever lived, in my view, has a piece or pieces of their theology wrong. No single person perfectly understands the “mind of God” (1 Corinthians 2:16). Therefore, we need to have grace for our differences and a recognition that we could be the one who is wrong. However, there is a “main thing” in all of Biblical Christian theology that is the foundation of who we are during our time on earth and who we will be upon death, and that is … what does it take to be saved. Nothing in life or death could be more important.

To ignore or discount the importance of the essential doctrine of salvation, in order to publicly reconcile with those who disagree, is to sin against God. We so easily forget in this gray world we live in that there are only two natures in the supernatural realm: Good and Evil.

Each of us, while we remain on Earth, needs to decide on the watershed theology that ensures we have the Holy Spirit in our hearts now, and an eternal life in Heaven then. If there is a difference between what we believe is God’s truth as relates to salvation, and that of another denomination, we need to be acutely aware of our own cognitive dissonance as we love and care for others who do not hold our view on that single theological subject.

Salvation – Eternal Life in Less Than 150 Words

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