The ladies of the church were gathered together for a baby shower. There were laughing, games, gifts and a devotional. The devotional spoke of babies and mothers and love. It was all a very lovely occasion. Then one of the ladies spoke up and said “Of course you know that that baby is a little sinner on their way to hell. Your job as a parent is to rear the child and hope God saves them.” That statement is orthodox with regard to the Western Evangelical Church (WEC), but is it true? Who are we? Are we all sinners on our way to hell unless by some circumstance or enlightenment we accept Jesus Christ as savior. According to the WEC that is so and anyone who dares to challenge that belief is labeled as a heretic. What do they do with heretics? They throw them off a cliff.
I just finished watching episode 3 of season 3 of The Chosen series. In that episode Jesus was teaching some hard things and was labeled a heretic/false prophet. The charge stuck and he was brought to the edge of a cliff to be killed. However, he walked away from the fray to die another day. It is interesting that the very Son of God who created the world was labeled and condemned. That is what happens when we stop thinking and just parrot the thoughts of man.
So, who are we? Are we born sinners destined for hell unless by some circumstance or enlightenment we accept Jesus Christ as savior? Are the only people seen to be righteous by God those that accept Jesus Christ as savior? That that is false is easily shown by one exception to that doctrine. But the scripture, which the Western Evangelical Church claims to follow, contains a number of exceptions. So why do they press on with such nonsense? Probably because if they did not they would be labeled a heretic and removed from the inner circle. A Preacher dare not preach the whole word because the whole word would throw questions on his orthodoxy.
Can someone be righteous before God, walking blameless in all the commandments and statues of the Lord without accepting Jesus Christ as savior? Not according to WEC orthodoxy? However, in the very book this orthodoxy supposedly represents we see the following verse.
Luke 1:6 And they were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord.
This verse describes two people, Zechariah the priest and his wife, the future parents of John the Baptist. By what means were they righteous before God? We are not told although we are told that they were walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord. Is this not the very thing that WEC orthodoxy says we cannot do? But there it is. Why is this verse explained away or ignored to support orthodoxy? It is obvious that these two people could not have accepted Jesus Christ as savior since Jesus was not born yet. Yet they were righteous before God – not just man but God.
Can a man without accepting Jesus Christ as savior be blameless and upright, and fear God and turn away from evil. Of course he can and we see this by God’s own witness.
Job 1:1 There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job, and that man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil.
Job 1:8 And the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?”
Job 2:3 And the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil? He still holds fast his integrity, although you incited me against him to destroy him without reason.”
Job is considered to be one of the oldest books in the Bible so obviously these statements were made long before it was possible to accept Jesus Christ as savor. Job 2:3 does say some things about God we don’t like but certainly not about Job. Three times we are told of Job’s character and two of those times are direct quotes from God. By what means was Job blameless, upright, fearing God and turning away from evil? We are not told. But there he is, certainly acceptable to God without having accepted Jesus Christ and savior.
We are told by WEC orthodoxy that Zechariah, his wife and Job were then but this is now. They were before Jesus but we are after Jesus. True, but only in the sense of time and not space and God is not constrained by either. Those on earth today who have never heard of Jesus are just like our three examples, not separated from Jesus by time but certainly by space, culture, experience, wars, trauma, etc. But that is just one side of the matter. Although our three examples were ignorant of Jesus, Jesus was not ignorant of them. He knew them and they were humans created in his image. Likewise he knows everyone and we are all created in his image.
When Jesus was marched to the cliff because of his heretical statements this is what he said.
Luke 4:18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
Luke 4:19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
He went on to say that God’s favor did not just rest on the Jews and gave examples and they wanted to kill him for it. Well today it is likely that God’s favor does not just rest on those who accept the Western Evangelical Christian orthodoxy. His favor rests on the poor, the captives, the blind the oppressed. Perhaps the WEC are those looking for a cliff to toss Jesus over and they don’t even know it. Certainly the people desiring to kill Jesus thought they were doing God’s work.
So a baby shower takes place and there is a baby to be celebrated, a human made in God’s image. What will this child’s character be? Righteous before God? Only God knows and Jesus sees.
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