Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!wuarchive!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!mips!dimacs.rutgers.edu!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: gross@dg-rtp.dg.com (Gene Gross) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Discipleship Message-ID: Date: 22 Oct 90 06:26:38 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: Data General Corporation, Research Triangle Park, NC Lines: 45 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu I recently began reading John F. MacArthur's book _The Gospel According to Jesus_. In there, I found the following on page 30. "James M. Boice, in his book, "Christ's Call to Discipleship", writes with insight about the salvation/discipleship dichotomy, which he frankly describes as "defective theology": "This theology separates faith from discipleship and grace from obedience. It teaches that Jesus can be received as one's Savior without being received as one's Lord. "This is a common defect in times of prosperity. In days of hardship, particularly persecution, those who are in the process of becoming Christians count the cost of discipleship carefully before taking up the cross of the Nasarene. Preachers do not beguile them with false promises of an easy life or indulgence of sins. But in good times, the cost does not seem so high, and people take the name of Christ without undergoing the radical transformation of life that true conversion implies. "The call to Calvary must be recognized for what it is: a call to discipleship under the lordship of Jesus Christ. To respond to that call is to become a believer. Anything less is simply unbelief." At this point MacArthur has a footnote that says, "Jesus' Great Commission in Matthew 28:18-20 does not talk about making believers in distinction to disciples. "Make disciples...baptizing them" implies that every new believer is a disciple, for all Christians are to be baptized (Acts 2:38), not just those who go on to some deeper level of commitment." I wondered how others see this. Do you believe that we only need to accept Jesus as Savior and that at some future point we accept His Lordship? Do you see it as necessary to count all the costs that every will be required to be a disciple before you can be saved? What if you don't know all the costs at that point in time--are not saved? Is there a difference in the costs of discipleship between prosperity and persecution that affects the presentation of the Gospel? What is the Gospel that we are to preach and teach? For His glory, Gene Gross