Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!wuarchive!ukma!seismo!dimacs.rutgers.edu!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: davidbu@loowit.wr.tek.com (David E. Buxton) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: John MacArthur on "Once Saved Always Saved" Message-ID: Date: 14 Feb 91 12:20:03 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Lines: 25 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu John MacArthur, in his book "The Gospel Accroding to Jesus" writes what I think makes a lot of good sense: Jesus spoke the words of Matthew 7:21-23 as a warning to people who think they are saved but do not live in obedience to God. Unlike preachers today who avoid upsetting someone's assurance, our Lord was determined to destroy the hope of all who falsely thought they were redeemed. He often challenged such people. He never encouraged someone who was unsure of salvation to ignore the doubts. His message stands in stark contrast to the gospel of today, which seems designed specifically to prop up false assurance. The pattern of modern evangelism is to to take people through a formula, get them to pray a prayer, sign a card, or whatever, then tell them they are saved and should never doubt it. Such an approach to witnessing actually fights against the Holy Spirit, whose ministry it is to bring both assurance to those who are saved (Romans 8:16) and conviction to those are not (John 16:8-9). God knows the diffrence; we do not. Doubts about one's salvation are not wrong so long as they are not nursed and allowed to become an obsession. Scripture encourages self-examination. Doubts must be confronted and dealt with honestly and biblically. In 2 Corinthians 13:5, Paul wrote, "Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you--unless indeed you fail the test?" That admonition is largely ignored--and often explained away--in the contemporary church.