Lies, Pernicious Lies
Lies are ugly. Lies are literally everywhere around and in us. Our own hearts are deceitful. The world feeds us half truths and outright fabrications all day long. It gets so thick that it’s nearly impossible to distinguish falsehoods from reality.
I was saddened to hear about the death of Rachel Held Evans. I disagreed with her on so much, and her style was highly grating to me. But every death is a sad event, and every death should give us pause. I saw people celebrating, calling her a heretic, saying she spread lies and her young death is a judgment of God. Perhaps she did say some false things and promote some outright sinful things, perhaps she wasn’t the most orthodox of Christians, but how many of us are free of lies?
I don’t know the state of her soul. I do know she has now met the God whom she wrestled with for so long in her short time here on Earth. I hope that meeting was a good one. I know her glaring errors, but who would make it to Glory if we had to have perfect doctrine? Who would be saved if we had to know perfectly every jot and tittle of the Scriptures and exactly what each meant?
She led a lot of people astray, and I hope she repented of that before meeting her maker. But she did claim the name of Christ, there is reason to hold out hope for her eternal soul.
There are loads of false Gospels out there, and many false laws as well. The pitfalls of man’s depravity are too numerous to count. But can unorthodoxy on secondary and tertiary matters be elevated to heresy status?
If we believe in Christ crucified, buried, and risen, and the imputation of Christ’s righteousness on the elect then we are not believing a false Gospel.
However, if we add to it extra commands and laws and expectations of perfect sinlessness on the part of the elect, we are believing a false gospel. Modern day Judiazers are everywhere. Christians should be careful to avoid them and avoid becoming them.
I don’t know if I can judge the state of anyone’s soul based purely on how well they hold to certain laws or matters of conscience. I do know that if perfect knowledge and adherence to the Law was the only way to Heaven, I would be damned indeed.
I am grateful for a Savior who is patient and forgiving.
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Hi "Drip Torch Press"!
I agree with you that lies are ugly and that they are just about everywhere you look. I do not know about this person you described, but maybe we can talk about some of the statements you made. Briefly about myself, I follow the example set by the "Ebionites", a group that mass-murderer Emperor Constantine tried to exterminate in the 4th century following the First Council of Nicaea in 325 AD. Those who followed the teachings Constantine found acceptable became what we call "Christians" today, even though there were "Christians" before Yeshua (whom you call "Jesus").
Of the Ebionites, the "Christians" accused them of being "Judiazers", and the Jews rejected them as not being of their own. So you have a chance here to exchange thoughts with what what "Christianity" tried back then to murder out of existence under the label of "Judiazer" .
As a person who seeks to follow the example of Yeshua, I have no expectation to "make it to Glory" until such time as I have done what Yeshua did so that I am ready to return to the Father, having learned my lessons. I am not looking for any shortcuts to perfection. I expect a long journey but I conclude that we all ultimately "go home" to the Father. Since I view Yeshua as Christed (anointed of the Lord) person this must mean that one day I must also become anointed of the Lord, but probably not in this life. I have a long way to go. The Hebrew word that is equivalent to "Christ" is "Mesiah", so if you call Yeshua (Jesus) Christ, you are also calling him "Mesiah".
There is a lot of talk about The Gospel, and a false "Gospel". I hold that the "good news" (Gospel) is that the Kingdom of God is universal and exists within each and every person! (Luke 17:20-23). But to enter into it you must do what Yeshua did, and ultimately become ONE with the Son of God, who lives within each of us.
There are many things we could discuss, about the roots of Christianity, about the nature of the soul, but I would suspect you might want to save me from my "Judiazer" ways. And I might want to teach you a few things about your churches history. Want to talk about it?