M
Mark01
Guest
The last four years since I became a widower, I have found the need to delve into the teachings of my Catholic faith and in doing so I’ve found my way here to this wonderful forum. In coming to understand the “whys” of the Church I grew up in I have also desired to try and develop an understanding of other denominations as well.
I was just reading an article entitled “Perseverance and Assurance: A Survey and Proposal” by Professor Thomas R. Schreiner who teaches at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. I must say it was a very interesting read.
In the article Professor Schreiner details five different views as well as his own concerning the assurance of salvation and the tension that is found between warning passages and those that give assurance in the bible, the following is a brief summary as I have read it.
“I believe that those who are elected, called, and justified will certainly be glorified. No genuine believer will ever apostatize. Nonetheless, the warning passages in the scriptures are addressed to believers, and they are threatened with eternal destruction (not loss of rewards) if they commit apostasy. One might conclude from this that I espouse some form of mystery in relating God’s promises and threats, but an appeal to mystery does not work in this instance since the notions that believers will never fall away and also may possibly fall away cannot both be true! Contrary to the hypothetical view as explained by Hewitt, the warnings in the text are real and serious. We must pay heed to the warnings in order to be saved on the day of the Lord.”
It is hard for me not to embrace the Catholic Faith, when faced with so many conflicting fews on only one subject let alone all the others that are discussed here in these forums.
If I crawled out from under a rock today, could not read nor write and had no knowledge of God, Jesus or the Bible, where would I turn to see and hear the Gospel? I did not fully understand this until I began to study. Now I know the answer, all I have to do is go to any Catholic Church in the world, and there I will see a man hanging from a cross, I will hear His Gospel, be in His presence and will want to be fed.
That is why I believe…
I was just reading an article entitled “Perseverance and Assurance: A Survey and Proposal” by Professor Thomas R. Schreiner who teaches at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. I must say it was a very interesting read.
In the article Professor Schreiner details five different views as well as his own concerning the assurance of salvation and the tension that is found between warning passages and those that give assurance in the bible, the following is a brief summary as I have read it.
- Loss of salvation view
States that believers can apostatize and that they may choose to abandon salvation.
Wesleyan view that election and predestination are not ultimate, for both election and predestination are conditional and can be overturned by lack of perseverance. - Loss of reward view
States that fruitfulness and discipleship is not a condition of salvation. Charles Stanley writes “Even if a believer for all practical purposes becomes an unbeliever his salvation is not in jeopardy” “Believers who lose or abandon their faith will retain their salvation, for God remains faithful”.
One does not have to do good works to be saved from hell, but that one will experience the consequences of sin in our everyday lives - Test of genuineness view
States that people have been exposed to the truth and even professed a “temporary” allegiance to that truth and that these people are “almost” Christians and though they are enlightened they have not been transformed by the light. Those that fall away where never really believers in the first place. - Hypothetical view
States that believers who do not persevere, will not be saved, but that it is impossible for believers to commit apostasy and that warnings against walking away from the faith will never become a reality in the life of a believer. - Irresolvable tension view
States that the tension between the assurance passages and warning passages is a dilemma that to resolve them would be to negate them and in order to be biblical, we must admit that we cannot resolve them. A genuine biblical theology lets both meanings stand together, proclaims both are true and does not attempt to resolve how they work together.
“I believe that those who are elected, called, and justified will certainly be glorified. No genuine believer will ever apostatize. Nonetheless, the warning passages in the scriptures are addressed to believers, and they are threatened with eternal destruction (not loss of rewards) if they commit apostasy. One might conclude from this that I espouse some form of mystery in relating God’s promises and threats, but an appeal to mystery does not work in this instance since the notions that believers will never fall away and also may possibly fall away cannot both be true! Contrary to the hypothetical view as explained by Hewitt, the warnings in the text are real and serious. We must pay heed to the warnings in order to be saved on the day of the Lord.”
It is hard for me not to embrace the Catholic Faith, when faced with so many conflicting fews on only one subject let alone all the others that are discussed here in these forums.
If I crawled out from under a rock today, could not read nor write and had no knowledge of God, Jesus or the Bible, where would I turn to see and hear the Gospel? I did not fully understand this until I began to study. Now I know the answer, all I have to do is go to any Catholic Church in the world, and there I will see a man hanging from a cross, I will hear His Gospel, be in His presence and will want to be fed.
That is why I believe…