Monday, June 05, 2006

I Do Not Believe...

A couple posts back I wrote a post about what I do believe. Then I got to thinking that it would be interesting to write about what I do NOT believe. And so we'll see where this goes...

1) I do NOT believe that Israel and the physical descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob have been set aside by God or have been replaced by the Church. I find no scriptural foundation for such a belief and will not buy into it. Replacement theology, in my opinion, was birthed in the pits of hell and has been used by Satan to cause great harm to the Jews at the hands of Christians throughout the ages. Satan, in my opinion, has also used this to deceive many Christians into believing that they are now God's chosen, at the expense of the Jews (lumping all physical descendants of Abraham, Isaac & Jacob into that group), that the Jews have been set aside and forgotten in God's plans.

2) I do NOT believe in dispensationalism, that God has acted towards man in different dispensations throughout history. I DO believe in the "dispensation of the grace of God" which is mentioned in Ephesians 3:2 and in the "dispensation of the fullness of times" mentioned in Ephesians 1:10.

3) I do NOT believe that there are many paths to God, that any and all religious beliefs bring one to the same place, of peace with God and a place in His eternal kingdom. Yeshua made it very plain when He said, "I am the Way and the Truth and the Life; no one comes to the Father except by (through) Me." (Amplified) --John 14:6 Also, Acts 4:12 says, "And there is salvation in and through no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by and in which we must be saved." (Amplified) Then Yeshua said in John 3:16-18, "For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He [even] gave up His only begotten (unique) Son, so that whoever believes in (trusts in, clings to, relies on) Him shall not perish (come to destruction, be lost) but have eternal (everlasting) life. For God did not send the Son into the world in order to judge (to reject, to condemn, to pass sentence on) the world, but that the world might find salvation and be made safe and sound through Him. He who believes in Him [who clings to, trusts in, relies on Him] is not judged [he who trusts in Him never comes up for judgment; for him there is no rejection, no condemnation--he incurs no damnation]; but he who does not believe (cleave to, rely on, trust in Him) is judged already [he has already been convicted and has already received his sentence] because he has not believed in and trusted in the name of the only begotten Son of God. [He is condemned for refusing to let his trust rest in Christ's name.] (Amplified)

4) I do NOT believe in a pre-tribulation rapture of the saints. I believe that the book of Revelation and Yeshua's own words in Matthew 24 make it clear that the saints need to stay on their guard and be alert. Repeatedly, we are enjoined to persevere and to endure. I cannot see why God's people throughout history and even now in our times would have to endure suffering and persecution, but we western, American Christians would get raptured out of all of that.

5) I do NOT believe that Christmas and Easter are acceptable substitutes for the commanded festivals or appointed times of my Father God. I do not believe that we can pick and choose which commandments we will keep and which commandments we will decide are obsolete and no longer in effect or worthwhile for believers to keep. I do not believe that God has given to any person or institution the right to set aside His commandments and ordinances, replacing His with their own.

6) I do NOT believe that the Church was suddenly "born" in the book of Acts. I believe that the Church began at Mount Horeb, when God gave His commandments to Moses and separated a people for Himself. I believe that Yeshua showed us HOW to be the people of God, His called-out ones, and opened the way for Gentiles to join His Church.

Well, I think I will stop with that. If I think of any others, I will post them at a different time. Have YOU ever stopped to define what YOU do and do not believe?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Bravo! And Amen! Since I agree with your rapture outlook, let me recommend some rather jolting web pieces I'm sure you would welcome: "Pretrib Rapture Diehards," "Thomas Ice (Bloopers)," "Appendix F: Thou Shalt Not Steal," and "Famous Rapture Watchers." I found all these on the Google engine. Lou

Cindy in Wisconsin said...

Thanks, Lou! I'll have to check into those web pieces. Good to hear from you!