Heartwarming Heresies: The Unhealthy Beliefs We Evangelicals Swallow Because They Make Us Feel Good.

By Xlibris US

Heartwarming Heresies is a timely and much-needed book that delves into the very heart of many of the beliefs that are dearly held by many Evangelical Christians today. Its the authors contention that such beliefs may have little solid biblical foundation, but believers have adopted them nonetheless. It isnt because they have researched them extensively in the Bible, but its ultimately because they have found them intellectually logical and emotionally reassuring.
In this easy-to-read book, you will examine a dozen questions about The Christians relationship with God, The nature and purpose of the church, What we can expect in heaven, and The devil and his hell. The author challenges you to examine with him in light of the scriptures some of those things you believe. Are they thoroughly substantiated by the Bible, or have you unwittingly adopted a few spurious ideas along the way that may please your mind and warm your heart, but are ultimately a collection of heartwarming heresies?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Oct 16, 2014
• ISBN: 9781499015454

Book preview

Copyright © 2014 by Ted Duncan.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Scriptures taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Rev. date: 10/15/2014

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Contents

Introduction

Author’s Note

Part One Heresies About Our Relationship With God

Chapter One We Can Know Intuitively The Heart And Mind Of God

Chapter Two We Can Determine God’s Perfect Will In Any Situation

Chapter Three It Is Consistently God’s Will That We Be Well And Prosper

Part Two Heresies About The Christian Church

Chapter Four The Church Today Should Be Just Like It Was In The First Century

Chapter Five The Church Has Replaced Israel As God’s Chosen People

Chapter Six Church Leadership Standards Must Adjust With The Changes In Our Culture

Part Three Heresies About Heaven

Chapter Seven Departed Loved Ones Are Watching Over Us From Heaven

Chapter Eight Heaven Will Be A Glorified Version Of All That Is Good On Earth

Chapter Nine All Who Die In Infancy And Early Childhood Will Go To Heaven

Part Four Heresies About The Devil And Hell

Chapter Ten The Devil Is Ultimately Responsible For All The Suffering In The World

Chapter Eleven Hell Cannot Be As Bad As Preachers Of Old Used To Describe It

Chapter Twelve The Saints In Heaven Will Not Be Aware Of The Suffering Of Their Loved Ones In Hell

Introduction

We Evangelical believers agree that the followers of the false religions of the world and the adherents of the spurious Christian cults all derive their doctrines apart from the clear dictates of the Holy Bible. They accept the teachings derived from other books and they follow what they believe to be the logical deductions of their own hearts and minds. We maintain that they are prone to believe many doctrines simply because they make sense to them, and because they make them feel good. Oh, we recognize that they’re sincere, but we also maintain that they’re sincerely wrong. On the other hand, we insist that such is not the case with us.

We pride ourselves in restricting our beliefs to only that which the Scriptures clearly teach, no matter how those things may affect us intellectually or emotionally. We’re careful not to follow our own hearts when it comes to the cardinal doctrines of the Scriptures. Even though we can’t fathom God’s reasoning, we force ourselves to accept what He says about the essentials of the Christian faith, because to fail to do so would be to lose our own souls.

Therefore, we believe that even though the Bible was written by some forty different men, over a period exceeding fourteen hundred years; it really isn’t of human origin at all, but divine, being ultimately authored by the Holy Spirit Himself. Hence, it is totally without error or contradiction. We find that conclusion difficult to grasp, but we believe it nonetheless; otherwise, we have no infallible record of divine truth.

Likewise, we believe God Himself is a triune being: a single, eternally existing God, yet manifesting Himself in three distinct persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit… Such a concept is beyond our comprehension; yet we accept it because a thorough study of the Scriptures yields no other possibility.

Making things even more exasperating, we are mandated to believe that the second person of the trinity, the eternal Son, is not only absolutely and completely divine, He is also, at the same time, thoroughly and totally human. The concept is simply incomprehensible, yet we’re compelled to believe it because it’s at the very heart of our faith. To dispute it is to dispute the efficacy of Christ’s substitutionary atonement on our behalf.

The list goes on. We must believe that the man Jesus lived a sinless life, that He died for our sins on the cross, that He rose again from the grave and ascended into heaven, and that He provides life and righteousness as a free gift to all who believe in Him and accept Him as their own personal Lord and Savior. And we do believe all those things, because to deny them would be to forfeit any hope of forgiveness of sin and the possession of eternal life in heaven after death.

It’s to our eternal benefit that we fully accept God’s revealed truth concerning these crucial doctrines rather than to follow our own human inclinations. But it’s my contention that we Evangelical Christians fail to maintain those same strict standards of biblical interpretation when it comes to the secondary and tertiary doctrines in the word of God. There’re several reasons why this is so.

For one thing, the secondary issues are not absolutely crucial. We can be wrong about some of them and still be God’s children and still go to heaven when we die. Therefore, we’re not compelled to be so diligent and thorough in our study and to accept only that which the Lord clearly reveals in His word.

Secondly, some of these secondary matters of doctrine aren’t as clearly spelled out in Scripture as are the really crucial ones, and there often appears to be at least some biblical support for both sides of the issue. Therefore, it requires much more time and effort to research them thoroughly and to come to a clear understanding of the correct biblical position concerning them. We’re inclined to become a bit more lax, and we tend to accept attractive opinions that may or may not be valid.

But the third reason is the most compelling of all. I’m convinced that we too are guilty of following our hearts and minds when it comes to many sensitive issues of our faith. We’re prone to believe in many dubious secondary doctrines simply because we want to.

Somehow, we’ve come to the conclusion that after we’ve accepted God’s hard truth concerning the major doctrines of the Bible; we’re more or less free to follow our own inclinations when it comes to deciding where we stand on less critical issues. We’ve concluded that we’re allowed first to shift such concepts through the grid of our own mind-sets and sentiments before we decide to accept or reject them. Then, we accept those doctrines that make sense to us, and the ones with which we feel comfortable emotionally; but we reject those that give us spiritual heartburn. By following this method, we can very easily come up with a set of beliefs that makes us feel good, but one that may also contain a good amount of non-biblical data.

Hence, this book about Heartwarming Heresies is not for the benefit of those in the cults and other false religions. It’s rather directed to us Evangelical Christians, and the contents are designed to identify and correct our own aberrant thinking on many important secondary doctrinal matters. And since we Evangelicals come in so many different theological shapes and sizes, some of you will agree with me on some issues, and others of you will agree with me on others, but I’m confident that each of you will find several concepts not to your liking.

You may be tempted to label me a nitpicking troublemaker for attacking so many of your sacred cows, and you may want to dismiss my arguments, toss the book aside, and go on to read something else with which you feel more comfortable; but I challenge you to hang in there and hear me out. I promise you’ll find our journey together thoroughly biblical, personally relevant, and ultimately edifying as we follow Paul’s admonition to, Test all things; hold fast to what is good (1 Thes. 5:21).

My challenge to you, my readers, is to be consistent. As you read the following chapters, apply the same rules you’ve always followed to establish what you believe concerning important spiritual truths. If God says something is so, and if it can be confirmed through a thorough examination of Scripture; then accept it, even if it flies in the face of how you may feel about it logically or emotionally.

Believe me; I’ve gone through all the frustrations I’ll be placing upon you in this book. For years, I experienced the pain of spiritual withdrawal as I dumped one spurious doctrine after another for lack of consistent biblical support. But I decided a long time ago to follow Paul’s advice and ". . . let God be true but every man a liar . . ." (Rom. 3:4a). I found it amazingly refreshing and freeing to simply accept what God says and not have to try to make it harmonize with the way I thought or felt on the subject.

So, I invite you to loosen your grip on your stubborn mind-sets and your emotional convictions and come away with me on an important spiritual journey. Together, we’ll follow our faithful guide, the word of God, and do battle with the giants of human invention as we storm the gates of the castle of Heartwarming Heresies.

Author’s Note

Much of the subject matter in this book is of a controversial nature, and it could be taken as divisive. But that’s not my purpose in writing. Therefore I’ve decided not to document the arguments I present other than by scriptural references. I see no point in identifying every Bible scholar who holds a different view on the questionable doctrines I’ll be taking to task. Many of these men are of impeccable character, whom I hold in highest regard. They’ve contributed much more to the cause of Christ that I could ever hope or dream, and I’ve no desire cast them in a bad light.

Therefore you’ll not find footnotes in this book telling which scholar holds to which view. I’ll not be quoting their words exactly, but will be giving you the essence of what they’ve written and taught. I’m not trying to be evasive. You’ll probably be able to identify many of them if you’ve read their books or listened to them preach. I’m simply trying to avoid the impression of name-calling or passing judgment on them personally.

On important matters of a secondary and tertiary nature, I believe we can disagree without being disagreeable. My purpose is not to point out the men with whom I disagree, but to challenge some of the teachings they’ve put forth. My purpose is to ask us all to take a closer biblical look at those teachings without making it a personal attack.

Part One

Heresies about Our

Relationship with God

Chapter One

WE CAN KNOW INTUITIVELY

THE HEART AND MIND OF GOD

In the mid-nineties, I attended an evangelism conference in Fresno, and was gratified to meet attendees from all sorts of religious affiliations. There were the expected Baptists, Brethren, Nazarenes, and other fundamentalist types who are known for their commitment to evangelism. However, there were also a good number in attendance from the mainline denominations which are not particularly given to proselyting or evangelism, but are usually known for their tolerance and acceptance toward others’ beliefs.

During a lunch break toward the end of the conference, I was talking with another attendee who was the senior pastor of a mainline Protestant church of a denomination which is known as one of the most liberal and humanistic in the nation. It was the same denomination in which I had been raised, and I shared with him my personal impression of what I had observed as an unsaved teenager growing up in that atmosphere. As far as I could tell, in most of their churches, the Bible isn’t taken literally, the gospel isn’t preached accurately, and most of the people have no idea what it means to be saved themselves; much less are they concerned about winning anyone else to Christ.

The pastor (whom we’ll call Bill) readily agreed with my evaluation of the denomination in general, but he insisted that he and his church represented a small but aggressively evangelistic minority element within the body. Through his personal study of the word of God, he had come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ after he had already been ordained and was pastoring his first church. He found himself in an awkward position, but rather than leave the congregation of unbelievers, he decided to stay where he was and share the good news he had found with the rest of his flock. Over the years, he had been able to see most of them come to Christ as well. He laughed and said he had also managed to run off most of the gainsayers who had opposed his new approach to ministry. He had come to that particular conference to get training in evangelism so he could go back and equip his own people to reach out more effectively to others in their community.

I was greatly encouraged to learn of his dedication to biblical truth and to holding fast the fundamentals of the faith in a denomination that had, for the most part, forsaken those generations before. We agreed on virtually every doctrine we discussed, but there was one thing he brought up that took me back a bit.

Bill insisted people in his church and community needed to accept Jesus Christ as their own personal Lord and Savior in order to be saved, but he believed the Lord had made other provisions for those poor souls in third-world countries around the world who had never heard of Him. When I questioned him as to how he had come to that conclusion, he quoted a part of 2 Pet. 3:9, where the apostle tells us the Lord is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish.

He reminded me of God’s great love for the world, and of His desire that all people come to Him. Bill just couldn’t see the Lord rejecting millions of helpless people who would live their whole lives in areas of the world where their religious and political leaders prohibited them from even hearing of the Christian faith, much less practicing it. For them, he was confident, there had to be certain exceptions made that would allow them into heaven under different conditions. He didn’t know what those conditions were for sure, but he knew that a loving God would have to make a way for those who had not come to faith in Christ simply because they hadn’t had a way of hearing about His wonderful provisions for them.

My conversation with Bill is one example of many such instances in my Christian experience where I’ve encountered believers who’ve been convinced that they’ve known the mind of God on certain issues. Sometimes, as in this case, it has been in matters of doctrine, and in others, it has concerned choices in daily living. But in all the situations, the people have contended that they just know what God must think concerning a certain matter, or what He wants done about it.

Does God really enable His people to see things as He does? Can we evaluate things as He does by simply thinking His thoughts after Him? Can we Christians trust our own hearts when we feel certain that we have the mind of God on a certain matter? Many believe they can, but I maintain it’s probable they believe such things, not because they’re true, but because they want so badly for them to be true, and because their persuasion is confirmed by their reasoning and emotions. Such is a prime example of a heartwarming heresy. Let’s examine the question more closely and see what we can determine.

Arguments advanced in support of the view

It’s clear that unbelievers cannot know God’s truth.

Since the beginning of civilization, men have endeavored to comprehend the nature of the god, or gods, who govern their universe. But by simple observation, we can conclude that they’ve never been very successful in their efforts. For, if they had been able to figure Him out at all, they would have come to a general consensus as to the nature of His being. But in light of the fact that virtually every separate civilization has developed its own unique system of theology, it’s apparent that mankind in general has received precious little, if any, accurate information directly from God Himself. Rather, it’s clear that people everywhere have simply fabricated their gods out of their own imagination and experience.

If we humans had been able to comprehend the being and nature of God on our own, then the Lord would not have needed to reveal those things to us supernaturally. But He gave us His word by divine revelation, and in it, He declares that men, in their natural state, cannot know God. The apostle Paul puts it this way, But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned (1 Cor. 2:14).

Paul explains why it is the natural man cannot know God. He maintains that when fallen man rejected God, he became so darkened in his perception that he was no longer able to accurately comprehend spiritual truth:

For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools. (Rom. 1:20-22)

As Paul continues in that passage, he points out that the foolishness of men’s hearts led them to begin worshipping created things rather than their Creator, and because of their idolatry, Therefore God gave them up to uncleanness (Rom. 1:24). That uncleanness was manifested in such gross sexual immorality that, for this reason God gave them up to vile passions (Rom. 1:26). And the final display of those vile passions resulted in an open display of homosexual perversion, and for that reason, Even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind (Rom. 1:28).

That debased mind is simply not capable of knowing God or anything trustworthy about Him. A couple of chapters farther on, Paul states that fact quite clearly when he says, there is none righteous, no, not one; there is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside; they have together become unprofitable (Rom. 3:10-12). No wonder there’re so many weird religions in the world today; the debased mind of the natural man simply cannot accurately understand anything about God on its own.

God reveals Himself to His people through His Holy Spirit

Virtually every Christian would agree that an unsaved person is not able to know the heart and mind of God, but they would insist that such is not the case with the born-again believers. They rightly maintain that when a person is saved, he becomes a new person, Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new (2 Cor. 5:17). He receives the Holy Spirit, and the Spirit then dwells in his heart and puts him in direct contact with God Himself. Then, as a child of God, the new believer communes and fellowships with his Father, and he grows in his knowledge and understanding of Him. There are several Scriptures that confirm this idea.

Jesus Himself promised His disciples that He would send them another Helper to abide with them forever, The Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you (John 14:17). Then later that same evening, the Lord confirmed the nature of the ministry the Holy Spirit would have among them, However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come (John 16:13).

The apostle Paul explained to the Corinthian Christians how the Holy Spirit operates in the life of believers. In 1 Corinthians 2:10-13, we read:

But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of man except the spirit of man? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.

Furthermore, Paul reveals that we become God’s own children and that as such He communicates with us as a father would with his own children. He reminds the Roman saints that:

For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, Abba, Father. The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together. (Rom. 8:14-17)

Knowing God is an attainable goal for every dedicated Christian

Paul himself had a great desire to get to know the Lord more fully and completely. He knew that he was accepted by the Lord because he had surrendered his own self-righteousness in exchange for the true righteousness of God Himself by faith in Jesus Christ (Phil 3:8-9), and he hungered to know Him in all his fullness. In verse ten of that passage, we read, That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death. He certainly believed it was possible to grow in his knowledge of the Lord.

The apostle also made knowing God a matter of prayer for the people he won to Christ. In his letter to the believers at Colossi, he writes:

For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. (Col. 1:9-10)

The apostle John confirms the believer’s ability to know God as he wraps up his first epistle with these words, And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life (1 John 5:20). Knowing God and understanding spiritual things were certainly truths with which the New Testament Christians were well acquainted.

God has uniquely equipped us to know Him and understand His ways

So far, I’m in complete agreement with what has been presented. As believers, we’re certainly capable of knowing and loving God. But I’m convinced that some well-meaning souls carry that concept on to conclusions that are completely without biblical justification.

They conclude that since the Bible teaches that we can know God, it infers that we can know Him thoroughly; that we can understand His heart and mind concerning all matters. To support their claim, they point to such scriptures as 2 Pet. 1:3, where the apostle tells us that God’s divine power has given us everything we we’ll need pertaining to life and godliness. And in the next verse, we read, By which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature (2 Pet. 1:4). We’re told that as partakers of the divine nature, we can intuitively understand all we need to know from God.

They would further confirm that assertion by quoting Paul’s conclusion in 1 Cor. 2:16, where we read, For ‘who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?’ But we have the mind of Christ. If we have the mind of Christ, we surely must be able to readily understand the mind of the Father even as the Son does; we literally have the ability to think God’s thoughts after Him.

Unwarranted conclusions

Armed with such confidence, many are convinced they can determine what God thinks about various spiritual matters and what His will is concerning them. Through prayer and spiritual meditation, they feel they can receive accurate information directly from the Lord without necessary biblical confirmation. They, like my friend Bill, can be overheard saying such things as, A loving God would never do a thing like that, or, certainly God would make a provision for them, or even, I’m confident I have the mind of God in this matter.

We’ve centered our thoughts on the subject of Bill’s belief that God has surely made a special provision for those who will never have a chance to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. But many believe we can know God’s mind concerning any number of things. We can know intuitively how the Lord feels about global warming and how best to protect our environment, the war on terror, illegal immigration, capital punishment, acceptable moral standards, world evangelism, and a plethora of other matters.

They reason that since we’re God’s beloved children, He would certainly grant us the ability to see things as He does (not absolutely, of course, but in a general way). Just as observant children are able to know how their earthly father feels about certain matters just by spending time with him and observing his conversation and behavior, it’s only reasonable that our loving and powerful Heavenly Father would grant us the ability to intuitively glean precious insight into His heart and mind in the same way.

Besides that, it would be so much easier for us to simply search our own hearts to determine what God thinks or feels about a certain question, than to search diligently through the Bible to find the answer. And in many instances, we’re unable to gain an answer that makes sense to us from the Scriptures in spite of hours of arduous investigation anyway. So why do all that research only to wind up frustrated in the long run? It’s more reasonable that we should be able to figure out the mind of our Heavenly Father by simply communing with Him directly and receiving His truth through our own hearts and minds.

Finally, the thought of us interfacing directly with the God of the universe is emotionally scintillating. Making that mystical connection directly with God is much more gratifying to our egos than sitting down with a Bible and some musty old study books and trying to discover His thoughts on a tough subject.

However, the end results can be grossly misleading because, as we shall see, the Bible tells us repeatedly that, even as believers, we cannot trust our own hearts when it comes to answering the tough questions about how God views a certain matter, or how He wants it to be handled.

Arguments presented to refute the view

The ways of God are beyond any human’s ability to comprehend.

Repeatedly revealed throughout the Bible is the truth that man is just not capable of comprehending God, or His ways. And that’s true for all mankind, not just the apostate. For the sake of space, we’ll limit our discussion of this truth by considering just one passage from the Old Testament and another from the New.

In the fifty-fifth chapter of his prophecy, Isaiah points out that there is a vast difference between the way God looks at things and the way we do. And remember, the Lord is not talking to the heathen, but to His people Israel when He says, My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts (Isa. 55:8-9).

In the New Testament, Paul confirms Isaiah’s words when he informs the Roman believers that the ways of God are well beyond the grasp of any man. He declares, Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out! For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been His counselor? (Rom. 11:33-34).

When Paul says that God’s ways are beyond finding out, I believe he means just that. Yet there are those who insist that enlightened Christians possess the ability to pierce the veil and see into the depths of the mind of the Almighty. However,