Questioning Salvation
Posted: Fri May 13, 2016 12:05 pm
This is an archived correspondence at The Path of Truth. We have sent notification to the correspondent.
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: questions
From: Mike
To: The Path of Truth
Date: 10/18/2015 3:11 PM
Thank you for your website. I find it interesting.
I have been seeking the Lord for a long time. I'm not sure if I have found Him. One question that I have been constantly bothered by is, is it necessary to know for sure that one is not a Christian before they can become a true Christian? I hear testimonies about people who thought they were Christians, and then discovered that they were not truly following Christ, and then the Lord saved them. Is it possible to be saved from a false Christian profession without knowing for sure if you are a false Christian?
I have gone through 1 John and listed all the signs of true salvation. I put them into three columns. The first column was what I knew was true of me, the second column was what I was not sure about, and the third was what was not true of me. Out of 23 items, I only found 7 that are true of me. I don't say “I have no sin.” I do confess my sin, I don't go on saying I have not sinned.
I do confess Jesus is the Christ, I do confess He came in the flesh. I do confess Jesus is the Son of God, and I do believe Jesus is the Christ. All of the other items I put in the “I don't know” column. They could be true of me, but I'm not sure. Do I keep Christ's precepts? Do I truly love my brother? Do I not love the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life? I just don't know! Do I walk according as Christ walked?
That's a tough one. What does that look like? Your views on salvation seem to be in line with Scripture. I think there is a sense in which we remain sinners but a sense in which we cease sinning when we become Christians, and I think some of the debates people have over that are just semantics.
What is your opinion of Hannah Whitehall Smith and George MacDonald? They seem to be biblically sound to me.
Thank you,
Mike W.
From: Paul Cohen
Sent: Tuesday, October 27, 2015 7:37 AM
To: Mike
Cc: Victor Hafichuk
Subject: Re: questions
Hi Mike,
Sounds like something good is happening for you with the Lord bringing you here to His website. You say you haven't found Him yet, which is a critical admission to make if there is to be any motivation and hope of finding Him. Those who think they've found the Lord yet walk in darkness are stuck in their unbelief and sin:
“Jesus said to them, If you were blind [confessing they couldn't see], you would have no sin. But now you say, 'We see.' Therefore your sin remains” (John 9:41 MKJV).
You ask: “One question that I have been constantly bothered by is, is it necessary to know for sure that one is not a Christian before they can become a true Christian?”
As you say elsewhere in your letter, this too can be a matter of semantics. What is necessary, as mentioned above, is that you know you aren't there yet with the Lord and that you continue seeking Him with all your heart until you get there.
“And you shall seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:13 MKJV).
I think Victor's testimony will help answer your question, as will How One Is Saved.
You also ask: “Is it possible to be saved from a false Christian profession without knowing for sure if you are a false Christian?”
A true Christian is one who is born of Him, thereby taking on the “family” Name. It's possible for someone to think this has happened to them when it hasn't, but if that person is to be corrected in their thinking and stance, they will come to the place where they know they don't have the Lord because He will make that known to them. When the Light comes, darkness is revealed.
You ask a very good question about what it looks like to walk as Christ walked. When I first saw the Lord for Who He was, I realized I had never seen anyone walk that way. I knew it was totally impossible for me to walk as He did. There's no way I could have seen or known these things except He was revealing Himself to me.
I also knew that the Lord would take me there, to be like He is, although I had no idea what that would entail. I only knew it was a long journey. “He that endures to the end, the same shall be saved.”
Hannah Whitehall Smith had some true doctrine, but also embraced much falsehood. It sounds like she walked in the knowledge and ways of Mystery, Babylon, honoring the religious teachings and works of men. For example, it is reported of Smith:
“She wrote: 'My two little grandchildren are . . . devout little Catholics, and seem to enjoy their religion, and I am glad of it. I daresay they will be saved a good many of the perplexities and difficulties that so often beset Protestant children.'[36] She led them to celebrate Lent,[37] to 'lay up treasure in Heaven by giving candlesticks to a Roman Catholic High Altar' and by going to Mass[38] and the Confessional.[39] Hannah used the methods in 'The Christian's Secret of a Happy Life' to lead 'a Roman Catholic lady, a convert who was vexed by doubts about some dogma of the Church' of Rome, to an unshaken confidence in the dogma of transubstantiation. 'H. W. S. wrote out on a piece of paper, I undertake never to have any more doubts about the Real Presence (or whatever it was), and brought it to her, and made her sign it. After that the troubled spirit was utterly at rest'[40]” http://kentbrandenburg.blogspot.com/201 ... tical.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Did George MacDonald come out of men's religions? It sounds like he might have. I red some of his fiction as a young believer and appreciated it. I haven't red anything from him since. Is there something in particular you recommend?
Here's another writing that could help you, Mike, regarding the things you bring up in your letter: Do Christians Sin?
Let us know how things go, and if you'd like to be added to our mailing list. There's also the Forum on our website, which you're welcome to join.
Paul Cohen
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: questions
From: Mike
To: The Path of Truth
Date: 10/18/2015 3:11 PM
Thank you for your website. I find it interesting.
I have been seeking the Lord for a long time. I'm not sure if I have found Him. One question that I have been constantly bothered by is, is it necessary to know for sure that one is not a Christian before they can become a true Christian? I hear testimonies about people who thought they were Christians, and then discovered that they were not truly following Christ, and then the Lord saved them. Is it possible to be saved from a false Christian profession without knowing for sure if you are a false Christian?
I have gone through 1 John and listed all the signs of true salvation. I put them into three columns. The first column was what I knew was true of me, the second column was what I was not sure about, and the third was what was not true of me. Out of 23 items, I only found 7 that are true of me. I don't say “I have no sin.” I do confess my sin, I don't go on saying I have not sinned.
I do confess Jesus is the Christ, I do confess He came in the flesh. I do confess Jesus is the Son of God, and I do believe Jesus is the Christ. All of the other items I put in the “I don't know” column. They could be true of me, but I'm not sure. Do I keep Christ's precepts? Do I truly love my brother? Do I not love the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life? I just don't know! Do I walk according as Christ walked?
That's a tough one. What does that look like? Your views on salvation seem to be in line with Scripture. I think there is a sense in which we remain sinners but a sense in which we cease sinning when we become Christians, and I think some of the debates people have over that are just semantics.
What is your opinion of Hannah Whitehall Smith and George MacDonald? They seem to be biblically sound to me.
Thank you,
Mike W.
From: Paul Cohen
Sent: Tuesday, October 27, 2015 7:37 AM
To: Mike
Cc: Victor Hafichuk
Subject: Re: questions
Hi Mike,
Sounds like something good is happening for you with the Lord bringing you here to His website. You say you haven't found Him yet, which is a critical admission to make if there is to be any motivation and hope of finding Him. Those who think they've found the Lord yet walk in darkness are stuck in their unbelief and sin:
“Jesus said to them, If you were blind [confessing they couldn't see], you would have no sin. But now you say, 'We see.' Therefore your sin remains” (John 9:41 MKJV).
You ask: “One question that I have been constantly bothered by is, is it necessary to know for sure that one is not a Christian before they can become a true Christian?”
As you say elsewhere in your letter, this too can be a matter of semantics. What is necessary, as mentioned above, is that you know you aren't there yet with the Lord and that you continue seeking Him with all your heart until you get there.
“And you shall seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:13 MKJV).
I think Victor's testimony will help answer your question, as will How One Is Saved.
You also ask: “Is it possible to be saved from a false Christian profession without knowing for sure if you are a false Christian?”
A true Christian is one who is born of Him, thereby taking on the “family” Name. It's possible for someone to think this has happened to them when it hasn't, but if that person is to be corrected in their thinking and stance, they will come to the place where they know they don't have the Lord because He will make that known to them. When the Light comes, darkness is revealed.
You ask a very good question about what it looks like to walk as Christ walked. When I first saw the Lord for Who He was, I realized I had never seen anyone walk that way. I knew it was totally impossible for me to walk as He did. There's no way I could have seen or known these things except He was revealing Himself to me.
I also knew that the Lord would take me there, to be like He is, although I had no idea what that would entail. I only knew it was a long journey. “He that endures to the end, the same shall be saved.”
Hannah Whitehall Smith had some true doctrine, but also embraced much falsehood. It sounds like she walked in the knowledge and ways of Mystery, Babylon, honoring the religious teachings and works of men. For example, it is reported of Smith:
“She wrote: 'My two little grandchildren are . . . devout little Catholics, and seem to enjoy their religion, and I am glad of it. I daresay they will be saved a good many of the perplexities and difficulties that so often beset Protestant children.'[36] She led them to celebrate Lent,[37] to 'lay up treasure in Heaven by giving candlesticks to a Roman Catholic High Altar' and by going to Mass[38] and the Confessional.[39] Hannah used the methods in 'The Christian's Secret of a Happy Life' to lead 'a Roman Catholic lady, a convert who was vexed by doubts about some dogma of the Church' of Rome, to an unshaken confidence in the dogma of transubstantiation. 'H. W. S. wrote out on a piece of paper, I undertake never to have any more doubts about the Real Presence (or whatever it was), and brought it to her, and made her sign it. After that the troubled spirit was utterly at rest'[40]” http://kentbrandenburg.blogspot.com/201 ... tical.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Did George MacDonald come out of men's religions? It sounds like he might have. I red some of his fiction as a young believer and appreciated it. I haven't red anything from him since. Is there something in particular you recommend?
Here's another writing that could help you, Mike, regarding the things you bring up in your letter: Do Christians Sin?
Let us know how things go, and if you'd like to be added to our mailing list. There's also the Forum on our website, which you're welcome to join.
Paul Cohen