C. Michael Patton has an interesting quiz over at Parchment & Pen.
I just want to say it's been a long, long time since there was an Ecumenical Council for the Universal Church. Those who consider certain 'beliefs' to be required for salvation really owe it to themselves to go read the creeds and councils of the 1st eight centuries.
BEFORE you read my responses go to the link above [click the word 'quiz'] and read the rules and questions. Each statement is graded 1-6 in order of importance.
Have fun.
1. Belief in the full deity of Christ 2
2. Belief in sola fide (belief that salvation is by faith alone, without the addition of any works) 2
3. Belief in the existence of God 1
4. Belief in the pre-tribulational rapture of the Church 5
5. Belief that the witch of Endor saw the Spirit of Samuel, not a demonic representation (1 Sam. 28:15) 4
6. Belief in inerrancy (that the Bible does not have any errors in doctrine, history, or science) 2 perhaps 3
7. Belief that believers, upon death, go directly into the presence of Christ, not into a state of spiritual unconsciousness until the resurrection (i.e. you deny soul-sleep) 2-3
8. Belief that Christ is fully God and fully Man 2
9. Belief that the book of 2 Peter should be part of the New Testament canon 2
10. Belief that the Gospel of John should be part of the New Testament canon 2
11. Belief that the doctrine of purgatory is false 3
12. Belief in the doctrine of the Trinity (i.e. there is one God who eternally exist in three distinct persons, all of which are fully God, all of which are equal) 2
13. Belief in the inspiration of Scripture 2
14. Beliefs about the age of the earth 2
15. Belief that Adam and Eve were real people, not simply symbolic of mankind 2
16. Belief in the eternal security of the believer/perseverance of the saints (i.e. that a true believe can never lose their salvation) 6
17. Belief that Jesus will come again 2
18. Belief that Jesus rose bodily from the grave 2
19. Belief in imputed sin (i.e. that we are held guilty by God for the sin of Adam) 2-3
20. Belief in personal sin (i.e. that all people have sinned) 2
21. Belief in the penal substitutionary view of the atonement (i.e. that Christ’s death on the cross was a substitute penalty required by God for payment for your sins) 3-4
22. Belief in monotheism (i.e. there is only one God) 2
23. Belief in sola Scriptura (i.e. that the Scripture is our ultimate and only infallible authority and that no council or pope is infallible) 2
24. Belief that homosexuality is a sin 2
25. Belief that abortion is a sin 2
Should I qualify any of my responses?
4 comments:
I am curious about the fact that the only belief that received a #1 was belief in the existence of God. Some of your #2s I would have thought might be #1s. For example, belief in the resurrection (#18). Is it because the wording is not clear on #18?
I guess my real question would be this: what other statement would it take to receive a #1? It seems to me that some belief in Christ is essential for salvation. Were you unable to give another #1 because the wording of the quiz was not very precise?
Just curious...James Grant
www.inlightofthegospel.org
Yes, James...I slipped.
My son is being taught to believe in God, & though I think he does, I need to wait for him to exhibit that faith before I am sure. But you see, God knows things that I don't--wow, how humble of me!
But I should have marked that one a two as well, because many people who cannot exhibit faith in these 'beliefs' will inherit eternal life. That is basically what I put the term in quotes.
We will never please other men's requirements, let us simply try to please God's and allow him to know more than us regarding the elect.
Other than those brief comments, I like to leave the question of Orthodox v. unOrthodox beliefs.
Ad Fontes!
Thanks for the response. I should say that I enjoy your blog and am not trying to be wise about this or say that I know more than God knows, so help understand what you are saying. I was just asking for your theological rationale on this because I enjoy reading your blog.
If you don't mind, can you explain your response to me? You mentioned that we should allow God to know more than us regarding the elect. Does that mean that you disagreed with the quiz, or are you saying something about my previous question? If you are making a comment about my previous question, you are reading more into it than what is there.
Then you said, "Other than those brief comments, I like to leave the question of Orthodox v. unOrthodox beliefs." Does that mean that you don't want to talk about this any more, that you would like to leave the conversation, or does that mean that you prefer to deal with things in terms of Orthodox v. unOrthodox instead of figuring out the elect?
If your comment is that you want to leave this discussion, that's fine. I will not ask further questions.
On the other hand, if you are saying something about the way you evaluate things theologically [orthodox v unorthodox], then I am just trying to understand your point and I didn't want to ignore it.
Grace...JHG
james,
Sorry to leave things without a referent.
Yes, you are right that I am not on board with the way the quiz was directed--NOT with your response. Thanks for reading and responding.
Since I am Anglican, I have to acknowledge that the tradition of those who go before us is important. We could not arrive at things that we all maintain [orthodox beliefs] if we did not.
So was responding to the whole attempt to read the bible the way most evangelicals do. I was not replying specifically to you. So [to all evangelicals reading] should we re-invent the wheel every generation? Do we reconsider the Trinity, or Christ's nature, whenever we get puzzled or find a puzzling verse of holy writ?
That is why I initially question every theological issue in light of what the creeds say [or don't say].
james, I did not intend to put words in your mouth. So sorry if my terse response came over that way. Maybe I should consider how few there are who read here and respond more directly.
I certainly don't want to close the discussion.
Thanks so much,
CMWoodall
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