If God allows us to question His teachings, how come some organization or group can shun their members if they are not totally aligned with the leadership's teachings?
Romf...: Saving from eternal separation from God.
Anonymous
Favorite Answer
To be saved from what??? You will die just like everybody else, there is no more life after this one!!! The con men sure have conned you!!! I suppose you give them your hard earned money too!!! Have you ever been knocked out cold??? You did not have any feelings or thoughts while you where lying there until you started to come back around well that is just a prelim to death, no feelings and no thoughts, but no coming back around after your last breath!!!
Anonymous
Hi Nina ... long time no see.
No because when a person is unsaved they won't know all the teachings of the Bible. They take baby steps ... first things first.
They must acknowledge before God they are a sinner and believe the Gospel to be saved: Acknowledge to God they are sinners in need of His forgiveness and believe Christ died for our sins, was buried, and rose again the third day.
I Cor. 15:1-4 Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the GOSPEL which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, 2 by which also you are SAVED, IF you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.
3 For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures,
After they are saved, the Holy Spirit will teach them God's Word.
"How come some organization or group can shun their members if they are not totally aligned with the leadership's teachings?"
In a word, PRIDE! The "natural man" or "carnal man" is so full of himself he tends to be inflexible wanting things his way.
Big Guy 360
I think I will answer this question with another. Remember the Guy who was hung on the cross beside Jesus and Jesus told him today you will be with me in Paradise? There is no way that he could have known or even accepted all the teachings of the Bible. What did save him? The mere fact that he believed Jesus was whom he said he was. John 8:24 I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am he, you will indeed die in your sins."
To this very day, I believe that Jesus and this man met in Paradise that very day, just as Jesus said, Saved!
Some organizations and groups are very legalistic and follow their own interpretations of the Bible and filter that down to the members. They control their membership with such techniques as shunning toi keep them in line with their way of thinking, not the way of the Bible but the way of the Bible Filtered by mere men.
BC
Firstly, realize that there is a difference between the teachings of a group of people and the teachings of God (through his Word). There may come a time where God teaches an individual something that an organization doesn't accept--we all learn different things at different time and rates.
However, it is also very possible that what the individual thinks is from God and his Word is really from Satan. God allows Satan's ministers to infiltrate among his people (to test them -- II Corinthians 11:15, Acts 20:29, Matthew 13:25-28, etc.).
However again, we are to continually grow in the knowledge of Jesus Christ (II Peter 3:18); many organizations are rather sluggish in regards to changing their beliefs (if at all).
But God not only allows us to question beliefs, it is a directive that is repeated many times in the Bible, but can be summed up in the I Thessalonians 5:21 -- "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." Ministers too are to be tested: Revelation of John 2:2 -- I know your works, and your toil, and your endurance, and that you are not able to bear evil ones; and you tested the ones calling themselves apostles, and are not, and found them liars.
Thus, one should not feel guilty in seeking to prove a doctrine, command, comment, etc., given by a minister or group. But one SHOULD be VERY, VERY careful about it. Another translation of I Thessalonians 5:21 reads like this:
"But examine everything CAREFULLY and hang on to what is good." (Common English Bible, and similarly, the New American Standard).
As for accepting all teachings of the Word of God? Yes, we need to accept all that God teaches us. Rejecting his teaching is akin to rejecting God. But again, we need to be very careful about what his teachings are.
God invites us to question him (if we do it in a humble manner, that is, a willingness to learn from him the right Way to live):
Isaiah 1:18 -- Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
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Curtis
No salvation is a free gift of grace that comes from Jesus Christ and Him alone. This being said after we are saved then we desire to accept all the teachings of the Bible God's Word.