Which Gospel?
This video, The Gospel Message, posted at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zj4IUkkrEP0 and referred to by several people I know, has some glaring errors in it.
As I began viewing the video, my first impression was that it did not mention the Gospel, at least not at first. It confronted people with Law, sin, death, but seemed devoid of Gospel at least until after it made some other errors. I'll comment on them as they show up in the video.
This video it suggests that the soul is the "real" you and lives on for eternity. It thus denies the bodily resurrection and the importance of the bodily life. This is warmed-over Gnosticism and does not represent any sort of orthodox Christian faith.
The illustration of the judge convicting someone of murder could be positive. But it seems to bind God to our opinion of what justice would be. It convicts all of us in our guilt. Still, by about two and a half minutes in, there is absolutely no Gospel message.
Finally, there's mention of good news at 3:49. What's the good news? Jesus is perfect. Yet the good news is mediated in a made-up discussion suggesting first that God the Son is not omniscient and second that he would like to save people from sin based on what they might believe. We are no longer Gnostics, but we are definitely Pelagian here. Maybe it isn't hard-core Pelagian, because at least Jesus does something for salvation. Yet it remains dependent on our asking Jesus to exchange our imperfect record for his perfect record. This is not good news. It requires people to do something the Bible says they cannot do in order to somehow earn God's forgiveness. So the mention of good news turns back into bad news.
At 5:09 the video asserts we must do something more to be forgiven. What we must do is ask Jesus to forgive us. It denies the power of Word and Sacraments. All of salvation is ultimately based on our willing repentance. This is stated to be clear in the Bible, but the video does not say where or how this is stated in Scripture. We are also required to surrender to Jesus. This also has no clear Scriptural documentation in the video.
The video continues with bad news, talking about what we have done which earns shame. But then we earn merit by surrendering to Jesus. He only saves us because we ask him in a sufficiently heartfelt manner. Though we are forgiven forever, we need to be refined daily and forgiven daily so we can remain in the faith and continue to earn our salvation.
At 8:50 we see that the good news is that Jesus made it possible for us to ask for forgiveness. I'm sorry. This is not good news. This is terrible bad news. It leaves Jesus' death on our behalf as ineffective unless our actions and attitudes are added to it. It leaves God's revelation through Word and all creation as ineffective. We are the mediators of our salvation. Salvation is based ultimately on what we do, not on what Jesus has done. Salvation is based on our decision, not on God's word applied to us.
In summary, the video continues to say that we must do two things – repent and surrender entirely – in order to be saved. This is no Gospel at all.
It grieves me deeply to see the kind of pseiudo-Christian teaching that passes for the Gospel. If we substitute something else, like our decision or the quality of our repentance for God's powerful, living and active Word, placed upon us from outside of ourselves, we create a false gospel, not good news at all, but bad news. Rather than the Gospel being the power of God to salvation, we end up teaching a gospel of self-help.
Let us flee from that foolishness and trust the pure Gospel, unadulterated, which is indeed the power of God to salvation.
This video, The Gospel Message, posted at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zj4IUkkrEP0 and referred to by several people I know, has some glaring errors in it.
As I began viewing the video, my first impression was that it did not mention the Gospel, at least not at first. It confronted people with Law, sin, death, but seemed devoid of Gospel at least until after it made some other errors. I'll comment on them as they show up in the video.
This video it suggests that the soul is the "real" you and lives on for eternity. It thus denies the bodily resurrection and the importance of the bodily life. This is warmed-over Gnosticism and does not represent any sort of orthodox Christian faith.
The illustration of the judge convicting someone of murder could be positive. But it seems to bind God to our opinion of what justice would be. It convicts all of us in our guilt. Still, by about two and a half minutes in, there is absolutely no Gospel message.
Finally, there's mention of good news at 3:49. What's the good news? Jesus is perfect. Yet the good news is mediated in a made-up discussion suggesting first that God the Son is not omniscient and second that he would like to save people from sin based on what they might believe. We are no longer Gnostics, but we are definitely Pelagian here. Maybe it isn't hard-core Pelagian, because at least Jesus does something for salvation. Yet it remains dependent on our asking Jesus to exchange our imperfect record for his perfect record. This is not good news. It requires people to do something the Bible says they cannot do in order to somehow earn God's forgiveness. So the mention of good news turns back into bad news.
At 5:09 the video asserts we must do something more to be forgiven. What we must do is ask Jesus to forgive us. It denies the power of Word and Sacraments. All of salvation is ultimately based on our willing repentance. This is stated to be clear in the Bible, but the video does not say where or how this is stated in Scripture. We are also required to surrender to Jesus. This also has no clear Scriptural documentation in the video.
The video continues with bad news, talking about what we have done which earns shame. But then we earn merit by surrendering to Jesus. He only saves us because we ask him in a sufficiently heartfelt manner. Though we are forgiven forever, we need to be refined daily and forgiven daily so we can remain in the faith and continue to earn our salvation.
At 8:50 we see that the good news is that Jesus made it possible for us to ask for forgiveness. I'm sorry. This is not good news. This is terrible bad news. It leaves Jesus' death on our behalf as ineffective unless our actions and attitudes are added to it. It leaves God's revelation through Word and all creation as ineffective. We are the mediators of our salvation. Salvation is based ultimately on what we do, not on what Jesus has done. Salvation is based on our decision, not on God's word applied to us.
In summary, the video continues to say that we must do two things – repent and surrender entirely – in order to be saved. This is no Gospel at all.
It grieves me deeply to see the kind of pseiudo-Christian teaching that passes for the Gospel. If we substitute something else, like our decision or the quality of our repentance for God's powerful, living and active Word, placed upon us from outside of ourselves, we create a false gospel, not good news at all, but bad news. Rather than the Gospel being the power of God to salvation, we end up teaching a gospel of self-help.
Let us flee from that foolishness and trust the pure Gospel, unadulterated, which is indeed the power of God to salvation.
--
Dave Spotts
blogging at http://capnsaltyslongvoyage.blogspot.com
1 comment:
Forgive me if I'm wrong, but isn't the idea that we have the free-will to accept Jesus' salvation a general principle of... Free Will Theology? (Or whatever fancy word people have for it). I've been on the Border between Free Will and Predestination for a long time, and I don't really care what is right or wrong.
I do find their "Surrender to Jesus" really stupid. Romans says "That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." End of story. Use that scripture, its awesome.
Secondly, I found that they still failed to get rid of the age old "fire-and-brimstone" speech. You know what, if a person is honestly interested in Salvation and a relationship with God, I don't think the thought of Hell will motivate them. All of the kids in my youth group know about Hell, that hasn't stopped them from sinning. "God Loves You." Is far more important and powerful, in my mind, than "if you don't "surrender" you'll go to hell!" Cuz we've heard that all the time. Every religion says, "Do XYZ or else!" no other religion says, with sincerity that God loves you and wants to personally no your name. Prayer Wheels, Unknownable Gods, fickle dieties and reincarnation are not part of the Gospel I accept or preach. They are the staples of every other religion I've encountered.
I missed the Gnosticism and such, which was a point. I also didn't like how they played out the entire "when you go to heaven thing," just because A) its unnecessary B) I don't think it'll work exactly like that C) It doesn't matter, honestly.
Also: Watching the beginning again, I get your point there. And yea... its a good point. Our bodies are important.
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