Fundamentals of the faith?

I don't know if all of those are nevessary for an unbeliever to believe in order to become a believer (I didn't believe them), but repentance and calling on the Lord for forgiveness are. How many of us believed all of those prior to calling on the Lord for salvation?

 

Saving faith is simple faith. It is not necessary for one to be able to articulate all the points of fundamental doctrine in order to be saved, but after salvation and as one grows they should develop spiritual discernment regarding doctrine.

 

Does anyone remember the Fundamentalist Journal? What did you think about it?

 

The few issues that I read were good.

 

Agreed. :thumbs:

 

Machen stated in the closing pages of his The Virgin Birth of Christ that, even if the doctrine is not necessary for one to be a Christian, the doctrine is certainly necessary for Christianity. That could be said for all of the fundamentals.

 

"And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house."

"But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead;"

"Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life."

So, I would say that a person must repent and believe to be saved. Repentance is inherent in moving from unbelief to belief, so it doesn't necessarily have to be spelled out since it is not a separate act from believing in the salvific sense.

Does God send people to Hell just becuase they may be confused over a particular doctrine? Do people go to Hell on technicalities?

 

Believe what? What if you "Believe in Jesus," but Jesus is the name of your Buddha statue? What do you have to believe, concerning Jesus? There must be boundaries...

 

I Jo. 4.2 Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: 3 and every spirit that confesseth not Jesus is not of God: and this is the [spirit] of the antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it cometh; and now it is in the world already.

 

So...you have to believe what the Bible says about Jesus. Including His deity, resurrection, virgin birth...

 

I would have to agree, for example, that the Mormon concept of "Jesus" is so far from who He really is that they can not be saved by their "Jesus".

But that's easy pickings because they are so far off the reservation.

I'm just saying that sometimes that lines aren't so easily drawn. People can be confused about some things yet still be saved. We have to let God be the judge especially on the close calls.

I think Steve Brown of Keylife Ministries has testified that he was saved even though he was a liberal and didn't believe the virgin birth was literal. He was a believer but had been taught that it was an allegory and since that's all he knew, that's what he believed. He didn't get saved when he discovered the truth, he just "got it right" finally.

 

Brother, I agree. Jesus is God, not just the Son of God. However, when I came to Christ on that Sunday morning of March 2, 1969, I didn't know all the theology. I didn't know that Jesus was Deity; I knew I was a sinner and that He died in my place. Now, after I was saved, in studying the bible and listening to good old bible preaching, I learned these things and readily accepted them.

One humorous thing that happened to me a few days after I was saved. I went to a local Christian bookstore to buy some Christian literature. The owner of the store showed me some material that talked about the New Testament Church and recommended it. I said no, we believed in both the Old and New Testaments. I didn't even understand that being a New Testament Church was biblical. :laugh: