{"id":632,"date":"2011-03-23T08:52:43","date_gmt":"2011-03-23T13:52:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/?p=632"},"modified":"2011-03-27T23:37:23","modified_gmt":"2011-03-28T03:37:23","slug":"are-you-saved","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/are-you-saved\/","title":{"rendered":"Are You Saved?"},"content":{"rendered":"
In a book I’m currently reading, I came across the following quotes. Those of you who follow the teachings of Zane Hodges<\/a>, Bob Wilkin, and the Grace Evangelical Society<\/a>, will appreciate them:<\/p>\n The phrase accept Christ as your personal Savior <\/em>is not in the Bible. Even personal Savior <\/em>is absent….<\/p>\n Having your sins forgiven is no doubt a part of (or a prelude to) salvation. But in the Bible salvation means much more than that: if anything, being forgiven is the starting line, not the finish line, of salvation.<\/p>\n Nowhere in the Bible is the term sinner’s prayer <\/em>mentioned, and no one in the Bible ever says it — at least not in the form that prospective converts are taught to say it today. And it wasn’t until the last 150 year or so that Christian services included “invitations” or “altar calls.” Furthermore, no one has ever or will ever walk down an isle or raise a hand to “get saved.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/a>This author goes on to say that the word “salvation<\/em> means rescue<\/em> –especially rescue from sickness, trouble, distress, fear, or (this especially) from enemies and their violence.” Most passages, he says, that talk about “salvation” are not talking about “being saved from hell.”<\/p>\n These quotes all sound like solid\u00a0Free Grace theology, right? Well, guess who wrote them? Not Zane Hodges (though he wrote many similar statements in his life), not Bob Wilkin (though he teaches nearly idential ideas), or any of the other common\u00a0“Free Grace” teachers like Charlie Bing<\/a>, Earl Radmacher<\/a>, Rene Lopez<\/a>, Stephen Lewis<\/a>, or Dave Anderson<\/a>.<\/p>\n No, instead, these came from the writings of emerging church leader Brian McLaren<\/a> in the book he cowrote with Tony Campolo<\/a> entitled Adventures in Missing the Point<\/a>. <\/em>Ironically, many in Free Grace circles condemn Brian McLaren, Tony Campolo, and others in their camp as heretics<\/a>. I’ll admit that I did too… until I started reading some of their books a few years ago. Then I discovered that even if I didn’t agree with everything they wrote, they still have some fantastic things to say.<\/p>\n