Charles Templeton
Submitted by Dirk Gently on September 28 1999 at 20:25:07
In reply to Were you ever a Christian? Submitted by d on September 26 1999 at 22:42:54
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Hey, d. You ever hear of Charles Templeton? He and Billy Graham started their careers at about the same time, and Templeton was widely acknowledged to be the better preacher. Unfortunately, Templeton (now in his 80's) rejected Christ after the death of his daughter, and is now quite a vocal opponent of Christianity. I know a guy who became a Christian at a Templeton crusade, so we know that at least some of the fruit he bore was good. We also know from his biography that he had viewed himself as being a Christian, according to your definition. What happened? If you accept "once saved, always saved" as a true expression of biblical teaching, there only seem to be two conclusions possible: either, God willing, he will repent, or he was never "really" saved in the first place. Now, Templeton ain't dead yet, but to say that someone wasn't "really" a Christian if they don't persevere is kinda problematic for me. It means that in a sense, we can never be sure of our salvation. If we believe the testimony of folks like Templeton (and perhaps our own friend honesty), they knew they were Christians. They knew it in exactly the same way that you know you are now. Is our salvation based on our psychological certainty that we're saved? Is it based on our acceptance of the Four Spiritual Laws? Or is it based on the grace of God revealed through Jesus Christ? I want to affirm that, just as Adam had true freedom to either love and obey God or rebel and sin, so do we. I think it is possible to fall away after having once been enlightened, and tasted the heavenly gift, and become a partaker of the Holy Spirit. (See Hebrews 6:4-8) Praying the sinners' prayer is certainly one way many of us have begun our lives as Christians, but just as in physical reality, being born doesn't ensure survival. Look at the parable of the sower in Matthew 18:18-23. There are some who hear the word and immediately receive it with joy, yet later fall away. Well, anyway, I didn't mean to start preaching atcha. :) I certainly agree with you and Scott that it's good to have the diversity of belief represented here. In a sense, honesty and QQQ are functioning as prophets to us, calling us to account for our words. Sincerely, Dirk |