From: Sermon Audio User, "Maria "
Date: May 11th, 2008
Concerning: The "Unforgivable Sin"
Question: Dear ones, have you done a talk about the unforgivable sin?
Please, can you tell me what you say this is?
Our Response: WE WANT TO ANSWER THIS QUESTION ON OUR NEXT SHOW... WE'LL POST IT HERE WHEN WE'RE DONE.
From: "Shawn"
Date: July 6th, 2007
Concerning: Inter-Racial Marriage and Jeff Owen's View
Question: God bless you brothers. I went to a link that was on your site (Jeff Owens) and I listened to a message entitled (young fundamentalist) in which Owens made a comment that he believes that interracial marriage is a sin. As a black man I took offence to that comment especially since I teach my girls that as long as the man who wants to marry them is truly born again, I don't have a problem. I enjoy the teachings of "keep it simple"and I visited Owens' site because his site was highly recommended by you brothers. I need to know whether or not you brothers heard that sermon and if you support his teaching concerning those people who love each other but just happen to be a different skin color. Please respond back as soon as possible concerning this issue.
Our Response: Shawn, Indeed this is a point of disagreement between us and Mr Owens. I am a white male married to a Mexican Woman, so obviously I would disagree with him on this. Much more importantly I believe his opinion is not Biblical. The only restrictions on marriagefor a Christian is to marry another Christian (Biblically).
I actually wrote his ministry on this very point a few years ago and never got a response from him or anyone in his organization. I realize that he probably gets more mail than he can read so it either got swept away in masses of mail or he did not want to respond. This has been several years ago and I had forgotten about it. Since you have brought this up to my remembrance I am going to seriously consider taking his link off my site. We do not support his view on this. If I believed it to be Biblical I would support it no matter what the cost BUT I do not, so I cannot support this view.
This is an unfortunate... but an important point should be made here. There is not one single Ministry on the planet that I agree with 100%. And I have no doubt that none of our listeners completely agree with us. The main thing is to agree on the essentials, such as the Trinity, salvation by faith alone, virgin birth of Christ, et al. While I don't agree with Mr. Owens on this point, I respect his opinion. I have met him several times and do not believe he is racist
(as could be implied). He doesn't believe in any kind of mixing, such as a Baptist marrying a Presbyterian, etc. So his basis for this opinion is not race based. Race is simply one of the things he believes shouldn't be mixed (along with other things).
Unfortuntately many of our Independent Baptist brethren are really legalistic. They burden down folks in "extra-biblical rules" that make them feel more spiritual than the "rest of us". I don't believe Mr. Owens to be arrogant about it but he is a bit morelegalistic than we are.
Having known this I have considered the legalism in his sermons worth the value of many of the life lessons he has taught. Just like some of the ministries that are headed by Calvinists. I am not a Calvinist but we do agree on the essentials. So when I see a ministry that is teaching the essentials and I believe would be edifying to the saints I recommend that ministry even though there may be some points that we disagree on. The thing I have to juggle is determining if the things we disagree on are weighty enough to not support what I believe is an otherwise good ministry.
I am not justifying here but I did want to share my thoughts with you on this subject and how I think through certain issues.
With all that said... I used to listen to Jeff Owens all the time but frankly haven't listened to him for some time. I haven't thought on this issue in quite some time. Since this has un-necessarily offended a brother I will re-look at his issue. Most likely I will be removing the link due to the weight of this issue. Frankly it isn't worth offending a brother over such a non-essential issue.
From: Ron
Date: February 20th, 2007
Concerning: Eternal Security
Question: I believe like you do... but you can lose your salvation... by leaving grace and going to law you have fallen from grace, Galatians 5:4. that only way you can lose your salvation.
Our Response: Ron, thanks for your input. Whenever I receive an "opposing view" I always re-examine my position and make sure I make a "contextually correct" response. With that said... I want to share some reasons why this verse could not possibly teach that a Christian could lose his salvation. For sake of brevity I am going to get straight to the point, please do not be offended by anything I say...
#1 - Jesus promised that those who merely believed in Him would have (present tense) eternal life from the moment that they believed. If, for any reason, one could then (after that point) somehow not be saved, then Jesus is a liar. He said eternal, meaning, "without end", "having infinite duration", etc. If it wasn't eternal, surely the God of the Universe could have used a different word. Salvation is in no way conditional (upon works or upon anything other than faith). Leading to the next point...
#2 - Romans 3-5 is clear that our righteousness is imputed by faith. Christ's sacrifice is applied to me upon faith in Him. How could one then "fall" from the imputed righteousness of Christ? It is eternally applied to my "account" from the moment I believed. It's eternal and based on nothing that I do. Therefore, it’s not possible for a Christian to “fall from grace” because the only reason we receive grace is because Jesus’ life, death and resurrection are applied to us.
With this point in mind... there remains only two possible options: A) There is a contradiction in scripture or B) you are mis-interpreting what Paul is saying. I don’t say this critically, merely to point out the conclusions.
So, let’s look at a moment at what is being said in the text and apply your interpretation.
First, context is very important. Who is Paul talking TO in these verses? Obviously the Galatians. His exhortation in verses one and two are clear, I think we agree on that. Second, ABOUT WHOM is he talking in verses 3 & 4? He goes from talking TO the Galatians to talking ABOUT a “type” of person (i.e., the person who seeks to be justified by the law). This transition is important and provides evidence for “my” position. Paul is simply stating that for those who seek to be justified by the law are not seeking grace. Paul is simply saying that if a person is trusting in the law, Christ does them no good. Reading that verse, ask yourself, does a true believer try to be justified by the law? No, a true believer is a believer because they stopped trusting in their own efforts and turned to Christ in faith. There is no reason to read anything further than that into this verse. These are people who did not accept Christ in the first place.
Finally, let’s apply what you contend to these scriptures and see if the logic follows. You are contending that a person that has trusted in Christ then turns and trys to obey a set of rules to stay saved (?). That’s the idea that I am understand you to be saying. The fact is, they are under grace whether they like it or not. Christ’s sacrifice has been eternally applied to their life. If that person then tries to “augment” Christ’s applied righteousness after they are saved, they are simply at a point perhaps where they do not have a complete understanding of their salvation. It’s not possible in away to “augment” or add anything to the imputation of Christ’s work to our lives.
These are the reasons that I believe that interpretation to be wrong. I have meant nothing to be offensive and hope you are not offended. Please let me know if you have further questions. Please let me know if something I said was unclear.
THANKS FOR LISTENING!!!