Sunday Afternoon Tea - Answering a question about salvation and another about socialism

I thought a lot about the comment left last Sunday by a Canadian reader and felt the question was very appropriate.  Well, really two questions.  I will answer the question about if I would think you were a Christian first and the political question after that.  I always appreciate questions that are kindly asked.

First, only God knows the heart of a man (woman).  If one lives in the Church long enough, we are often surprised at the behavior of people we truly believe are saved.  Including myself when I look at past mistakes!  We cannot look at appearances and know if someone is truly a Christ follower.

I do know that going to a church doesn't make us a Christian, neither does belonging to a certain denomination.  I think the scariest verse in the Bible is not found among the imagery in the Book of Revelation but in the Gospels (Matthew 7:21-23) when Jesus warns the disciples that not everyone who thinks they are going to inherit the Kingdom actually will.  Jesus says that He never knew them, even though they did works in His name.

There was a saying going around when I was a young Christian that went, "Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in your garage makes you a Buick".  Even as a very young Christ follower, I got that imagery!

Salvation comes when we accept the gift that Jesus gave us when He lived a perfect life, died on the cross, and was resurrected.... taking the keys to life and death back from the enemy that our first parents had given up in Eden.  He restored our relationship with the Father!

When we confess that we are sinners (we are born with a sin nature) and ask Him to forgive us and confess that He is indeed the son of God who came to take away our sins... then the Bible says we are saved.  I think the book and movie The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe tells the story so well, especially when Aslan is comes back to life on the rock and tells the girls if the White Witch understood the ancient prophecies, she would never have taken his life. 

Do we ever doubt our salvation?  Some do off and on.  My own experience was so dramatic that I have had to repent of not following Him as I should but I didn't ever doubt my salvation.  I went from darkness to light overnight. However, I have known wonderful people who have had a struggle with their salvation because they did not "feel saved".

My story took place when I was in late Junior High/early High School and a student I barely knew asked my friend and me to a revival meeting taking place at her Wesleyan church.  Both my friend and I went and I received Christ as Savior.  I found out later that the congregation had been told to ask the least likely people they thought would ever come to Christ to that revival meeting.  Yes, Moi'.

After a great deal of childhood trauma and an extremely unhappy adolescence, I was already going down the wrong track in life.  Taking on more of the faults of my older half-siblings and my best friend was definitely on the wild side.  However, I had not stepped over into any of the bad behavior she already did... which, I know now was God's protection. 

You see, on the outside I already looked like someone who would never follow Christ but on the inside, I had been searching for God for a very long time.  I'm pretty sure it was the prayers of my aunt and grandmother.  I felt like I could hear Him call to me even as a young child.  But my parents were not Christ followers and except for playing records of hymns on the stereo, my parents didn't talk about God.

I think the hymns reminded my mom of her mother and not actually of a relationship with God.  She was not happy when I said I had accepted Christ as my Savior and kept telling me it would be another fad I would wear out eventually.  Obviously, that never happened. (I believe my mother later came to salvation in Christ and I pray my father did when he knew he was dying in the emergency room of a hospital.)

So, I would never say someone is or is not a Christian from outward appearance.  For, if all of that happened today, I would probably be the teenage girl with the purple hair and nose ring.

Christianity is not a religion like the other religions of the world.  It is a relationship with a Person who becomes our best friend when we spend time talking to Him and reading His Word.  As the years go by, we learn that we can trust Him even when life doesn't make sense.

The third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, comes to live within us and it is His strength that keeps us walking with Christ.  We cannot do it on our own strength.  That is why we must know Him personally and not as some kind of deity.

Now that I have walked with Him for so many decades, I can say that He is truly my best friend and I cannot wait for that day to see Him face to face.  Maranatha.

Second, as for how I could call our current administration socialist, I am an American History nerd so these are just my thoughts about how we can know where a party stands as far as capitalism or socialism.

In the United States, we have two main political parties and before the election, each political party has a political convention.  Long ago, it was not uncommon for the party not to know who was actually going to be on the ballot until the convention but these days... when each party starts the next political season before the new president is sworn in... it is usually well known who will be the candidate.

However, the other thing each party does is to write and decide upon their party's political platform that lays out exactly what the party believes as well as what they hope to obtain if elected. 

The two political parties have been at exact opposite ends of the spectrum for awhile now with the Republican party being pro-life and the Democratic party pushing for abortion through the time the baby is in the birth canal.  The Republican party tends to be against same sex marriage while the Democratic party promotes it.

Remembering that both parties are made up of good and bad people, those who are very well meaning and those who are corrupt.  It has been that way since the Fall and will be that way through the time of the Antichrist. 

The most basic definition of socialism is that the government owns (and/or controls) industry, property, etc. and distributes wealth equally among all the population.  Which has never happened in the history of the world.  Capitalism is where individuals can work hard and obtain wealth without much government interference.  Which can be good and not so good when dealing with fallen humanity.

Of course, what is going on in America is much more complex than that right now with an extreme form of distribution of wealth by printing money like crazy and raising taxes.  There are also decisions being made that take away the rights of the states and individuals that are found in the Bill of Rights of the Constitution.

So many people, including myself, believe the American Revolution was a miracle because prior to it, the states didn't like each other and mostly did not work together for anything.  But they did come together to fight King George III for multiple reasons and miraculously won.

So, a Constitution was written but many would not sign it because they thought it didn't go far enough to protect individuals and the state from a federal government taking control.  

So, the Bill of Rights was added. It is often what is found in the Bill of Rights... that being the rights each American citizen can expect... when we hear today that the Constitution is being torn apart in Washington.

The United States of America (again, which is a miracle) was to be a country ruled by the people at the local and state level.  The federal government was to have limited power as described in the Constitution.  The actual Bill of Rights can be read... here.

I hope that answers both questions.  Sorry about the length of this post but it took awhile to explain everything.

Mentioned in this Blog Post

The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe book... here. 

The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe film... widescreen DVD here and Amazon Video... here.