Marks of a Defective Faith - Part 1
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I want to talk to you about faith in a two-part blog post series. You've probably purchased something that was defective before. To be defective means there's a flaw with whatever it is you bought. Right? There's something wrong with it to cause it not to function as it said it on the box it was supposed to function this way, but it doesn't. And you're frustrated. You might even be pulling your hair out and wanting your money back. (Been there. Done that.) It can happen with faith, too. Faith can be defective, too. In Christ's Parable of the Marriage Feast (Matthew 22:1-13), the king comes in to look over the guests who've come to the dinner and he sees a man "not dressed in wedding clothes." (Matthew 22:11) And so the man has a defect. And the king who's throwing the party notices it, asks him about it - to which the king receives no answer. (Matthew 22:12) The king then literally has the man thrown out of the building is how the parable ends. (Matthew 22:13) And why is the man thrown out? Again, it's because he has a defect. He's not wearing wedding clothes. And ultimately, it's a defective faith that this man not wearing wedding clothes represents. With this as a background, here are...Three Marks of a Defective Faith:
(I'll give you three more in Part 2)
Mark #1: When You Think You Can Attain Heaven On Your Own.
It's interesting to note how those who sent out invitations to weddings in Bible times would also send out the clothes the invited person should wear was the custom. And so for the above guy in the parable to show up not wearing the clothes the king sent him was another slap in the face. It wasn't just that he didn't have the right clothes to wear to the wedding, but he literally decided to not dress himself in the clothes the king sent him along with he really thinks he can come to the wedding wearing whatever he decides to wear. It's a picture of the person who thinks he can attain heaven on his own apart from being clothed in the righteousness of Christ.
Mark #2: When You Think Getting Baptized Makes You A Christian.
Having been raised a Catholic I understand the Catholic tradition of infant baptism quite well. (I was baptized as a baby myself.) The thinking behind infant baptism is that it somehow guarantees a person's acceptance into heaven. It's wrong thinking. The fact is baptism confirms you're a Christian, but it doesn't make you a Christian. You must become a Christian by expressing faith in Christ first, then you are to be baptized. (Mark 16:16) No matter what your age, they can dunk you under water or sprinkle you all they want and the only thing that's gonna change is you'll be all wet, but you won't be saved.
Mark #3: When You Think You Don't Need To Meet Regularly With Believers.
You run into people - Christians! - and they're just simply not committed to the Body of Christ like they ought to be. And they suffer for it. And the Body suffers. "I can be a Christian and not go to church," some of these say (or think). It is in direct contradiction of Scripture which exhorts us to make meeting with fellow believers a top priority. (Hebrews 10:23-25) Each of us has gifts that others need (1 Corinthians 12:4-11) and each of us has needs that only another brother or sister in the Lord can meet. When was the last time you went to church?
(Watch for "Marks of a Defective Faith - Part 2" to come soon.)
Labels: bible, california, christian, church, cross, faith, god, gold country, jesus, mother lode, salvation, sonora, teacher, tuolumne county, twain harte
posted by Mike C at 5:40 AM
5 Comments:
Having 'grown up a Catholic', I would expect you to have a better understanding of the Catholic teaching of Baptism. You state that being baptised guarantees you entrance into Heaven, but that is not what the Church teaches, at all.
So either you misunderstand the Church's teaching on Baptism, or for whatever reason you wish to mis-represent the Church's teaching.
Baptism is necessary, but there's no guarantee anyone who is Baptised will make it to Heaven.
Read your Catechism, 1213 - 1284.
Jay, baptism is not necessary. Baptism shows you are a Christian and being baptized is following in Jesus' foot steps as He was baptized, and God was pleased. Baptism is like a public profession faith. It is not required though.:) Then again, I'm not Catholic, so we probably have some different beliefs on this. :)
I can somewhat sympathize with believers who don't regularly go to a church. I'm finding that most churches have become less Bible oriented and more "programs-to-bring-in-the-crowds" oriented. It's very difficult to find a church where the Pastor actually does his homework, studies the scriptures, the teaches "meat and potatoes", so to speak. Reminds me a lot of 2 Timothy 4:3.
1 Mark of a Defective Blogger: when he promises Part 2 "soon" and it hasn't shown up over 7 months later.
Just kidding!
Did I miss Part 2, or did you name it something else? The search box only shows this one when searching for "Marks of a Defective Faith."
As far as baptism goes, my mom would say "if you go in a dry devil you'll come out a wet one". Baptism is an outward expression of an outward transformation.
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