Hey, I know you and I disagree concerning the gift of tongues but I wanted to give you some better insight into my position. What I have done is to sit down with my Bible and as open a mind as I could bring about and honestly look at what the scripture has to say. I've had a lot of questions for many years and noticed the teachers I've followed simply make huge leaps in theology to arrive at their conclusions. I'm not comfortable with these huge leaps. Salvation is the purview of God. We have His Word but if we interpret God's Word to fit our agenda what have we gained?
In Mark 7, Jesus condemns the scribes and pharisees because they have interpreted a key section of scripture. The law stated that fathers and mothers should be honored, "That your life my be long and blessed" (Eph.6:2-3). The Jews said, "Yes, but if a man presents his life as a living sacrifice to God (the meaning of the word, corban) he is no longer obligated to honor his father or mother." By their interpretation they had negated the word of God. What they taught did not lead to long life and well being; it lead to curses and sickness and disease (shorter life). Moreover, their interpretation came to be seen as the greater spiritual sacrifice, the more perfect will of God. Since mankind has not changed, my suspicion is that similar things have been done to the New Testament. We go along accepting the teaching of our esteemed leaders because it sounds reasonable and the prodigies of our leaders teach the next generation and soon 2,000 years have passed.
Take this example. John 3:16 in the KJ version does not say that belief in Jesus will save you. It says that those who believe in Jesus should not perish. Should not does not mean "will not" and sure enough Romans 10:9-10 tells us that Jesus' righteousness is gained by a belief in Jesus but we aren't saved by belief in Jesus. We are saved by a confession that flows from our mouth. If there is no flow of confession there is no salvation, at least that is what the writer of three quarters of the new testament believed. Oh, and by the way, Paul said he received his gospel from Jesus.
You might be surprised at how many churches teach that all you have to do to be saved is to believe in Jesus with no mention of a specific belief in His death for sins. Even later versions of the scripture have changed the word should to would but Romans 10 still plainly states you must believe and confess to be saved. The word "and" is a conjunctive and joins two thoughts together but does not make them one. The experience of receiving Jesus' righteousness is certainly transformative as you can well attest but according to the scripture, it is not salvation.
What you don't understand is that when you accept Jesus' sacrifice for sins as your own, sure; your sins are washed away but Jesus' righteousness, the righteousness of God, is also imputed to you. It becomes a covering that you wear like a coat. This is the meaning of the term, born again, Jesus used in John 4 while talking with the Samaritan woman. Those who accept Jesus' sacrifice as their own, by faith, are washed from their sins but then also baptized into Jesus' death. The problem is that once you have been baptized into Jesus' death you are raised up in Christ Jesus. Jesus did not arise from the dead as Saviour, however; He arose from the dead as Lord. The question is, "What do you do with the Lord?" The correct response would be to honor, respect, and love the Lord but the world wide Church is taught to dishonor the Lord by disobeying by ignoring His commandment.
Any sinner can testify of the transformation that occurs in their life when they accept Jesus' sacrifice for sins. The feeling is truly that of being born again but you cannot dishonor the Lord of salvation and prosper. Look, early on in Church history Paul wrote chapter 11 of 1Corinthians. Paul warned the early Christians even then to examine themselves to make sure they were living their lives in a way that honored the Lord. He even renamed the Saviour's supper, the Lord's supper because Jesus is no longer Saviour; He is Lord. The only thing that can tarnish a blood washed saint is disobedience of the Lord's commandment. If we ignore the commandment of the Lord; we dishonor the Lord and are no longer worthy to receive His righteousness, which is why Paul says that if we do not judge ourselves, we will be condemned with the world (1Cor.11:32).
While Christians today are taught to observe the Saviour's supper and consider whether they are keeping the Saviour's commandments and repent of transgressions that are not being imputed to them due to their faith in Jesus' death for sins, they are willingly ignorant of the Lord's commandment and the disrespect they show the Lord after receiving His body and blood to make them a new creation.
Time and time again Jesus warned his disciples to beware of the leaven of the scribes and Pharisees. It takes very little leaven in a piece of dough to change the dough dramatically. I believe the leaven of the scribes and Pharisees has made its way into the Church and now there is very little actual truth in what we are being taught. Those washed of their sins should not perish because they now have the ability to confess Jesus as Lord. Mankind cannot confess Jesus as Lord until they have dealt with sin.
Consider the timeline of Jesus. He leaves His home in glory after having stripped Himself of all His Godhood (Phil. 2:6-8), comes to earth as a human baby, lives out His youth and young adulthood and then is crucified as a normal man. After three days in hell the Holy Spirit comes to visit and He takes His life back up. However, the death of Jesus on the cross was such a horrible event that the Father of Jesus was not able to watch and He was so impressed with Jesus' willingness to subject Himself to the torture, humiliation, and death, of the cross that He immediately stripped Himself of His Godhood, the Holy Spirit did the same, and all authority of heaven and of earth was conveyed on Jesus (Matt.28:18). This is how Jesus became Lord of Lords and King of Kings (Phil.2:9), The Only Blessed Potentate (1Tim. 6:15), The Only Wise God (Jude 25). Jesus comes back to earth and spends 40 days trying to erase the shock and disbelief of His followers who watched Him suffer and die on that cross. By the end of His ordeal, He was not even recognizable as a man (Isa.53) yet they are now faced with the truth that He overcame that horrible death to live forevermore.
Jesus issues one commandment after receiving all authority of heaven and earth, after being made Lord of Lords and King of Kings. He issues one commandment to the Church after He has established it. Yet our esteemed leaders, down to a man, instruct us to ignore that commandment. Does it make any sense at all to you that the Church should disobey the one commandment the Lord issued to the Church? What wisdom can be found in dishonoring the Lord of salvation? It would be different if there were any place in the scripture that instructed us to ignore that commandment but I have studied extensively and can find no such reference. I am not satisfied to take the word of a man, any man, over the word of God. Oh, and by the way, if Jesus is Lord of your life, why do you disobey the one commandment He issued as Lord? Mankind can't have it both ways. If Jesus is Lord, His commandment must be obeyed, other wise, He is not Lord!
It is no accident that obedience to this commandment causes a stream of language to flow out of your mouth and Paul did not say that we should confess Jesus as Lord in order to be saved. He said we must "confess with our mouths the Lord Jesus" (Rom.10:9-10). Obedience to the Lord causes a confession of His Lordship to flow over your lips. If this were not the case, the definition of "confession" could be whatever we deemed appropriate, but as it is, the scripture has defined the confession.
It occurs to me that you might like to consider more proof of the dual concept of salvation. While there are many verses we might consider, John 1:12 is another good example. In speaking of Jesus, John states: "But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them who believe on His name." Now we know that we must receive His death on the cross as payment for our sins and it is to those who receive His death that power is given to become the sons of God. It should be apparent that those who receive Him are not yet the sons of God. They have received power to become sons of God. This might remind you of John 3:16. Those who believe in Jesus should not perish because they now have the power to become sons of God. We become sons of God through faith on His name, not through faith in His death.
The name is not "Saviour" but "Lord." Again, Romans 10:9 states that we must believe that God has raised Jesus from the dead in order to be saved. The significance of God raising Jesus from the dead is that God stripped Himself of His godhood to convey His power and authority onto Jesus making Him Lord of Lords and King of Kings. God raised Jesus up from a man who had just died on a cross to supreme ruler of the galaxies. John 1:12 uses the word "on" (KJV), not in, because the word on means "a place arrived" and it is through faith in Jesus' death that we arrive at His resurrection. The question then is, "What do we do with the Lord?" We now have power to believe that He is Lord and bow our knee and obey His command; the one commandment the Lord issues in the new covenant age.
It is specifically because of the depth of degradation and suffering Jesus willingly subjected Himself to in order to wash us from our sins that He was highly exalted by the Father. Therefore, to meet the only commandment Jesus issues with the authority He gained through this incredible suffering with callous indifference is incredibly callous behavior by those who have just benefited from the suffering that produced the authority. Righteousness and salvation are two different things. To be saved from your sins is not the same as becoming a son of God.
My goal is to be saved. I want to spend eternity in heaven with Jesus, my Lord. I do not want to end up in hell and I am not willing to trust my salvation to the teaching of the Baptist Church, or the Methodist Church or the Lutheran Church or whatever denomination you might think of. Jesus is the author of salvation and it is His salvation I seek. I can find no wisdom in disobeying the only commandment the Lord gave the Church. Moreover, I can see no scenario whereby I can ignore the God who wields all authority of heaven and earth and it work out to my good. Maybe I'm not too bright but I see that the military kicks those out who disobey commands. Most companies fire those who can't follow directions. Even Parents disown children if they are too unruly