Quote:
Originally Posted by TRFrance
Standards and the plan of salvation are 2 different things. It's natural that there will be variations of standards among Apostolic groups, since a lot of that stuff originates from personal convictions. But there should not be variations in the plan of salvation.
If a person is solid on the plan of salvation, then differences or disagreements with the standards should not cause them to revise their salvation theology.
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But there's the misconception. For many, that stuff does not originate as personal conviction. It originates as "this is what I'm taught so this is what I'll do because I really do love the Lord and I really do want to be with Him and so I am at this place and they say do this and they have the Lord for sure so this is what I'll do too-- then I'll have the Lord too."
Then I realized that I had been influenced by folks who had added to the Word of God by by teaching their personal standards as God-Breathed Doctrine.
Once I realized that, I started to examine every thing else-- questioning everything I had been taught and even some of the stuff I had experienced because I no longer trusted the folks who were around me.
Their intentions were not bad, I imagine.
Acts 2:38 culminates with the believer receiving the Promise of the Holy Spirit.
To hear some folks teach that chapter, you'd think that receiving the Holy Ghost was something that we all have to do ourselves.
Well it's not.
Indeed, it is something that God PROMISED He would do.
"For the Promise is unto you, and to your children, and your childrens children and to as many as the Lord our God shall call."
There's a subtle difference, but in the end it means alot.
If you begin your relationship with the Lord with the idea, "I have to do this and I have to do this and I'm not alright until I do this...." where does it stop? What else will I have to do?
We'll never be good enough, nice enough, holy enough.