Another Encounter from the Kentucky Trip

I want to share another experience from Kentucky this past week that moved me. But, in order to get to it I have to give you some background to put this encounter in its proper context.

There is a heavy influence of Arminian theology in the region of Eastern Kentucky where we were ministering. Most of the folks that we encountered either belong to a Freewill Baptist Church or a Nazarene Church; with most of the youth we were working with belong to the latter. From what I understand, the Nazarene Church teaches conditional security (the doctrine that that believers are kept safe by God in their saving relationship with Him upon the condition of a persevering faith in Christ) and entire sanctification (that a person can live a life no longer under the influence of original sin and that sin should be a rare exception for the Christian). While I am not wholly equipped to make a theological argument for or against either of these doctrines, I do believe that they are in error based on the manner in which they are put into practice. What I observed were several people who I believed had truly trusted Christ for their salvation, but were living defeated lives because they had been deceived into believing that, based on their actions, they had renounced their faith and were destined for eternal punishment. They had given up on living a Christian life because they were unable to live without being overtaken by sin, however briefly; the very reason that we must trust in Christ (not our own power) for our salvation. They had no understanding of the hope in Christ for their continued sanctification and eventual glorification. But, I digress.

The encounter I want to share with you occurred during the Bible lesson that my friend and co-laborer for Christ, Bill Clements, was teaching to the youth. All of the youth loved Bill and were very adoring toward him, while I had limited interaction with them. During Bill’s lesson one of the girls asked a question regarding what we as Southern Baptist believed about eternal security. I took the opportunity to give her a brief, but thoughtful, answer and provided her with some verses to support my belief and Bill moved on with the lesson. After the lesson I noticed it seemed that the girls outlook toward me had changed and I saw her acting toward me as I had seen the youth act toward Bill. At first I could not account for this change, but after I had some time to reflect I came to realize that the only explanation was our short conversation about the doctrine of eternal security. I realized that it was not my theology that this young lady appreciated, but merely the fact that I had taken a moment and provided her with a sincere answer to a question that she deemed important.

I would encourage each of you to make sure that we are taking the time to answer the questions that our young people have, and answer them with sound biblical truth. We should all be ready to give a sound answer to someone who searching for one.