I am very glad that you teach that you can lose your salvation.  However for those churches that teach eternal security could they be considered false prophets?

Sincerely,
True Or False?

Dear True Or False,

Yes, they would be considered false teachers.  It is no different than the false prophets of the Old Testament that cried, "Peace, peace" when the people should have been concerned about danger (Jer 6:13-14).  Those who teach eternal security are telling people they need not be concerned about their salvation or drifting away, but God tells us that we need to live deliberately so that we don't become disqualified (1 Cor 9:27).

I am fifty-two-years-old and have met someone.  We were both in previous long-term relationships.  We have been very good friends for about four years and started dating about four weeks ago.  Her relationship was for fifteen years in which she and he had lived together but never married.  She now has concerns about pre-marital sex in our relationship.  She feels strongly that it is immoral.  I believe in God but do not attend church.  I don’t understand why there seems to be a double standard.  Advice?

Sincerely,
A New Flame

Dear A New Flame,

Regardless of what this woman’s previous lifestyle was, sexual relations outside of marriage are wrong (1 Cor 7:2).  There is a double standard – her previous standard and her current standard… which is the right one.  We will give her the benefit of the doubt and assume that she has repented for the previous fifteen years of sinful living and has faithfully decided to flee fornication (1 Cor 6:18).

You state that you “believe in God, but do not attend church”.  Do you believe in the Bible?  Do you believe the Bible is God’s Word?  If the Bible is God’s Word, then you need to be attending a faithful church (Heb 10:24-25).  These are questions that are very important to answer because they will affect your eternal existence.  We recommend you read through some of the posts in our EVIDENCES category in the archives.  There is immense evidence that God wrote the Bible, that we must obey the Bible in order to go to heaven, and that hell is a very real and terrifying place.  You have done well in believing in God, and we urge you to not stop there.

How do you build up treasures in heaven?

Sincerely,
Investor

Dear Investor,

Christ taught that we should invest in heavenly riches, not earthly ones (Matt 6:19-21).  He later went on to say that the way we do that is by seeking Christ’s kingdom before all other things (Matt 6:33).  Christ’s kingdom (His kingdom is the church) is a spiritual kingdom (Jhn 18:36).  Every day we can choose to live selfish lives that are focused on our earthly desires, or we can choose to live lives that are focused on eternity (Col 3:2).  Jesus said that we should trust in Him, and He will take care of our burdens (Matt 11:29).  We store up treasures in heaven when we trust in Christ and keep His commandments (Jhn 15:14).  Jesus’ commandments can be found in the Bible – specifically the New Testament.  Christ tells us that the way of salvation is narrow, and few enter it (Matt 7:13-14).  Being a christian means living faithfully in Christ… a life that trusts that Christ will reward us for our faithfulness (Heb 11:6).  We begin that faithful life by believing in Christ (Jhn 3:16), repenting of our sins (Acts 3:19), confessing Christ as our Savior (Matt 10:32), and being baptized for the forgiveness of our sins (1 Pet 3:21, Mk 16:16, Acts 2:38).  Once we become christians, we will spend the rest of our lives growing and learning from God’s Word (1 Pet 2:2).  As we grow and serve in Christ, we store up treasures for ourselves in heaven.

I have a question about Jesus and how I can be baptized in the Holy Spirit.  It says in the Bible that the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples, and they talked in tongues, right?  So I’m wondering why I can’t speak in tongues; I’ve gone up to the front at church a long time ago when I was young and was prayed over, but no tongues ever came out of me.  Does this mean I’m not God’s child?  Am I doomed?  I know it sounds dumb, but I need help; I don’t know what to think.  I don’t want to go up there again ever; I’m scared now.

Sincerely,
Tongue-Tied

Dear Tongue-Tied,

You don’t need to speak in tongues to be saved… which is a good thing because nobody speaks in tongues anymore.  Holy Spirit baptism was a miraculous event that happened to the apostles on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1-4).  The only other time that Holy Spirit baptism occurred was at the first Gentile conversion (it was given as a sign to Peter that it was okay for non-Jews to become christians – Acts 10:45-48).

Holy Spirit baptism is not what saves you; water baptism is what saves you (Acts 8:36, Mk 16:16, 1 Pet 3:21).  The Holy Spirit provided certain people with the ability to perform miracles.  Other than the apostles, christians received these miraculous abilities by the laying on of the apostles’ hands (Acts 8:16-19).  Doing the math, that means that the last person to have miraculous abilities (like speaking in tongues) had to have lived at the same time as the apostles.  The last apostle died over 1,900 years ago!  Any church that tells you that you have to speak in tongues, prophesy, perform miracles, etc. to be saved is lying to you and misapplying the Scriptures.  We recommend you read “What Must I Do To Be Saved?”, so you can see what the Bible really says about salvation.  If you would like help finding a faithful, Bible-following church in your area, feel free to e-mail us at askyourpreacher@mvchurchofchrist.org.

Hi.  While my faith has recently been shaky, I'm happy to say that I am a whole-hearted believer in God.  My closest friend, however, is far from that which is something I've started to question God about.

She is very intelligent, especially in the sciences.  Actually, to be honest, we both are rather gifted in that area which is probably what brought us together.  But the most important thing that separates us is that she doesn't believe in God, and she has a lot of scientific evidence to back up her opinion.  I have my evidence too, but whenever the subject comes up, she refuses to talk about it, saying she's concerned she'll ruin my faith.  How do I reach out to a person like this?  It hurts me so much to see her live out her life with obvious gaps that only God can fill.

Any suggestions on how to direct my friend to the Lord without ruining our friendship?  She has developed something against religion recently, saying that it's just a tool used through history to give people power and reason to kill.  This really bothers me, but again, the friendship is so important to me, and I don't want to lose it.  At the same time, her salvation is also at least that important to me.  Thanks, and God bless.

Sincerely,
A Proven Friend

Dear A Proven Friend,

You are obviously dealing with a very intelligent person who has formed her own opinions… but without all the data.  What we normally do when studying with someone like this is to hand them a couple of books and tell them we would like to hear their thoughts after they are finished reading.  That has a two-fold effect:

1. It takes all wrangling over words out of the picture because it isn't an argument anymore... they are simply reading.
2. It shows you how serious they are about pursuing the subject.  If it is important, they will read and get back to you, but if it isn't important, the subject will just get dropped.  Either way, you can have a clear conscience that you tried to help.

In this circumstance, we recommend "Evidence That Demands A Verdict" by Josh McDowell (this book should address much of the argument of the Bible being used as a tool to hurt others).  We also recommend “Case For A Creator” by Lee Strobel to deal with the scientific arguments and “Has God Spoken?” by A.O. Schnabel (which addresses the internal evidence of the Bible’s supernatural origins).  That is our recommendation on the topic… less confrontation and more information.