10/3/13 Samuel about 20
Yesterday
a young Asian college student named Samuel told me about his transition from
growing up in a Buddhist household to now embracing Catholicism as a result of
his relationship with his Catholic girlfriend.
“ I’m very concerned about eternity.” he told me “I’ve been attending mass every Sunday with
her for a year now, and just this week I began my first catechism class.” He was one of the few people I’ve met who
sincerely believes he would go to hell were he to die tonight. I asked why – “Because I haven’t yet been
baptized or gone to confession, but I’m working toward it.” he said. He was sincere in his excitement for the
things of God but sincerely wrong about what the Bible teaches us because he clearly
had a works-based belief in earning salvation rather than trusting that we are
saved by grace through faith in Jesus (Eph 2:8-9), so I explained the way of God
more accurately, possibly like Paul did for Apollos in Acts 18:25.
One
area of confusion had to do with confession.
Like many, Samuel was confused by the verse in 1 John 1:9 which states “If
we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and
purify us from all unrighteousness.”
This verse is read often as part of the liturgies of Catholic and many liturgical
Protestant churches, but when it is taken out of context it leads many to
assume that they are saved only by virtue of confessing their sins. What is the context? This verse is a part of John’s first letter
to Christians, to people who have already received God’s forgiveness for their
sins. Why the need for confession
then? I explained it to Samuel using
marriage as an analogy and could just see him light up with understanding as I
talked: “It’s like a married couple who get in an argument. Even though their ongoing daily relationship
might not be doing well, they are still legally married. When a person is born again into Christ’s
kingdom, they “legally” became one of God’s children, adopted into His family. But that doesn’t mean their day to day
relationship with God is always okay; in fact, pride, shame, and rebellion work
to undermine that relationship. It’s not
that they are no longer saved and made righteous before God, just like a couple
who are still legally married even though they are arguing. Once we initially become a Christian in a
legal sense, confession and repentance is needed to help restore our
relationship with God in a daily sense. When
we are saved through repentence and faith in Jesus we are always a child of
God, but it is possible to confess and repent but to never have been saved in
the first place.”
This
was part of a much longer conversion with Samuel that gave him a lot to think
about – please pray for him!
No comments:
Post a Comment