August 20, 2001
Many who think they're Christians aren't
really going to heaven, Southern prof warns
___LOUISVILLE, Ky. (BP) --Baptists have become "as sacramental as Catholics" and have distorted the doctrine of "once saved, always saved" to think of many people as Christian who actually aren't, according to a Southern Baptist Theological Seminary professor.
___Baptists' evangelical emphasis on "making a decision" or walking the aisle may be no different than Catholics' emphasis on infant baptism, said Tom Schreiner, professor of New Testament interpretation.
___"It's struck me lately that there is a danger that Baptists can be as sacramental as Catholics," Schreiner said. "Catholics may say, 'At least they were baptized,' while Baptists may say, 'At least they came forward.' In both instances, the physical act may be understood as saving. It is in this sense that there is a comparison between the sacramentalism of Roman Catholics and the view of some Baptists.
___"We must beware of understanding faith as something that was expressed once and then no further fruit is evident," he warned.
___Schreiner is co-author of a book that addresses this issue. The book, "The Race Set Before Us," was written with Ardel Caneday, professor of Bible at Northwestern College in St. Paul, Minn.
___The biblical teaching on perseverance, according to Schreiner and Caneday, is that just as a runner must strive to stay in the race with the finish line as the goal, one must fight to stay in the faith with the eternal goal in mind.
___Too many churches teach that the finish line is obtained by just entering the race, Schreiner said. He calls this "easy believism."
___"How many people in our churches are unregenerate? What are the statistics?" he asked. "One-third, some studies say, never go to church. One-third go to church sometimes. ... This is not just a problem among Baptists. It is a problem in evangelicalism generally.
___"You make a profession of faith, and then you're considered to be saved. Yes, if the profession of faith is authentic. But we must also remind ourselves of Jesus' words, 'The one who endures to the end will be saved.' So, initial decisions of themselves, although we rejoice in them, do not clearly demonstrate whether someone is genuinely a believer."
___So, who are the true believers?
___Those who keep the commands of Christ, Schreiner suggest, quoting 1 John 2:3.
___According to the Calvinist or Reformed theology of Schreiner and Caneday, those chosen by God for salvation, the elect, will be kept on track by the warnings of God given in the Bible.
___"Those who are true believers will be preserved by means of the warnings," he said. For "those whom God has chosen, those whom he has elected, our argument is the warnings are always effective," Schreiner said. "They never fail."
___"The warnings in Hebrews are not written to say those who have fallen away were never believers," he added. "Of course, that's true theologically. But the warnings were written to a community that was tempted to fall away. Our argument is that the warning means exactly what it says--if you fall away, you will be damned. It's precisely by taking those warnings seriously that the elect will be preserved on the last day."
___Like signs on a road, the warnings are God's ordained means of keeping the truly saved from wrecking, Schreiner said.
___The doctrine of eternal security of the believer is commonly held among Baptists. However, particular interpretations of who can be saved or will be saved differ among Baptists.
___Schreiner is among an emerging crop of Calvinist-oriented faculty in some Southern Baptist seminaries, particularly Southern Seminary, who see the doctrine of eternal security inextricably intertwined with their views on election.
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