Is Your Faith Real?

In my previous blog post, Feelings...Nothing More Than...Feelings, I expressed my concern regarding the feelings of the Mormon Missionaries that came to my door as a sign that the Book of Mormon is true. Feelings, though may seem true at the time, are not true all the time, nor a test for religious books of antiquity. Like I told them before, sometimes I feel like reading the bible, sometimes I don't. But that is not a test to prove the bible is true, or not true.

There is a threefold confirmation that we are children of God, or an assurance that we are saved. Paul talks about this confirmation in 1 Thessalonians 1:5, "For our gospel did not come to you in word only, but in power, and in the Holy Spirit, and in much assurance, as you know what kind of men we were among you for your sake." This threefold assurance of our salvation is found in the trustworthy word, confirming Holy Spirit, and the changed life.

Trustworthy Word

This is the heart of what I want to write about in the next blog post will be the trustworthiness of the Holy Bible and the trustworthiness of the Book of Mormon. Both claim to be God's word, and trustworthy books. It doesn't matter how I think I am doing, but what the bible says how I am doing. Objective truth is found in the object of the trustworthy word. Our assurance in the Bible is based on 1 John 5:9-13.

Confirming Holy Spirit

Second, there is an internal witness of the Holy Spirit that confirms that we are really children of God. Paul declares in Romans 8:16, "The Spirit Himself bears witness with out spirit that we are children of God." How do we know we have the Holy Spirit? We have His fruit. His fruit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). The Holy Spirit is the "IOU" of our faith in Christ. Paul stated in 2 Corinthians 1:21-22 and Ephesians 1:13-14 that the Holy Spirit is our guarantee of our inheritance until the end where we are face to face with Him.

Changed Life

Third, our changed life is a witness that we are Children of God. The proof that we have experienced the new birth is from our changed life. Good fruit only comes from good trees (Matthew 7:15-20). Probably the best known example of this is taken from the first chapter of 1 Thessalonians. This church, which is deemed the "exemplary church", was a model not only to us, but also to those around them and in all their known world  (1 Thessalonians 1:7-8). They had a changed life. From out of their faith they were followers of the Lord (vs 6), had teachable spiritual growth (vs 6), received the word in much affliction (vs 6), had joy from the Holy Spirit (vs 6), faith in God (vs 8), were active in evangelism (vs 8), bore fruits of repentance (vs 9), served God (vs 9), awaited with love the Lord's return (vs 10), and belief in the resurrection of Christ from the dead (vs 10).

Repentance is turning 180 degrees from sin and turning towards God to obey Him and His word. Yes it is true that God calls you just as you are, but the truth is He doesn't expect you to stay there. Let's put it this way, supposed your friend walked up to you and said, "I just got hit by a logging truck this morning." You look at him and there is not a scratch on him. How could that be? If you were hit by tons of steel and wood you would show signs of it. So I ask, what is bigger...a logging truck or God? If you were hit by God, you would know it...and so would everyone else.

I firmly believe that all three have to be there in order to have full assurance of God's salvation on our souls. If either of them are not found, there is no way a person could possibly be saved. Though the Mormons claim to have the Holy Spirit, and also their lives may seem godly, where they lack is the trustworthiness of the Book of Mormon. As you will see in my next post, the Book of Mormon fails as a book to be regarded as truth. This would be true also with someone who believes the bible, yet doesn't have the fortitude of a changed life. They still have no difference in their lives as a Christian as they did when they were not born again.