Our churches are filled with people whose faith rests on their belief in the Lord Jesus Christ. But surely believing in Jesus means believing everything he said?
My studies have thrown up many Scriptures which I have categorised as: ‘The Gospel of the Kingdom: terms and conditions apply’.
For example: “For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing” (2 Corinthians 2:15).
This is not a conclusive “saved” – which is what many Christians assume without any serious thought about Jesus’ words in Matthew 7:21: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”
Furthermore, I see little evidence of any hardship in a Church rife with apathy and complacency – and yet Acts 14:22 says “we must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God”.
Alan Kay
Cobham, Surrey