Where in the New Testament?
I need help. I need help finding an answer that makes any kind of sense, to the following couple of questions: How can anyone, who claims to believe that the bible is God’s word (the same bible that repeatedly reiterates and reinforces the fact, that in it we have every last thing we will ever need in order to please and stand complete before almighty God – Matthew 4:4; 2 Timothy 3:14-17; 2 Peter 1:2-4; and etc.), then turn right around and: adamantly and militantly believe and defend that they were saved by a process which is totally foreign to, and never once ever found or seen in God’s New Testament; go to a church which is never seen, named, or even remotely referred to in God’s New Testament; and/or practice worship which, once again, is totally foreign to, and therefore never found in God’s New Testament? And then, on top of that, how can they possibly somehow convince themselves further, that the God of the Bible, who fully and completely outlined and commanded exactly how all of those things were to be done, is somehow going to be okay with their doing everything completely differently from the way in which He commanded, and still take them to the heaven found in that same bible? That same bible which they aggresively claim with their lips to believe in, but with their actions and religion, absolutely deny outright?
Why does man follow something not even in God’s New Testament?
If anyone truly believes that the bible is the divinely-inspired, eternally inerrant, and all-authoritative word of God (which it claims to be – Psalm 19, 119; and again, which also claims it contains everything we need to know and to do to in order to stand complete before, and please God as outlined above), then they need to back it up with obedient action, humbling themselves in the sight of the Lord (Luke 6:46-49), while being saved, living, worshipping, and working with the church of God’s choice, as seen in God’s word (Romans 16:16)! Or else they don’t truly believe the bible is the word of God, but are just paying it lip service… aren’t they? If they truly believe that within the bible’s sacred pages is found the one and only way (or roadmap) to heaven, then how on earth can they ever convince themselves to believe that they are still going to get there by following a completely different, never found or seen in Scripture, and man-made route instead?!?!?
Jesus dealt with all kinds of devout and pious, religious lip-service paying people just exactly like that in His day – and rightly judged (John 7:24) and said that their worship was vain, futile, useless, and worthless (Matthew 15:1-9; Mark 7:5-13). And He will deal with them once again on Judgment Day; pious and devoted religious people who did some really good things to be sure, but just not the will of God and what He said He wanted in the Scriptures. See Matthew 7:21-27. And then, please go see one of your religious denominational friends, neighbors, or family members, and ask them the questions that I asked at the beginning of this article. Maybe they can shed some sort of light on it. If they do, please e-mail me back so I can be enlightened too (doug.dingley@gmail.com). But if they can’t provide you with an adequate, common-sense, and biblical answer, who knows? You might just maybe find yourself involved in an in-depth bible study… and perhaps gain a new brother or sister in Christ before too long!