The following is a short response I gave to a blogpost by Atheists in Kenya. It contains my thoughts on the question and the process, with my salvation story. I hope it can be of benefit to someone out there.
Do people still get saved? Is the concept still alive? I say this because i think its as good as dead. But since i am posing a question, can anyone who got saved recently tell me his/ her experience, and what really changed? What was the transformation? What was the process? Is there any church that still makes people repeat after the pastor, the TV etc? That CRAP?
I hope to get Pentecostals to appreciate my question and shed light.
My response . . .
If I am right, you presume that salvation is a concept and that it is dead. Your other questions are fairly valid: is salvation some repeated prayer that a pastor prays?
1) I think it is necessary to know what salvation is and what it is not. It is not just a concept, if you take the meaning of concept as “building blocks of theory” (Mugenda, 2008). It is a reality in itself. Let me use two examples from the Bible to prove my point. First of is Nicodemus (a religious leader, probably best described as someone who just follows rules for the mere sake of following rules). He came to ask Jesus what to do to become a part of the kingdom of God. The response was that he had to be “born again.” Christian theology sees this as an internal change of heart. The second, is of a rich young ruler. Somehow, he asked a similar question. He was told that he had to sell all his stuff – The guy had assumed that the kingdom of God is a mere following of rules/laws, but through the question posed to him, he realized what was needed was an internal change of heart. Both these guys had the knowledge of who Jesus was, (probably similar to what you’ve heard about Him) but they did not believe in Him. The difference is that one group is an observer of the facts of salvation whereas the other enters into a new relationship with Jesus Christ as the living person – “We may therefore define saving faith in the following way: Saving faith is trust in Jesus Christ as a living person for forgiveness of sins and for eternal life with God.” (Grudem, 1994: 710). How can you know about Jesus? Read the Bible with an open and genuine heart and mind, and you will find him (Many times we accept the claims made by other people without investigating for ourselves). I think the Church has muddled this definition by being so legalistic and making salvation about following some certain procedures.
2) My salvation story: I would describe myself as having been a free-thinker. I was raised Christian, in fact my father is an elder in the church. In uni however, after interacting with different cultures and philosophies of life, I became curious of other worldviews, even to the point of starting to consider Buddhism (visited a Buddhist temple) because of their “enlightenment” view of salvation, similar to free-thinking. My pursuit of these philosophies left me empty in the sense that the very questions I was trying to answer seemed not to have any forthright answers. That’s the issue I had with free thinking: its metaphysical conceptualization is based on the illusion that reality cannot be defined – I would find some new enlightening knowledge then I find a newer one, and as much as I thought this process enabled me to interpret the world better, it was a cycle of vanity. Last year, in my own room, after having logically come to the conclusion that there must have been a better way to live I asked God, if He was really there to reveal Himself to me. And He did, and ever since that time my life has somewhat changed. Other reasons that I decided to ask for this help, was due to the fact that my free-thinking wasn’t translating to my moral life – It felt as if my mind was thinking one way, and my habits were the other. In my free-thinking I had excused myself from any moral obligations (I was a hedonist, to some extent). This change that you are asking is what is called conversion, and it is a process that God works in the heart. What results are new dispositions and affections. E.g. I used to smoke up (marijuana) and indulge in bottles, but now that appeal is gone. I find myself wanting to read the Bible or pray, or chill with other Christians and get to know God more (not know about God). Do I have some struggles? Yes I do. Life isn’t perfect but I’m seeing the reality of a life with God, seeing me through them. He has called us into a new kingdom, and a life with God is a life of experiencing new values, new relationships and new life plans, new in the sense that they are the best of what they were meant to be – restoration of what is good. I still consider myself a free-thinker to some extent: I weigh the thoughts of my mind and challenge my beliefs by reading about other worldviews and critiquing them – Usually the mass population believes in things even when they are illogical or wrong, even Christians. The difference is that now, because of having a relationship with Jesus, I have the peace that cannot be quantified, even through some human anxieties; joy; some sense of meaning and hope in life.
Harry, I somehow can relate with your questions. I had the same questions about Christianity, and I was even more frustrated that no one could give a better answer than “that’s how it is.” But there are some of us who have reasons why we believe. If you want to engage me more on these questions, you can reach me on kevin.muriithi89@gmail.com. I am not suggesting that I have all answers, but perhaps some may help you clarify your assumptions about the faith of Jesus Christ.
Thanks for your questions. They’ve taken me back memory lane. Cheers!
References:
Mugenda, Abel Gitau Ph.D. Social Science Research: Theory and Principles. Nairobi: Applied Research & Training Services. 2008.
Grudem, Wayne. Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine. England: InterVarsity Press. 1994.
Comments
Post a Comment