The gospel of salvation

[aron]

I am interested in the process of salvation, as presented in the Bible. For me it came to the fore when Timotheist presented his "Heaven and Hellenism" thread of how the pseudo-christian concepts of Heaven and Hell have emerged and changed over time due to non-biblical, primarily Greek influences.

I am not interested in ideas of Heaven or Hell so much as what lies in between, i.e. the process of salvation. Heaven seems to me to be a conceptual, future 'destination', whereas what I am concerned with right now is the journey of faith. My contact with christianity and its teachings is in line with Timotheist's proposal that they can become destination-oriented, heaven-fixated, which distracts them from the things of today. Secondly, they are touched with non-biblical influences which have accrued over time. Timotheist was good enough to point some of this out.

I am not trying to mirror him, however, in looking at the idea of salvation as it has progressed over time in its various adherents, christian and otherwise. I would rather look at what the Bible says. I think a historical review is useful; it is even essential at some point to see "how we got to here". But at the same time I have neither time nor intellectual resources to do so and thus will concentrate on the teachings of the Bible.

"...I buffet my body and make it my slave, lest perhaps having preached to others, I myself may become disapproved." ~1 Cor. 9:27

Then to chapter 10: "For I do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.....but with most of them God was not well pleased, for they were strewn along in the wilderness." ~vv. 1 - 5.

My thesis is that the christian experience, presented in the Bible, is not merely to believe into Jesus and be loosed from the pangs of Hell. The christian experience is to be placed into a pool of hopeful applicants, a few of whom will be selected as "overcomers", or use what terminology or imagery that you will. The Bride, The Millennial Kingdom, The Wedding Feast.

Whatever the imagery, it augers for the christian experience as not an arrival at some sought-for condition (i.e. heaven) but rather the initiation of a process which will hopefully one day place the recipient in the special status of 'approved'. This is versus First Corinthians chapter 9 verse 27, where the believer is unfortunately 'disapproved'.

I know some christians say this is teaching a kind of purgatory. I saw a website "bcbsr dot com" where the author raises the "P" word. He says the Nee/Lee teachings confuse 'disapproved believers' who are under dispensational punishment with what are actually unbelievers getting eternally condemned.

But Moses fell in the wilderness, and he is there with Christ on the mountain in transfiguration (Matt ch. 17). So Moses did not make it into the "Good Land", and was disapproved, yet did not end up in flames for eternity with the devil and his angels. There seems to be some "in between" that Paul is referring to when he mentions "disapproved" in chapter 9, verse 27. Chapter 10, verse 6 says "These things occurred as examples to us..." so the "falling in the wilderness" must be a warning to christians, not to unbelievers.

That is my take, anyway. First Corinthians 9 & 10 forces me to consider the place in between "Heaven and Hell". Which is where I am today, working out my own salvation, with fear and trembling (cf Philippians 2:12). And I do have some serious challenges to Lee's teaching on this "place between", which I shall hopefully address shortly, as time permits. Peace to all.