Did anyone got saved by shallow theology?

[TonyFaithAlone]

I remembered I got saved through John 3:16 at the age of 13. But I lived in sins for the rest of the way before the Lord pulled be back on the right path five years ago. I'm 30 now. In retrospect, I didn't really understand what happened to me when I got saved except that I was enable to believe in the simple gospel. My verbal confession of faith was an obnoxious 'yes' to the question, 'Do you believe that Jesus died for your sins on the cross?'. I remembered I was so anxious to give the right verbal confession that I didn't know which line to use: 'Jesus is lord', 'Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God', or 'Jesus is fully man and fully God' etc...The one thing I didn't believe though was that God enabled me to believe the gospel of Jesus Christ. It was hilarious now that I think about it. As if I enabled myself to believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ or that I needed some formal creed to give me the right answers.

The answer was very simple for me at least: 'I believe Jesus Christ is my personal Lord and Savior.'. I said just that when a pastor pulled a quick one on me to try to trip me up so that I would have to give a split second response. The only person in that room who didn't believe in my confession was myself. Because I couldn't believe that I was a child of God by the way I lived for so long after my baptism. So I went on to search for answers endlessly and got trapped in a bunch of false teachings as a result.

Now I finally figured it out. The one demonic doctrine that tripped me up was the fact that I didn't believe faith in Christ is a gift of God, and he give it to whomever he want. No one can produce it on their own in whatever way, nor can it be lost once you have received it freely. Because it costed him his son Jesus Christ.

Did anyone got saved by shallow theology? What was the journey like for you?

 

[Christ_empowered]

My 1st attempt at "getting saved" was brought to you by The Purpose Driven Life...as in: "simply say, 'I believe, and I receive' ," something to that effect. I was...23, 24...dazed and done in by a heavy round of involuntary shock treatments several months prior...

lots and lots of things happened, some good and probably God-given...to get me to the point at which I could be good soil, receptive, etc....

and then, age 28, I felt Jesus tugging at my heart, knocking at my heart's door, etc. I got on my knees and said the best "Sinner's Prayer" I could come up with, in that moment. Thankfully, I'd been thoroughly immersed in some old school Pentecostal goodness (David Wilkerson, for instance...possibly my favorite pastor, at this point) and then in some RC Sproul-style Calvinism....

so, now, I believe in miracles, I believe TULIP is pretty much spot on when it comes to salvation, and I think+believe...

'twas grace that saved a wretch like me.

theology has yet to save anyone. churches, either. Jesus, on the other hand...

Jesus saves. "Know Jesus, Know Change."

 

[daninthelionsden]

My 1st attempt at "getting saved" was brought to you by The Purpose Driven Life...as in: "simply say, 'I believe, and I receive' ," something to that effect. I was...23, 24...dazed and done in by a heavy round of involuntary shock treatments several months prior...

lots and lots of things happened, some good and probably God-given...to get me to the point at which I could be good soil, receptive, etc....

and then, age 28, I felt Jesus tugging at my heart, knocking at my heart's door, etc. I got on my knees and said the best "Sinner's Prayer" I could come up with, in that moment. Thankfully, I'd been thoroughly immersed in some old school Pentecostal goodness (David Wilkerson, for instance...possibly my favorite pastor, at this point) and then in some RC Sproul-style Calvinism....

so, now, I believe in miracles, I believe TULIP is pretty much spot on when it comes to salvation, and I think+believe...

'twas grace that saved a wretch like me.

theology has yet to save anyone. churches, either. Jesus, on the other hand...

Jesus saves. "Know Jesus, Know Change."

The artist Akiane Kramerik(not sure of that last name spelling) can't win a theology debate, but I sure know she knows Jesus. So yeah. Jesus Baby! JESUS!

 

[Boaz]

I remembered I got saved through John 3:16 at the age of 13. But I lived in sins for the rest of the way before the Lord pulled be back on the right path five years ago. I'm 30 now. In retrospect, I didn't really understand what happened to me when I got saved except that I was enable to believe in the simple gospel. My verbal confession of faith was an obnoxious 'yes' to the question, 'Do you believe that Jesus died for your sins on the cross?'. I remembered I was so anxious to give the right verbal confession that I didn't know which line to use: 'Jesus is lord', 'Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God', or 'Jesus is fully man and fully God' etc...The one thing I didn't believe though was that God enabled me to believe the gospel of Jesus Christ. It was hilarious now that I think about it. As if I enabled myself to believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ or that I needed some formal creed to give me the right answers.

The answer was very simple for me at least: 'I believe Jesus Christ is my personal Lord and Savior.'. I said just that when a pastor pulled a quick one on me to try to trip me up so that I would have to give a split second response. The only person in that room who didn't believe in my confession was myself. Because I couldn't believe that I was a child of God by the way I lived for so long after my baptism. So I went on to search for answers endlessly and got trapped in a bunch of false teachings as a result.

Now I finally figured it out. The one demonic doctrine that tripped me up was the fact that I didn't believe faith in Christ is a gift of God, and he give it to whomever he want. No one can produce it on their own in whatever way, nor can it be lost once you have received it freely. Because it costed him his son Jesus Christ.

Did anyone got saved by shallow theology? What was the journey like for you?

Reformed Theology isn't shallow but irregardless of your take on that, the ONLY thing that matters is that you believe. If had the technology talent of heisrisen I'd post a video of that song "Just Believe"!

 

[for_his_glory]

One thing I have found out in my 65 years here on earth is that there is no other doctrine other than the doctrine of Christ, but there sure are many theories. The Gospel of Christ is very simple to understand as it's mans teachings of the gospels that complicate it making it confusing for others.

I went to church until I was fourteen and all I knew was Jesus was the Son of God and was crucified, dead and buried and God raised Him on the third day. There was no teaching on salvation or anything taught about a Spiritual rebirth from above. Just a lot of nice Bible stories. Three years later and old boyfriend took me to an AoG church and I only accepted Jesus after saying what they call a sinners prayer just because I was told I had to in order to not go to hell. I got caught up in the emotionalism parts of the service that made me feel good while I was there, but soon void of it once I left the building.

For 25 years I would find myself in many different types of churches, but not really knowing anymore than I did when I was 17 saying that simple little prayer. I knew who Jesus was in my head, but not in my heart even after I repeated that prayer. It wouldn't be until 1997 that I almost gave up, but instead something welled up inside of me to cry out to God from the depth of the misery of my heart. I told Jesus that I wanted to know who He is and it was then that I had an experience similar to Paul's Damascus road conversion as the Spirit of Christ revealed Himself to me in all His glory and we talked for awhile.

To make a long story short that is when I gave my heart to Christ as I surrendered all to him as he created in me a new heart, a new creation in Christ and was indwelled with the Holy Spirit. That began my hunger for a simple Gospel, as you put it, and from there the Holy Spirit has helped to mature me in the word of God. If what others try to teach us does not line up with scripture then they are only deceiving themselves teaching man's theories/doctrines and not the doctrines of Christ found in the Gospels.