Methodism
From Bubblegum Wiki
(Created page with ' == Religious Doctrines == God: Trinitarian Father, Son and Holy Spirit That's one truth we can agree. Sacraments: Baptism, Communion. First of all, Communion is not recom…')
Next diff →
Revision as of 19:06, 14 September 2011
Contents |
Religious Doctrines
God: Trinitarian Father, Son and Holy Spirit
That's one truth we can agree.
Sacraments: Baptism, Communion.
First of all, Communion is not recommended.
Salvation: Assurance of Salvation, Saved by Grace through Faith, Christian Perfection.
Salvation is accepted by repentance through the blood of Jesus.
Scriptures: 66 books, supernaturally inspired, Sola Fide—Methodists insist that reason is needed to read and interpret scripture as well as determine Christian witness.
Only one book is supernaturally inspired is the Word of God, King James-approved, no other book is inspired.
Dogmatic Origins: Sola Scriptura, doctrines vary even within some denominations; Methodists say they are more concerned with "deeds not creeds". It should be emphasized that rigorous doctrines and dogmas can not be applied to Methodism as a whole.
Methodists focus on their works rather than God and His True Word.
Church: "A Methodist is one who has the love of God shed abroad in his life by the Holy Ghost given unto him. One who loves the Lord his God with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his mind, and with all his strength. God is the joy of his heart and the desire of his soul." –John Wesley
John Wesley may know we are to Love the Lord with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. But what about The Son? He sounds like a Muslim as if God had no son.
Theological Beliefs
Creation: Genesis account; differences in theology make it hard to know if evolution as a possibility is rejected.
Man’s State: Fallen state due to original sin
Sin: covered up through justification by grace. A person who has been "born again" is capable of attaining Christian perfection through God’s grace. A person can be forgiven of sins by repenting and trusting in Christ for forgiveness and grace.
One who is "born again" cannot attain perfection. God is perfection, mankind is not. There is nowhere in the Book of Genesis that man is created in perfection. Sin cannot be covered by justification, it is only covered by the blood of Jesus through repentance and baptism.
Grace: Grace is offered to all and calls a person to faith, but may be readily rejected by a person. Methodists generally view the sacraments as capable of increasing grace in a person.
There is no mention in the bible about Grace being offered to everyone.
Redemption and Salvation: redemption is a free gift available to all, good works are a sign of a justified person. Methodists believe in "witness of the Spirit" to assure themselves that they have been saved.
Redemption is not a free gift. Good works are not justified. Methodists who believe in the witness of the Holy Spirit is assuring themselves to damnation, not being saved.
Justification: By faith alone. Methodists believe good works, pleasing and acceptable to God in Christ, spring from a true and living faith, for through and by them faith is made evident. Justification (in the classical Protestant sense) is God’s declaration that a person is righteous in lieu of their faith in Jesus as lord and savior.
Good works is not enough to be justified.
Repentance: a gift of grace through the Holy Spirit.
Repentance is to be accepted by the Son, not the Holy Spirit. It is not a gift of grace.
Sacraments
Baptism: Trinitarian baptism. "Baptism is not only a sign of profession and mark of difference whereby Christians are distinguished from others that are not baptized; but it is also a sign of regeneration or the new birth. The Baptism of young children is to be retained in the Church." –Article VI of the United Methodist Church’s The Discipline of The Evangelical United Brethren Church.
Baptism is not a regeneration of a new birth. To be "born again" is to come into repentance, this is the first step. Baptism, the second step, is a covenant, not just as a display, but it's also commitment to the Lord. When you are baptized, you become part of God's Bride.
Communion: Methodists generally believe that Christ is present in a spiritual form in communion and not in a bodily form also. The United Methodist Church’s The Discipline of The Evangelical United Brethren Church confession says "We believe the Lord's Supper is a representation of our redemption, a memorial of the sufferings and death of Christ, and a token of love and union which Christians have with Christ and with one another. Those who rightly, worthily and in faith eat the broken bread and drink the blessed cup partake of the body and blood of Christ in a spiritual manner until he comes." – Article VI
Another Myth. The Lord's Supper is not a representation of our redemption nor a requirement to partake in the body of Christ. Christ is our redeemer. Communion is not recommended.
Miscellaneous
- Methodists generally reject speaking in tongues.
This is one of the biggest lies. The Bible does say about speaking in tongues. When you receive the Holy Spirit by repentance and baptism, you received the gift to speak in tongues in Acts 2.
- There are dozens of denominations of "Methodist" background and character which differ greatly from each other in theology and practice, from "holiness" churches to "pentecostal" churches to "mainline" Methodist churches.
John Wesley taught four key points fundamental to Methodism:
1. Man is free not only to reject salvation but also to accept it (free salvation) by an act of human will.
If we reject salvation, we are damned.
2. All people who are obedient to the Gospel according to the measure of knowledge given them will be saved (universal salvation).
Being obedient to God's Word will not save you. Only the blood of Jesus can.
3. The Holy Spirit assures man of his salvation directly, through an inner "experience" (sure salvation).
The bible doesn't say about the Holy Spirit assuring salvation. Salvation is only accepted by the blood of Jesus through repentance.
4. Christians in this life are capable of Christian perfection and are commanded by God to pursue it (full salvation).
Another lie. We are not perfect. We are not capable of perfection because we are all sinners. God is perfection, not man. God does not command us to pursue perfection, He commands us to obey Him and His Word and believe in His Son who died on the cross for our sins.
- Methodists follow tradition; they say "The Church has learned deep truths over the centuries and we receive these lessons gratefully." Although, they do not hold the fullness of Apostolic Tradition and seem to view it more as a "history" of beliefs that agree with the Scripture and Wesley’s theology.
We are to believe in the Lord's Word and Him alone. Not Wesley's Theology. We are to take up our Cross and follow Him.
- Methodists stress the need for works after faith, and thus tend to fall closer to Catholic doctrine than most Protestants, although they see works as a result of justification by faith and not as an integral process of justification like Catholics.
We do not need the stress of works after faith. Works are not justified. Methodists do follow the same practices as the Catholics do such as infant baptism and sprinkling. The word baptism derives from the Greek "Baptizmo" meaning "to immerse", in water baptism. Methodists do offer that option, but the bible clearly states that we are commanded to baptize with water. Water Baptism is a command, not an option.
- The evangelical movement (which is very popular in contemporary American Protestant circles) has its roots in the Methodist revival camps of the 19th century. Methodist itinerant preachers traveled the American countryside preaching a fiery message of personal conviction in the salvation of Jesus Christ to the masses. The exhortations stressed the importance of, "trusting in Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior" and struck a chord with many American Christians. Evangelicalism stresses an individual's personal relationship with Christ and is thus appealing on an emotional level. Unfortunately, evangelicalism contains the triple errors of assured salvation (no man can loose salvation after committing to Christ), Sola Scriptura (religious doctrines are derived from an individual's interpretation of Scripture), and Sola Fide (man is saved solely by trusting in Christ as the redeemer)
Preaching fiery messages of personal conviction to others is self-righteousness. Evangelicalism has no errors. If we don't evangelize the Gospel to the world as Jesus commanded, we are a closed church. We are condemning ourselves.
Methodism is not based on the principles of Christ, it's based on the principles of man.
If you are a Methodist and you're following this doctrine. Leave immediately. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, COME OUT.
There are other churches that teaches the principles of Christ. Some may not be perfect. If you can't find a good church, ask god to guide you. You can also use Google Maps to find a church that stick to the principles of Christ.
