My Journey to the Darkside

I was saved at the age of sixteen. Soon after I began to wonder why I had come to Christ while others go to their graves hostile to the Gospel. At this point I asked Betty, the mother of the twins, Kevin and Karen, who had led me to Christ. Her respnse was that somebody must have been praying for me. Hmmm. Why did somebody pray for me and not those who die outside of Christ? Her answer only brought up more questions that needed to be delt with. Very frustrating.

About two years later some friends and I were discussing Romans 9-11. There was Carol, her brother Salvatore, Tim, Doug, and myself. We went back and forth on these verses. This conversation left a very deep impression on me. Salvatore stated boldly, " Well, I chose Him!" Carol ended the whole thing by stating that she was getting sick to her stomach. I was too,but the wonderment continued.

Enter Jim Domn. The year was 1977, and I was now twenty. He was a youth pastor that I had known since 1975. In the mean time he had stumbled across the Doctrines of Grace (DoG). One night in the summer of said '77 he sat me down to introduce me to the DoG. There was that sick feeling again. I offered up all the garden variety arguments against the DoG. Deep down though I knew he was right, and that I was wrong. After that initial encounter, though, he and I lost contact with eachother. I was glad. The challenge was now gone. What a relief.

Then came the car accident in May of 1978. There I was laid up in bed for what would be a six week stay. I was fairly popular and had many visitors, especially in the first two weeks. Well... One of those visitors was good old Jim. I dreaded the sight of him walking through the door. There was that sick feeling again. I was so hoping he would not bring up that subject again. Then, there it happened. He said, "Mark, we have some unfinished business to discuss." He was right. I determined that if my life was to be controlled by the Word of God then I must face this thing head-on.

Fast forward several weeks. I was now in my parent's living room with a full length cast on my leg. I had Jim come over to discuss Romans 8-11. There was no honest way around it. God elects people to salvation. I ran to my pastor about this. Perhaps he could help me out of the problem I had with receiving this truth. He recommended I read Robert Shank's "Life In The Son". This I did. But Shank believes people can lose their salvation. I was NEVER persuaded by that line of thinking even though those who led me to Christ believed that way as well as the church I attended. So, Shank's book was no help.

My journey to the Darkside was now complete. From 1978 on to the present the DoG makes the most sense of any system that I have encountered.

The Good News of God's Grace

…the Lord had called us for to preach the gospel unto them
(Acts 16:10)

First the bad news…

We can't make it to heaven on our own; no one is good enough to meet God’s perfect standard. Romans 3:23 says all have sinned, and all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Did you know that’s what He requires, perfection (Matthew 5:48)? It’s true. Now come on, admit it, you aren’t perfect, you may be better than a lot of people, but are you as good as God? Left to ourselves, we all will die without God, and that is bad news, indeed. However, that isn’t the end of the story.

Now for the good news…

God had a plan all along; he knew what he was doing. He would show his mercy and grace to a people he would call out for himself. He would send his own son, to die for those people’s sins, and give those called out people the righteousness they needed, the righteousness of his own son, Jesus. Jesus executed that plan; he came to earth and lived a perfectly righteous life, and allowed himself to die for our sins. He was a righteous man, the only righteous man ever, paying the penalty due us. His death meant that God would grant us mercy. His life meant God would give us grace. You see the mercy is God forgiving our sins because Jesus paid the penalty with his death, and the grace is God giving us a righteous standing based on Christ’s perfect life. God accounts our sin to Jesus’ account, and Jesus’ righteousness to our account. This great exchange is explained to us in 2 Corinthians 5:21 – he who knew no sin (that’s Jesus) became sin for us (he paid the penalty) that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him (through his perfect life we meet God’s standard). God had spoken of this plan before Jesus was even born (Isaiah 53:6), and he proved that this sacrifice and this way was what he planned all along by raising Jesus from the dead (Romans 1:4 / 4:25).

Now we obviously didn't deserve it, but that’s grace, my friend (1 John 4:9-10). God draws us to Him in a way that he knows we will respond to if we are one of his, and God gives this gift to us freely. All God asks us to do is believe (John 3:16 / Romans 10:9). When we accept Jesus sacrificial death to forgive our sins, the bible calls this being justified by faith (Romans 5:1), and God counts Christ’s righteousness as our own. But there’s more, because God also leads us into a more holy life, where we learn to truly seek after and please God, and God ensures that we will make it to heaven. Because God didn’t leave us to ourselves, when we die we will be with God, and that is good news, indeed. If you will believe, you’ll make it to heaven, and that’s the end of the story.

Is Jesus your Lord?

On various Christian blogs I have seen the term “Lordship Salvation” equated with Calvinism, Reformed doctrine, or the doctrines of grace – and by folks well familiar with the doctrines.

What I don’t understand – and perhaps this is my own lack of familiarity with the history of the term – is why equating Lordship with any doctrine is a bad thing.

For the life of me, I can’t understand why Christians would disdain it. It seems to be held in utter contempt by non-Calvinists.

Even in the days before I came to hear of or read the doctrines of grace, I wanted Jesus to be my Lord. Even before I understood what was going on in me and in my life – when I first bowed my knee before Him to beg forgiveness, repent, and be saved – I wanted Him to be my Lord, not just my Savior. It never occurred to me that there would be any other way to live – having Him as Savior but not Lord.

I have to wonder – why, oh why, would Lordship in any doctrine be considered a bad thing?

Does it not, in fact, promote and even endorse a lazy Christianity to suggest that He need not be one’s Lord?

I for one need Him to be my Lord.