Whole Counsel of God

For the Whole World

Asking questions can be a great learning device. Jesus, the Master Teacher, often asked questions. He did so to focus the attention of people on great truths.

Some Penetrating Questions

The following are questions for members of churches which if one answers correctly, can be very helpful in his appraising properly his religious status or the condition of his soul. I plead with all who belong to a church to please study carefully the questions and the answers and observations regarding each. In the following questions, by "the church to which you belong," I do not mean the congregation of which you are a member, but I mean the religious body of which the congregation of which you are a member is a part.

1. Does one have to be a member of the church to which you belong in order to receive the remission of or forgiveness of his sins? If you answer the foregoing "Yes," and your answer is right, it follows that everyone will have to be in the church you are in to have the remission of his sins. For this reason, the answer of some to the question may be "No."

2. Does one have to be a member of the church to which you belong in order to live the Christian life? If your answer to this question is "Yes," and your answer is right, it follows that everyone who lives the Christian life will have to be in the church you are in. For this reason, the answer of some may be "No."

3. Does one have to be in the church to which you belong to go to heaven? If your answer to this question is "Yes," and you are right, it follows that all who go to heaven will have to be in the church you are in. For this reason, some may answer the question "No."

4. What could one possibly want religiously more than (1) the remission of his sins, (2) to live the Christian life and (3) to go to heaven after he dies? I do not think there is anything one could possibly want in addition to these. Do you? If there is something else one would want or could have religiously, what is it?

5. If your answer to questions 1, 2 and 3 above is "No," and if your answer to question 4 is that there is nothing else one could want religiously than (1) remission of sins, (2) to live the Christian life and (3) to go to heaven, then there is another very serious question you should ponder and that is, "Why are you in the church you are in?" If you can have (1) remission of sins, (2) live the Christian life and (3) go to heaven after you die without having to be in the church you are in, why are you in that church?

If you were to try to get me to be in the church you are in, and tell me I did not have to be in it (1) to have remission of sins, (2) to live the Christian life and (3) to go to heaven after I die, I do not believe you could persuade me to become a member of the church of which you are a member! Why should I be a member of it?

The Church in the New Testament

If one knew nothing about any kind of church and if he did not know the Bible existed, and then he found a Bible and read and followed it, to what church would he belong? In the Bible one learns that those who received the remission of sins through the power of the blood of Christ were added to something called the church in the New Testament.

According to the New Testament, those who were Christians were in the church we read about in that book. So, the New Testament teaches that those who lived the Christian life were those who were members of the church we read about in the New Testament. The New Testament also teaches that those who had the one hope, the hope of going to heaven, were those who were in the one body of Christ the New Testament calls the church.

All one has to do to see that the foregoing truths are taught in the New Testament is to just read carefully the New Testament. Try it and see for yourself if you have not done so. If one reads carefully the New Testament, he will see that it teaches that one has to be in the church he reads about in the New Testament in order (1) to have the remission of sins, (2) to live the Christian life and (3) to go to heaven.

People have gotten matters all mixed up and very confusing, but the way out of all the religious chaos and confusion is to read and study the New Testament and see that it clearly teaches that Christ is our Saviour, and that our Savior saves his church. I know of no insight more important and more needed than this simple, yet profound truth.