Churches that believe in "easy believeism" do not teach you have to give up drinking, or that women must wear dresses to be saved. They teach that you simply trust Jesus to save you and he will, that is why they call it "easy" believeism.
Not "trust." "Believe." "Trust" implies obedience. Easy believism teaches a simple mental acknowledgement of Jesus is sufficient for salvation.
It is those who teach Lordship Salvation that say you must stop doing some things and start doing other things to be saved.
And of course, this is blatantly false. A lie, actually. LS advocates teach that repentance and faith are necessary for salvation, and that "doing" will NECESSARILY follow salvation....rather than obedience being some "optional" second step in the Christian life.
Now, once you are saved by simply believeing on Jesus, most easy believeism churches teach that the Lord wants you to live a godly life. Your salvation is not in question, it is simply a matter of living in obedience to God. The scriptures are very clear that God wants us to give up sin.
Sin....not made up rules. And this is why easy believism is so destructive. It puts the chains of the law back on the believer. It says "have a mental belief!" and "Now, use your will power to obey God." Rather than sanctification being a natural outgrowth of one's regeneration, easy believism burdens the Christian soul with chasing BEHAVIOR, instead of chasing CHRIST.
2 The 3:13 But ye, brethren, be not weary in well doing.
14 And if any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man, and have no company with him, that he may be ashamed.
15 Yet count him not as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother.
Paul's command to work. However:
1Jn_3:10 By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.
If you do not practice righteousness, it is evident you are not a child of God. NOT that you "are saved, but need to work harder."
We are supposed to do good as Christians. If someone in the church does not obey, we are not to keep company with him, nevertheless, we are not to think of him as an enemy or unsaved, but as a brother.
That is patently false.
1Co 5:4 When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus,
1Co 5:5 you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit
may be saved in the day of the Lord.
Mat_18:17 If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.
Lordship Salvation does not do this, if they see someone fall into sin they often assume the person was never saved. Why? Because they believe you have to act a certain way to be saved.
Not at all. Because we believe that saved people act differently. Why do you doubt the scriptures?
Mat 7:20 Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.
1Jn_3:10 By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.
This is not what Paul taught, he taught that we should assume the person is saved, a brother, and admonish him as such. This supports the easy believeism view.
No he didn't. He was talking about someone who wasn't working hard enough, not someone in blatant sin! In 1 Corinthians 5, he says plainly that we are to throw them out of the church, and treat them as an unbeliever.
But it is not legalistic to expect a Christian to turn from sin, we are commanded to do so many times.
Sin, yes. Not as some secondary requirement, though, to be a "better" Christian. It is a natural result of regeneration and indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
And it is not made up rules, like no pants on women, or no gambling...
2 Tim 2:19 Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.
Yep. Nothing in there about pants...
Now, you might not think having a few beers and getting a little happy is sin. You might not think having a heavy metal band on stage is sin, but other folks would.
No one said anything about drunkeness. And I don't care what rules people make up. That is sin; we are commanded not to go beyond what is written.
What I am saying, is that if you observe IFB and other "easy believeism" churches, you will very rarely see a church that is liberal concerning what is sin. You won't see the partying, you won't see the heavy metal band on stage.
What I have seen, is them condemning people as being unbelievers, cause they wear blue jeans or use a Bible other than the KJV.
But go to those churches that push Lordship Salvation and you often will.
Those are the churches I frequent, and by and large they are the most loving and forgiving of churches, and are serious about sin. Just not man-made, invented sin. You go to Grace Community Church (John Macarthur) and see how serious they are about holiness (yet very loving and grace filled).
Your premise is simply false.
