Pilgrim Soldier

There is a conversation going on on Martin’s blog about the political and theological viewpoint of Primitive Salvationism. I felt that I should post what I’ve just said within the conversation.

“Our first calling is for the salvation of the world and that means all people. For this we must be fundamentalists in reaching lost people! Nothing should compromise that goal.

“This does not mean that we must be like the religious right-wing fundamentalism that we associate with the word today. Too much of this is about the picking and choosing where they will apply strict adherence to scripture! Instead of loving the sinner, it is about abusing anyone who doesn’t agree with their viewpoint, whilst being totally ignorant of their own hypocrisy.

“I would say that to be a primitive Salvationist we can be neither liberal nor fundamentalist. Instead our whole lives must reflect Jesus’ life and in all our dealing with people we should act as He did. Therefore we must protect the oppressed, whatever their sin may be, and speak out against the oppressors. We must challenge the sin in peoples’ lives whilst never condemning the people themselves.”

All too often we see Christians judging other people and calling God’s wrath down upon those people that don’t agree with their view. Their reaction is more often about hate than love! At the same time we see Christians who are have gone so far in their battle for inclusiveness within the Church, that they no longer see a person’s sin. Both of these groups are wrong and I believe that The Salvation Army is called to stand firmly in the middle ground, showing without compromise that we Christians are called to the often used phrase of “loving the sinner but hating the sin”.

PS: I try not to add things to posts but I thought that this and this were relevant! We need to be full of grace and truth! Thanks Phil & Patrik!