The opposition is commonly called Easy Believism. A lot of their material comes from teachers at the Dallas Theological Seminary, like Ryrie, Hodge, and others. Most of them teach that becoming Jesus' disciple is not necessarily part of God's gift of salvation. They say this may happen at salvation, or it might happen later on. They teach that surrendering our life to follow God at any cost is not part of salvation. They say that it is wrong to use verses like Luke 14:25-35 to talk about salvation. "And there went great multitudes with him: and he turned, and said unto them, If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple. For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it? Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him, Saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish. Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first, and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand? Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth an ambassage, and desireth conditions of peace. So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple. Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his savor, wherewith shall it be seasoned? It is neither fit for the land, nor yet for the dunghill; but men cast it out. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear."
Yet notice in Luke 14:25 that Jesus is speaking to the multitude, which includes lost people. Clearly Jesus is not using bad doctrine. He is not worried that this will give them the wrong idea about salvation.
I want to make a little observation. Acts 11:26 says, "the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch." Since the disciples were not called Christians until this time, what were they called before that? Obviously they were called disciples, and the term Christian was tagged to them (the disciples) later. I am not relying on this observation to prove my present view of Salvation. There are other points, which I think are more important to prove Lordship Salvation. The point here is that "disciple" is not a term of a select group of Christians. Acts doesn't show a larger group of Christians and a smaller select group that eventually become disciples. All the Christians were disciples first, and the term "Christian" was merely tagged to them later. It would seem, according to God's word, that we should first be a disciple before someone would call us a Christian.
In Luke 14, when Jesus talks about what it takes to become a disciple, He is talking about what it takes to become a Christian. The term Christian hadn't even been invented yet. Remember that they weren't called disciples until years later in Acts 11.
Easy Believism people try to change or water down the meaning of biblical words. Some even intimidate people by saying they know the Greek. And yes they are often good at Greek, but sometimes they let their prejudice blind them. I have seen them water down the word "Lord" in the scriptures, so as to propagate their false doctrine. Consider Rom. 10:13: "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." Lord means "boss", pure and simple. We need to hold to the true meaning of words, lest we corrupt God's message. I don't need to argue about the meaning of "Lord", for I think we all know what it means if we are honest. Jesus clearly understood what Lord meant when He said "why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?" Does this not clearly teach that "Lord" means to surrender our will to His will? When Rom.10:13 says "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved," it is telling us we must call on the Lord. And Jesus already told us not to bother if we don't really mean it. We call on Jesus to save us by calling on Him as Lord to take control of our lives.
God doesn't use bait and switch tactics. He tells us right up front that when we call on the Lord to save us, we lose our lives to Him. Thus we are not our own any more. Paul was talking to all the believers in Corinth when he sarcastically reminded them (1 Cor. 6:19-20) "ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's." Yes they lost their lives when they got saved. Jesus also said in Mark 8:35 "For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it." Not only do we have the word "save' here, but the context yells that Jesus is talking about salvation.
Easy Believism has watered down the words "believe" and "faith" so that they loose much of their biblical impact. The words "faith" and "believe' in our English translations come from the same Greek family of words. I remember a few years ago when a missionary translator was asked, after spending years going over the original Greek meanings of words in the Bible, what changes would he make if he were to do a Modern English translation of the Bible? The seasoned translator replied that he would translate the word "believe-faith" to "trust and obey". He went on to say that when he was making a translation for the last tribe he worked with, he kept looking for a word in their language for the Greek word "believe-faith". As he was listening to the natives tell a story one-day he heard a word for "hear" that was different from the one they usually used. He asked them what was different about this new word for "hear. They said that this word meant not only to just hear, but to be so convinced that what they heard was true, they were moved to action. The translator said he had found the proper word for the word to translate "believe-faith." In seven instances the King James accurately translated the root word for "faith- believe" as "obey", because they understood what the word meant.
The Greek definition of trusting can be illustrated by sitting in a chair. I can say I believe all day long that a chair will hold me up. But until I actually sit in that chair and give myself to it I can not really say (using that Greek word) that I believe the chair will hold me up.
The following is a story to help people see whether or not they really believe in the Gospel. The story is about the Great Walenza, a high wire artist. It illustrates the biblical concept of real belief, trust and faith. I am repeating something from memory that I heard from someone else, so the details are probably not real accurate; but the illustration is profitable. The story goes that the Great Walenza was before a big crowd that had gathered to watch him walk a tight rope across the Niagara Falls. The wind was blowing and everyone was skeptical as to whether he could do it. Standing on the platform Walenza turned to the crowd and asked if they thought he could walk to the other side and back. They advised him not to do it because they thought he would probably kill himself. He ventured across just the same, and returned quite safely.
Next he raised the stakes. He asked the crowd if they thought he could take a wheelbarrow across and return. At this point they didn't know if he could do it or not, but they told him it probably wasn't a good idea. Again he successfully completed the crossing with the wheelbarrow.
Then he raised the stakes yet again, and asked the crowd if they thought he could take a wheelbarrow across with four fifty-pound sacks of concrete. By this time the crowd knew he was skilled enough to do whatever he tried. So they yelled, "You can do it! You can do it!" And he surely did go across and return safely.
On his final crossing he dramatically increased the risk factor yet again. He asked the cheering crowd if they believed he could put a grown man in his wheelbarrow and cross the falls safely. The crowd went wild and yelled, "We believe you! We believe you can do it!" Then he asked which one of them was willing to climb into the wheelbarrow and go with him. Suddenly the crowd became deathly silent as he asked one and then another, "You there, will you go?" And one by one they answered him that there was no way they were going to get into his wheelbarrow. Can't you hear them objecting? "You must be crazy, there's no way I am getting into that thing. I wasn't born yesterday, you know." Walenza went on until one person was willing to go with him. The gentleman climbed in the wheelbarrow and they went across the falls and returned safely. The question, then, is how many people in that crowd really believed? The answer, obviously, is only one.
Now let me ask you the question again. Which person in the crowd really believed Walenza could cross the falls with a man in the wheelbarrow? Remember, everyone in the crowd said they believed he could do it. But only one person was willing to submit himself to Walenza's skill. Only one had real faith or belief.
What is the practical application of this story? It's not that we should trust high wire artists with wheelbarrows. But we do need to trust Jesus this way with our life. Have you trusted Jesus to forgive you of your sins and take control of your life? If you really believe that He loves you enough to die for you, and that he rose from the dead and lives today, than you will demonstrate it by saying, "Thank you for dying for my sins, I will trust you to take control of my life." When we really believe in the love of God, we will beg Him to come in and take control of our lives.
If I was in the stock market, and the greatest stock advisor in the world came to visit me, I would count it a privilege to have him tell me what to do. People pay him to tell them what to do. I would be excited if I could submit to his leadership for free, so he could multiply my money for me. Isn't it even a better deal to give Jesus control of our life? Do you really believe that?
It's easy to see why King James translated the Greek word "believe" as "commit unto" (or similar variations) in eight different places in the bible. In seven other instances, they translated the root word as "obey". Do we really believe?
There are clear verses, dealing with salvation, that Easy Believism people do not think we should use to tell a lost person how to be saved. Mark 8:35 says "For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it." But not only do we have the word "save" here, the context shouts that Jesus is talking about salvation. Consider the next two verses, to see if they are talking about salvation: "For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" When they have a problem sharing these verses with a lost person to show them the way of salvation, they have a problem with Jesus. I choose to follow Jesus' example here when I share salvation. I ask the person if they want Jesus to come into their life, and save them from living a selfish life of going their own way. I ask if they are willing to follow Him, and to let Him use their life to share the Gospel with others. Do they want to trust Him to be the Lord of their life?
Easy Believism sometimes tries to depict Lordship Salvation as teaching a works orientated salvation. This is not true. Lordship people just believe in a greater salvation than Easy Believism people. Mat. 1:21 says "and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people FROM their sins." Notice that He does not say "shall save his people IN their sins." If a person wants to keep going their own way, being the lord of their own life, then they don't really want the salvation gift God has to offer; they don't really want to be saved from their sins. No one can lessen the free gift that Jesus offers.
If a person does not believe God to save them from one particular sin, how can they really believe Jesus to save them from all their sins? Which is easier to trust God for: deliverance from just one sin, or from all our sins? Shouldn't we question if they really believe that Jesus rose from the dead?
We can not and do not have to fully understand how God saves a blind, rebellious man who is dead in his sins. We just believe Mark 10: 27 when it says "With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible." But He tells us what to do and say in order to share the Gospel. And we know that when we share the Gospel, it releases the power of God that can save men (Rom. 1:16). God said "The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law" (Duet 29:29). God is not interested in telling us all the details about how He does things, but He does tell us everything we need to know to DO His will. He wants us to follow Him, believing that He knows everything, and trust Him to do the rest of what needs to be done in order to save someone.
Easy Believism people misuse verses like Rom. 10:10 "For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." They say that all you need to do is to confess it with your mouth and you will be saved. But let's not leave out the first part of the verse, which says we need to believe unto righteousness. And let's also not forget the context of calling on Him as Lord (10:13). You have to really believe in your heart, which God sees completely and accurately.
Some of the really liberal Easy Believism people believe that if you merely confess with your mouth that Jesus can save you, that God in turn has to save you. They quote 1 John 5:13 "These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God." Yet we make no quarrel that you can now know that you have eternal life. So why do they skip verses like 1 John 2:3-5,19,29, 3:5-10, and 5:4? These verses tell us that those who are truly saved will overcome sin. These verses also warn us that not everyone who professes to be saved really is. 1 John teaches us ways to recognize the difference, so that we can know if we are really saved.
I can not go over all the verses that they misuse. But we hope to some day have a section for misused passages, like Rom. 7 . The context there deals with what effect the law had on Paul when he was lost, and how it helped him to get saved. Another passage we hope to cover one day is 1 Cor. 3, concerning carnal Christians. If you have a particular verse that is giving you problems, or that you think supports Easy Believism, please tell us the verse and we will try, Lord willing, to get back with you.
Please don't be like the good old Baptist deacon who died and thought he was going to heaven. At his funeral everyone kept reassuring themselves that he was up in heaven. But he ended up in hell. Day after day he kept lifting up people's heads out of the lake of fire, and then dropping them. Lifting them up, and then dropping them. Finally the devil asked him what he was doing. He said he was looking for all those people who kept telling him not to worry because he was a Christian. My friend, it is better to offend people now, taking a stand for the gospel, than to regret it later. Love seeks the others best, which is why Jesus said plainly "whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple." Don't try to shortcut God, because it will not work.