Sad expositor of false doctrine...

Many folks today engage in logical fallacies in order to get what they perceive to be “spiritual truths” out to the masses. Sad that these attempts at using 'faulty comparisons' fail to pass Biblical muster.

I say this in that I just heard Rick Warren on the radio yesterday say “How big do you think God’s hands are? You’re never going to get to the edge of his hands.” He bases this false premise off of John 10:28-29 in order to promote the doctrine of once saved always saved (OSAS, Preservation of the saints, etc.).

While he uses the NIV which is rooted in the fallacious Alexandrian manuscripts I will use the pure Words of God from the KJV which are rooted in the God inspired Antiochian stream ← you’ll have to do your own research on this…

And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. John 10:28-29

The analogy of God’s hands being too big for anyone to ever leave is not actually stated as such in the Bible. Instead people like Rick Warren and myself as well in times past have to make some scriptural twists and turns in order to gyrate around the actual Word of God so that it states what you want it to say. The early church did not do this. These sorts of teachings on once save always saved are for the most part absent from the early church’s records until Calvin came onto the scene in the first part of the 16th century.

As far as God’s hands being too big, that seems to be quite silly IMHO. First I have to ask, where is the scriptural proof for this analogy? It begs the question that if they were that big then how big are His hands really?  And is there an actual edge of His hands or do they make up the entire span of the known universe with no edges at all? It seems that is what is being assumed to some degree. That would beg further questions in that if they were that big then where is the room in the universe for His feet, heart, mind and every other aspect of God mentioned through analogies in the Bible or are we just supposed to allow for the extra-biblical exaggeration without having actual scriptural proof to support it? Oh wait, it’s just an analogy, but really, there has be edges, right?

It seems the OSAS crowd needs to have these extra-biblical analogies in order to pull on the emotions of those who do not want to part from their sins. No matter what they do, no matter what sins they indulge in, habitual or not, they have the assurance from teachers such as Rick Warren that they are in God’s hands forever. They could not walk off even if they wanted to it seems.

If you take the verses on their own without the surrounding verses for context as well as the entirety of scriptures as well then you can assume Rick and other OSAS supporters are correct.

But then you start reading on with a focused intent on gaining the actual context of what God was really saying. Then you read John 10:28-29 again but this time you also include verse 27 and you realize that, wait, there is a condition in there.

Oh no, now what?

Verse 27 states: My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:

This begs the serious question, what if someone says the unbiblical sinner’s prayer (try to find that justified in the Bible…that’s for an entirely different study) and they “accept Jesus into their heart” but they continue on living in willful (unrepentant) sin? Even if they do bear fruits meet for repentance for a time (Matthew 3:8) but then later decide to go back into their sin, are they still qualified for what is stated in John 10:28-29? Well if you float those scriptures out on their own then perhaps but when you include verse 27 then you see what the qualifying condition is. The fact is Jesus’ sheep are the ones who hear His voice and follow Him. If they are not following Him then apparently they walked right out of the symbolic Hand of God. Simply put, verse 27 tells us who are actually in His hand.

God will not force you to stay. This is not my own ideas but a conceptual truth taken directly from the Word of God. If you decide to leave your righteousness after having been made righteous at one time by God after accepting His grace through what Jesus His Son did on the cross for your sins then you can and will indeed die in your sins. In fact God’s Word says your righteousness will be remembered no more:

When a righteous man doth turn from his righteousness, and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumblingblock before him, he shall die: because thou hast not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he hath done shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require at thine hand. Ezekiel 3:20

But if a righteous man repents (stops sinning and turns back to God) then he “shall surely live, because he is warned”. Consider this a warning from me and Ezekiel, well really God to be exact, as we are just messengers. If you are living in unrepentant sin and think you are still saved you need to repent and get right with God…

Don’t take God’s grace for granted…

Nevertheless if thou warn the righteous man, that the righteous sin not, and he doth not sin, he shall surely live, because he is warned; also thou hast delivered thy soul. Ezekiel 3:21

What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? Romans 6:1-2

So to just rest on John 10:28-29 alone is bad when one is trying to ensure they have solid doctrine. Verse 27 alone has shown us that much. But then you read on through John and get to chapter 15. Here we see a parable, an analogy if you will, of God being the husbandman. In Webster’s 1828, a husbandman is a farmer; a cultivator or tiller of the ground; one who labors in tillage. In John 15 He cares for the vine who is Jesus, His Son. It speaks of the branches that were in Him and were not bearing fruit.

I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. John 15:1-6

At one time or another it must be assumed based on scriptural context that there was good fruit or a branch would not have been in the vine in the first place. What we are told is that any branch that is in vine and is not bearing fruit is taken away by the husbandman (God the Father). This alone tells us that when we walk away we really are being assisted out by the Father. Be careful because what Jesus is saying in John 15 is that those branches that are removed are cast “into the fire, and they are burned”. This is why it is important to not take God’s grace for granted and expect that you can keep on sinning so that His grace may abound.