Gospel - False View

  • BIBLE (Correct):  The Gospel is the good news that Jesus fulfilled the Law, never sinned (1 Pet. 2:22), that he died for our sins (1 Pet. 3:18), cancelled out the certificate of debt (Col. 2:14) through the death, burial, and resurrection (1 Cor. 15:1-4), and that by faith we receive what Christ has done on our behalf (Rom. 5:1; Eph. 2:8-9) so that we might rest in Christ (Matt. 11:28) and not try and achieve or maintain our salvation by our works (Rom. 4:1-5).
     
  • CS:  The gospel is the demonstration of divine power.  It is the good news as is revealed in Christian Science that includes right thinking and healing.  It is not the shed blood of Christ on the cross.
    • “…thus losing the divine power which heals the sick and sinning, — they were to be brought back through great tribulation, to be renamed in Christian Science and led to deny material sense, or mind in matter, even as the gospel teaches,” (S&H, p. 309).
      “…thus losing the divine power which heals the sick and sinning, — they were to be brought back through great tribulation, to be renamed in Christian Science and led to deny material sense, or mind in matter, even as the gospel teaches,” (S&H, p. 309).
       
  • ISLAM:  There is no good news message in Islam.  Salvation consists of doing good and hoping that Allah will grant the Muslim salvation.  It is works righteousness.  "Then when the Trumpet is blown, there will be no more relationships between them that Day, nor will one ask after another! 102Then those whose balance (of good deeds) is heavy, they will attain salvation: 103 But those whose balance is light, will be those who have lost their souls, in Hell will they abide" (Quran 23:101-103).
     
  • JW:  The Gospel that leads to forgiveness of sins consists of...
    • “taking in knowledge of” God, obeying God’s laws, being associated with God’s organization, and being “loyally advocating his Kingdom rule to others,” (Watchtower, Feb. 15, 1983, p. 12). 
       
  • LDS:  The Mormon gospel consists of laws and ordinances:
    • “Ordinances are basic to the gospel. Now, what is the gospel of which we speak? It is the power of God unto salvation; it is the code of laws and commandments which help us to become perfect, and the ordinances which constitute the entrance requirements” (The Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, p.502, 12 President).
    • "As these sins are the result of individual acts it is just that forgiveness for them should be conditioned on individual compliance with prescribed requirements -- 'obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel,'" (Articles of Faith, p. 79)
    • “Those who reject the gospel, but who live honorable lives, shall also be heirs of salvation, but not in the celestial kingdom. The Lord has prepared a place for them in the terrestrial kingdom.” (Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation 2:133-134).
       
  • RC: The gospel is strictly defined as the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, but Catholicism adds works to it.  Therefore, it is earned.  Also, the gospel is tied to the authority of the RC church and people may be saved without the gospel.
    • “In every circumstance, each one of us should hope, with the grace of God, to persevere 'to the end' and to obtain the joy of heaven, as God's eternal reward for the good works accomplished with the grace of Christ," (Catechism of the Catholic Church, par. 1821).
    • “…so that all men may attain salvation through faith, Baptism and the observance of the Commandments," (CCC, par 2068).
    • "But I would not believe in the Gospel, had not the authority of the Catholic Church already moved me,” (CCC, 119).
    • “Those who, through no fault of their own, do not know the Gospel of Christ or his Church, but who nevertheless seek God with a sincere heart, and, moved by grace, try in their actions to do his will as they know it through the dictates of their conscience - those too may achieve eternal salvation,” (CCC, 847).
    • “The liturgical feasts dedicated to the Mother of God and Marian prayer, such as the rosary, an “epitome of the whole Gospel,” express this devotion to the Virgin Mary,” (CCC, 971).

 

 

 

 
 
CARM ison