Eternal Obscurity
Pascal’s wager is a common argument within the world of those who defend the Faith. It’s usually in the context of a Christian dialoging with an atheist about the existence of God. The atheist’s beliefs imply that a Christian is wasting his life in submission to a God that doesn’t exist and that it is better to be free to do what you want. The theist, or in this case, the Christian, says “Well, what do I have to lose, if after we die, nothing matters in this life? If I’m a betting man, it’s safer to bet that God exists than it is to bet that he doesn’t. If God does not exist, and I’m wrong, then it doesn’t matter. But if God does exist, and you’re wrong, then there will be Hell to pay.”
The crowd then cheers for the Christian, and everyone presumes this game of theological fencing is over. But has the Christian really struck the final blow?
The atheist may respond, “Well hold on a minute. Do you believe that any theist who believes in God is going to go to heaven?”
“Well, I’m a Christian so, no.”
“Ok, do you think that Christians who don’t agree with your particular sect are going to go to Heaven?”
“Well, that’s a complicated question. I’m a non-denominational Christian so I think that as long as someone believes Jesus is Lord, that they will be saved”, says the Christian.
But the atheist, if he has any knowledge of the scriptures, will refute this easily by saying, “But doesn’t the Bible say that even the demons believe that God exists. They even obey Jesus’ commands. Are they going to Heaven too?”
The wager begins to look a bit bleaker now that the atheist has pointed out that the mere existence of a God is not necessarily sufficient for salvation. One must approach God in the proper way in order that they maybe saved. But unfortunately, pseudo doctrines, like eternal security — the idea that one merely needs to pray a prayer and they will be saved — creates theological blind spots for people.
Theology that Blinds
Eternal security, the idea that one cannot fall away from grace, is a dangerous doctrine because it obscures the clear meaning of scripture. Mainly, that our salvation is not realized unless we have faith and do certain things, like the will of the Father and extending forgiveness (Mt. 7:21-24, 6:15).
But how are we to know the will of the Father, unless we have an institution that authorizes teachers and confirms what Christianity actually teaches? Can we just read the Bible on our own or listen to any old teacher?
All Christians recognize that belief is necessary for salvation, which is part of the will of the Father (Jn. 6:40). But belief implies submission to Christ’s authority, and this authority was given to the apostles (Mt. 28:19-20). The details of this authority are to preach, baptize, and teach. Furthermore, this authority also extends to the forgiveness and retaining of sins,
As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” 22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the holy Spirit. 23 Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.”
Jn. 20:21-23
It is clear that authority is a big part of Christianity, and its abuses and neglect have real consequences for souls. Both Jesus and St. Paul affirm this fact. Jesus says in the Gospel of Matthew,
Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.
Mt. 18:6
If that’s not a strong implication that you’re going to Hell if you intentionally lead people astray, I don’t know what is. St. Paul affirms this as well.
Attend to yourself and to your teaching; persevere in both tasks, for by doing so you will save both yourself and those who listen to you.
1 Tim. 4:16
Finally, Jesus says that those who reject His anointed teachers are actually rejecting Him. This is problematic for the Eternal Security apologists because it follows that, if this verse has any meaning for today, it would mean that if we reject our Christian authorities we are actually rejecting Christ. But how is one to know who has Christ’s authority and who doesn’t? If a Methodist Christian decides they want to become a Presbyterian Christian, has the Methodist rejected Christ by virtue of rejecting Hist teachers?
The only way to get out of this predicament, is to argue that this passage, like Old Testament dietary laws, is no longer applicable for today. But there are no passages in the New Testament that support this claim. In fact, Paul’s claim to Timothy, not an apostle but a disciple, has the same authority as Paul as conferred by the laying on of hands.
This is not a comprehensive look at the importance of authority, nor will it totally refute the Christians who believe eternal security is true. But to sum it up, we can apply Pascal’s wager to this specific belief, rather than the entirety of Christian denominations.
If eternal security is true, then it doesn’t matter what denomination I belong to.
If eternal security is false, then it does matter which denomination I belong to.
Therefore, the denominations that recognize eternal security as false are a safer bet than those that believe it to be true.
Eternal Security is a speculative doctrine based on a hermeneutical scaffold that, ironically, exchanges security in a plain reading of scripture for a doctrine we cannot verify this side of Heaven. In order for the Eternal Security proponent to argue for his doctrine, he will have to either reject the clear reading of scripture and argue that Christians must have teachers in order to understand the text, or he will have to give up his confidence in the idea of eternal security in favor of a doctrine more similar to the “perseverance of the saints”, that is salvation comes through faith evidenced by cooperating with grace via submission to the whole of Christ’s teaching.
— DR.