“Can a man obey false doctrine and be saved? If a man is ‘accepted in spite of his defects,’ as you teach, are the Mormons correct? Are Jehovah’s Witnesses correct? When these people teach false doctrine, will they be ‘accepted in spite of their defects’? Just how far will you ‘stretch your net’? Please tell us. Would you try to teach a Mormon more clearly or would you embrace him as a brother in Christ?”—James B. Murphy.
My Reply
My answer may not completely satisfy our questioner, nor all of you. I hope to be able to communicate my stance with a minimum of confusion. It seems the need to clarify never ends. That being the case, I solicit your patience as I try to speak clearly and distinctly during this experience with words. If my approach to these matters makes for greater understanding and brotherhood, my efforts will not have been wasted.
Just Who Should We Recognize And Accept?
I will recognize and embrace any brother who has experienced the new birth and is honestly striving to serve his Lord as he understands His will—yes, in spite of his doctrinal defects. He may be aligned with a sect, a cult, a religious party, or not aligned with any of them. If he’s a born-again believer but caught up in some divisive religious party, whether Baptist splinter groups, Mormon cult, Church of Christ denomination, Catholic Church sect, or any of the others, I will try my utmost to “show him a more excellent way.” My message to him will be fundamental:
Reform your walk with the Lord by ousting all shades of sectarianism and grasping true
freedom in Jesus.
And so I deliver the same message to my good brother James B. Murphy: Reform your walk with the Lord by ousting all shades of Church of Christism and grasping true freedom in Jesus.
False Doctrine vs. Salvation
My brother asks, “Can a man believe and accept false doctrine and still be saved?” Allow me to reverse the question: Must a man be
flawlessly indoctrinated in all areas before he can be saved? If yes, as my brother seems to imply, none of us will be saved, for not one of us has reached an
absolute level of doctrinal excellence—not even when we initially came to the Lord for salvation.
So, yes, I fellowship those brothers in error. I have no other kind. To one degree or another, all of us are doctrinally defective. Perfection is—or should be—our goal. But we will never attain such a high level as long as we remain in this old earthly tabernacle. This is why God’s grace is so vital in each of our lives, for without His grace to balance things out, we would be lost creatures, wandering in an evil world with no hope of rescue. Paul emphasized this truth to the Ephesians, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God” (Eph. 2:8).
But I suspect our good brother is inquiring about a person believing and accepting false doctrine at the moment he decides to give his life to the Lord. And to this, I will say:
No one is saved, initially, by believing and accepting false doctrine! He is saved by trusting in and
accepting Jesus as Savior.
Believing False Doctrine vs. The New Birth
The speaker or messenger may be as defective as they come, and steeped in error all the way up to his neck. That makes no difference, insofar as a man surrendering his life to the Lord, so long as the messenger points his listener to the Man Jesus.
The candidate may even believe some of the fallacious doctrinal concepts of the messenger, yet this should not affect his initial obedience. When I came to the Lord for salvation, I had been taught—and truly believed—that only within the borders of the non-instrumental music Church of Christ could salvation be found. I believed a false concept prior to accepting the Lord. Did that alter my primal obedience? Absolutely not.
Faulty Concepts And The New Birth
A man may even carry faulty concepts about immersion in water at the time he yields his life to the Lord. Yet if he is immersed because his Lord commands it, having no prior knowledge of Acts 2:38, he is added to the universal body of believers. For, after all, if he can repent without knowing in advance that repentance is “for the remission of sins,” he may also submit to immersion in water without prior knowledge of Acts 2:38. If not, why not?
Accepting Those The Lord Accepts
In conclusion, let us not reject those the Lord accepts. For when we do, we become as much sectarian as those we criticize. If their walk with the Lord is in need of reform, help them. If they need further enlightenment, instruct them. If they are weak in the faith, strengthen them. And to God be the glory!
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