What’s Wrong with Four Spiritual Laws

1^st Law: God LOVES you and offers a wonderful PLAN for your life.

God's Love

"God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life" (John 3:16 NIV).

God's Plan

[Christ speaking] "I came that they might have life, and might have it abundantly" [that it might be full and meaningful] (John 10:10).

Misleading Errors of the 1^st Law:

1. It does not define God’s Love. The word Love to an average listener means a completely different thing than what the Bible teaches, and it must be carefully explained of what God’s love is like. He is NOT a Santa Clause who just wants to lavish everyone with great gifts.

2. Similarly, it does not define what the “Wonderful” plan is. It uses John 10:10 to explain an “abundant” life, and once again to an average listener this sounds like “affluent” life.

3. These two concepts of “Love” and “Wonderful” create a gospel that is similar to prosperity Gospel. To the person who is already having a “wonderful” life, he or she would simply reply: “No, thank you, my life is wonderful, and I am not interested in that wonderful life.” To the person who lives in pain and suffering, it creates a false hope. And once he or she finds out it is actually costly to be a Christian, she will quickly abandon this “wonderful plan.”

4. God indeed has a plan for everyone, but it may not be wonderful according to an average person’s understanding.

Why is it that most people are not experiencing the abundant life?

Because...

2^ND Law: Man is SINFUL and SEPARATED from God. Therefore, he cannot know and experience God's love and plan for his life.

Man Is Sinful

"All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23).

Man was created to have fellowship with God; but, because of his stubborn self-will, he chose to go his own independent way, and fellowship with God was broken. This self-will, characterized by an attitude of active rebellion or passive indifference, is evidence of what the Bible calls sin.

Man Is Separated

"The wages of sin is death" [spiritual separation from God] (Romans 6:23).

Misleading Errors of the 2^nd Law:

1. It has failed to explain the propensity and severity of our sin. Sin has damaged our intellect, will, and emotions. Therefore we worship false gods, we pursue false glories, and we use wicked means to accomplish our goals. We murder, rape, fornicate, steal, covet, lie, and commit high treason against the only King to pursue self-glorification and self-pleasure. Thus corrupted by sin, we are punishable by death and are condemned to eternal punishment in the fiery hell. “Separation” from God and his “Wonderful Plan” is true, but it is an incomplete picture of sin’s consequences.

2. It is also disturbing to find the four Spiritual Laws avoided using “eternal punishment in hell” as it describes sin’s consquences. It quotes Rom. 6:23 to emphasize death and separation, yet it does not point out this “Loving” God will send people to hell for eternity. By avoiding the crucial points of our gospel, it has created a false picture of the gospel. (If not a false gospel altogether.)

3^rd Law: Jesus Christ is God's ONLY provision for man's sin. Through Him you can know and experience God's love and plan for your life.

He Died in Our Place

"God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8).

He Rose From the Dead

"Christ died for our sins...He was buried...He was raised on the third day, according to the Scriptures...He appeared to Peter, then to the twelve. After that He appeared to more than five hundred..." (1 Corinthians 15:3-6).

He Is the Only Way to God

"Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me'" (John 14:6).

God has bridged the gulf which separates us from Him by sending His Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross in our place to pay the penalty for our sins.

Misleading Errors of the 3^rd Law:

1. The death of Christ is presented in the context of bridging the separation between God and man. While this may not be wrong in itself, the central point of Jesus’ death is to satisfy God’s justice, that is, sinners must be punished, and sin’s penalties must be paid. The four spiritual laws have focused on presenting God’s love, and overlooked His justice. As many critics often ask, why would a loving God must abuse his son on the cross and let him suffer the bloody death? Why can’t a loving God just simply forgive all of our sins? The four spiritual laws offered no answers.

2. Jesus has become a means to an end, and not the one Awesome God whom we need to worship and obey. Jesus helps us to get to God, and he helps us to experience that wonderful life. This is no different than any other religion which uses their gods as a means to wealth and “wonderful” lives.

3. The deity of Christ is omitted. I do not think the person who wrote the four spiritual laws would deny the deity of Jesus, but this omission is not a small misstep. If our gospel presentation fails to emphasize that Jesus is fully God and fully human, the one who deserves our worship, we have removed a central theme of the gospel from our presentation.

4^th Law: We must individually RECEIVE Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord; then we can know and experience God's love and plan for our lives.

We Must Receive Christ

"As many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name" (John 1:12).

We Receive Christ Through Faith

"By grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast" (Ephesians 2:8,9).

When We Receive Christ, We Experience a New Birth

(Read John 3:1-8)

We Receive Christ by Personal Invitation

[Christ speaking] "Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any one hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him" (Revelation 3:20).

Receiving Christ involves turning to God from self (repentance) and trusting Christ to come into our lives to forgive our sins and to make us what He wants us to be. Just to agree intellectually that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that He died on the cross for your sins is not enough. Nor is it enough to have an emotional experience. You receive Jesus Christ by faith, as an act of the will.

The following explains how you can receive Christ:

You can receive Christ right now by faith through prayer:

(Prayer is talking to God)

God knows your heart and is not so concerned with your words as He is with the attitude of your heart. The following is a suggested prayer:

"Lord Jesus, I need You. Thank You for dying on the cross for my sins. I open the door of my life and receive You as my Savior and Lord. Thank You for forgiving my sins and giving me eternal life. Take control of the throne of my life. Make me the kind of person You want me to be."

Does this prayer express the desire of your heart? If it does, I invite you to pray this prayer right now and Christ will come into your life, as He promised.

Misleading errors:

1. Receiving Jesus has been described as an act of the will. It is true that faith is an act of the will, but the Four Spiritual Laws reduced the act of the will to a prayer. We must exercise our faith by our regenerated will, but will also involves actions such as following Jesus, carrying our cross daily, denying ourselves, participating in the church--the body of Christ, receiving water baptism and Communion, growing in His word and in the knowledge of Him, enduring persecutions, giving 10% of our income, and etc.

2. Salvation is presented as a one-time deal: one prayer will solve all your problems. Salvation in the Bible is a life-long pilgrimage, being a disciple of Jesus, and commitment to Christ and His Church. However, the salvation presented in the four spiritual laws gospel fails to give the holistic picture of our salvation.

Conclusion:

All in all, the Four Spiritual Laws are not false on its own, but it skillfully avoided some of the difficult issues in the gospel: 1. Creation, 2. Full Deity of Jesus, 3. Severity of our sins, 4. Eternal Judgment, 5. Our life-long commitment. By doing so it is guilty of untruthful advertisement. Like a used-car salesman who tells you all the good things but avoided all the problems in the car, the Four Spiritual Laws tries to sell the gospel in the positive way. The gospel presented in the Four Spiritual Laws is no better than the prosperity gospel: a God who is eager to shower mankind with blessings if we would only believe Him and say a sinners’ prayer. My dear brothers and sisters, let us be faithful to the original message that Christ has entrusted us. (2 Tim. 1:14)

A better gospel presentation: Redemptive History (The Story of the Bible)

If someone asks you what does the Bible teach, you should be able to at least mention these things.

1. Creation. God created us and have already given us many wonderful gifts and blessings, yet we are often unthankful and never glorify God for His goodness.

a. Emphasize on what God has already given you. Intelligence, health, relatively wealthy. He is wonderful, that he hasn’t strike us for sins each time we sin.

b. Do read some books on creation/evolution issues. We want to prepared to give an answer to the critics. But be sensitive to the Holy Spirit, don’t make it a full creation v.s. evolution debate. If a person is combative, just politely back away. Debates don’t win people to Christ.

2. Fall. We have committed high treason against the King of the universe. Adam’s first sin is rebellion, not gluttony.

a. Present the 10 Commandments clearly if necessary. The 1^st function of the law is to make us aware of our sins. Most people do not know what sin is anymore, and Rom. 3:23 could be inadequate at times.

3. God’s Goodness and Justice

a. A good God must punish sins. A person whose dear one who was murdered or raped will want a JUST God to punish the escaped criminal. A God who doesn’t punish sinners is evil, not a good God.

b. A good God also wants to save sinners from punishment. God’s Justice and Loving kindness clashes on the cross in the form of Jesus the Son of God died to receive justice in our place.

4. Jesus is fully God and fully man.

a. He lived a perfect life.

b. He really died for our sins.

c. He rose again on the third day.

5. God’s people.

a. God have always saved a people, consisted of individuals.

b. The church is that people, and we must be a part of the church to be saved.

c. One must be baptized in be a part of the church, and receive holy communion.

d. One must stay faithful in the church, receiving its teachings, learning to pray, and to love and serve.

e. Faith is consisted of 3 parts, knowledge, assent (agreement) and commitment (following Jesus).

6. Kingdom of God.

a. Jesus the King will come and set up His kingdom on earth.

b. Serve Him and love Him, and we will be together with him forever.

c. He will come judge all the un-repented sinners and punish them in the eternal hell of fire.

Remember to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit’s guidance when sharing the gospel. Some people may have different struggles. Listen carefully when he or she speaks, form loving and long term friendship with that person. Your goal is not to have him say a prayer, but to have him joining the church by baptism and communion. You will notice my gospel presentation covers the major themes of the Bible, and I can freely add different materials to help my persuasion. For a Chinese, knowing some Chinese history and Chinese Christian history might also help. When encountering a problem you cannot solve, tell him you will find the answer for him or her. Pray for him, give the result to God, love him, and befriend him. Do not treat this person as a project, but treat him as a friend.