Church Does Not Save

I have been an avid viewer of The Little House On The Prairie series. Charles Ingles imbodies the father we all want, Kathrine Ingles the mother many of us all had, and the entire town of Walnut Grove, a quiet little town where good Christian folk come together during hard times. There are many worthwhile and good lessons, even parables to be had in The Little House series, however, I was quite disturbed by one of first episodes which featured Charles Ingles working too hard, even on the Sabbath. Reverend Alden preaches to those in pews, mostly women and children, "I have noticed how your husbands are absent, I hope that you will remind them that we are all sinners, and we need to come to Church to be forgiven of those sins." What contrary statement to the Gospel! Not to mention Charles Ingles who didn't attend church due to his need to rest from hard work actually fulfills what Jesus said, "The Son of Man is even Lord over the Sabbath," (Matthew 12:8) and "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath," (Mark 2:27).

Rev. Alden goes awry with his reasoning that the Church imparts forgiveness, giving way to much credence and misinterpreting, "Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective."(James 5:16). Had Rev. Alden been a Catholic Priest, then I could dismiss this statement are pure Catholic propaganda of The Sacrament of Eucharist and the need to attend Mass and Confession for remission of sins. The truth is that Alden and the Catholic Church are wrong, Jesus Christ has already forgiven us all our sins, "He was handed over to die because of our sins, and he was raised to life to make us right with God (justification)," (Romans 4:25) and we are now, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old (life) has passed away; behold, the new has come," (2 Corinthians 5:17), "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me," (Galatians 2:20), "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God," (2 Corinthians 5:21), "But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light, Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy," (1 Peter 2:9-10), "So then you are no longer foreigners and noncitizens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of God's household," (Ephesians 2:19), "What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin." (Romans 6:1-6). There is nothing in the New Testament, the bedrock, the Bible that states we must attend church to be saved. In fact, the direct opposite is proposed by the Apostle Paul, "He has saved us and called us to a holy life--not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel," (2 Timothy 1:9-10), and, "For He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless in His presence," (Ephesians 1:4).
Church does not save or forgive us, nor the priest or pastor, it is Christ Jesus that saves! Behold the evidence, "But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation," (Colossians 1:22), "All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation," (2 Corinthians 5:18-19), "For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross," (Colossians 1:19-20), "so also Christ died once for all time as a sacrifice to take away the sins of many people. He will come again, not to deal with our sins, but to bring salvation to all who are eagerly waiting for him," (Hebrews 9:28), "Christ suffered for our sins once for all time. He never sinned, but he died for sinners to bring you safely home to God. He suffered physical death, but he was raised to life in the Spirit," (1 Peter 3:18), and "And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God." (1 Corinthians 6:11). Nothing there about church saving or forgiving, but plenty about Jesus Christ sanctifying, washing, and removing our sins!

I know that I should not be hard on Reverend Alden, after all in later episodes he shows people sound doctrine. But it isn't so much Alden that irks me, but his message, which is entirely Catholic in nature. I know for a fact Walnut Grove's Church is Protestant, not Catholic (I have watched through the entire series twice lately). The people have Bibles and read them, there is never a Eucharist presented, nor a confessional or even the statue of Madonna, or Rev. Alden speaking of saints. What concerns me is that the yoke Alden is preaching is heavy, much like Jesus called the Pharisee yokes, "They crush people with unbearable religious demands and never lift a finger to ease the burden." (Matthew 23:4, NLT). Charles Ingles is wrong to work on Sabbath, but not wrong to rest and miss Sunday service, since the heart of Sabbath is rest for the Creator and Creation. Shaming people to attend service is appalling! For The Apostle Paul said, "Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day." (Colossians 2:16), and "One person considers one day more sacred than another; another considers every day alike. Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind." (Romans 14:5). People are not required to attend services, or meetings, it is beneficial (Hebrews 10:25) to see brothers and sisters in Christ, but it does not merit salvation or forgiveness.

Somehow from Catholic to some Protestant circles, ministers make something else the source of salvation. Catholics have the Sacraments, Eastern Orthodox their holy life style (asceticism), certain Seventh Day Adventists that they follow the Levitical Law, some Pentecostals if you have the Gifts of Holy Spirit, particularly Tongues. Every time ecclesiastics error is when they place the path and gate to salvation and forgiveness on anything or anyone short of Jesus Christ. For it is Christ alone that atones for our sins, "But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate before the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One, He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world." (1 John 2:1-2). Jesus Christ is the only gate to be saved (John 10:9) and He has accomplished all that is necessary to save us on the cross. Our only requirement is to believe this, to believe in Him and we shall be saved (Romans 10:9, John 3:16-18).