The Four Spiritual Flaws (A Critique of The Four Spiritual Laws)

Another way of asking it is: “Have you heard of the flaws of the Four Spiritual Laws?” I assure you, I have posted this with the best of intentions. I have nothing personal against Bill Bright who penned this famous gospel tract. Nor do I have anything against witnessing. Rather, I am all about witnessing, but in the most biblical way. This is because I believe the most biblical way is also the most effective way. I do not believe that TFSL’s (The Four Spiritual Laws) are it. There are many gospel tracts devised by well intentioned modern evangelicals. However, because our post-modern world is primarily searching for “inner-peace”, “acceptance”, and “a purpose for life”, the modern church’s gospel has adjusted to satisfy such needs. This is instead of teaching and proclaiming the real gospel which satisfies God’s needs, namely, His justice being carried out because of our lawlessness, either in us, or in us vicariously through Christ!

Many people approach this topic from different Christian backgrounds. Some may have a comprehensive biblical knowledge of the gospel and agree with the points I raise. That is , to the extent I am biblical. I try to be. If you feel otherwise please let me know. On the other hand, some may be ignorant about this whole topic. They may be surprised to learn that the gospel is very different than what their typical Christian influences have told them, or haven’t told them.

Finally, some may read all of my points and get offended because I have challenged their beliefs about what witnessing should and should not entail. One common objection I’ve heard is “well God can still use TFSL’s to save people.” Trust me… I have no doubt that God could use TFSL’s or anything else to save people. He uses fallen sinners for crying out loud! God could use those dorky Christian skits and prophetic dancers to open up people’s eyes to the truth, but I don’t think that is the ultimate standard God calls us to. We are commanded to preach a message that gets us into trouble, not one that is safe. The objection that “well God can still use TFSL’s to save people…” is completely missing the point. The real matter at hand is this: “are we concerned with being the most faithful to Scripture or not?!” We must study, cherish, and preach the most biblical gospel for it is this gospel that is God’s message which will most powerfully and genuinely save.

*Right off the bat TFSL’s would have you go around asking people, “have you ever heard of TFSL’s?” But people do not need “laws” recited to them. In my opinion this will confuse people and sound strange to them. We need only ask “have you heard the true gospel?” We should make sure we are educated enough on the true gospel in hopes that we might effectively share it. It’s so sad to me that I have to even say “true gospel” because there are so many false gospel out there especially among those who claim to be Christians.

*Nevertheless, in the slide above we immediately see a gift of God placed above the gift Giver. TFSL’s present the goal of the gospel to be “God’s plan” for your life, NOT God Himself. This is a very man-centered and un-biblical view of the gospel where man’s felt needs and desires are of primary importance. The true gospel shows that God’s needs are of primary importance. God is holy, other, and pure. If we are found to be unholy because of our sin, then God demands perfect justice. He will execute the eternal torment of His own wrath upon those who deserve it. (Rom 2:5, Eph 2:3) God’s needs are that sin and rebellion must be punished. Before we continue any further, we must keep in mind the essential gospel truth. It is that, “What God demands from us, Christ provides.” It is not: “God wants you to have gifts and Christ provides the way for you to have them.” See the major difference?

*Another thing I’ve noticed with TFSL’s is that the term “God” is too frequently used. How is this effective in witnessing to a Buddhist, a Hindu, or a Mormon who believe in countless gods? How about the Muslim who believes in Allah? It is helpful for yourself and for others to use the name “Jesus”, “Christ”, the “Lord Jesus”, or the “Lord Jesus Christ”. This is because Jesus Christ, the second person of the Trinity, is 1. who relates to us the most (Heb 4:15) and 2. Jesus is the specific one who every sinner must ultimately concern themselves with. He is the only door to salvation and He is the ultimate Judge of us (Phil 2). In Mat 16 Jesus says, “who do YOU say that I am.”

*Secondly, the gospel should rarely begin with God’s love. The unrepentant sinner is a walking corpse. The idea of an all-loving God in such a despairing world is either repugnant or confusing to them. We should not seek to explain God’s love to the unregenerate sinner until we first explain God’s holiness through the Ten Commandments, our lawlessness, our deserved punishment, and then God’s love as seen in the cross. Only in the cross is where we should mention Christ’s love because the cross is the only place where it is available! Those who continually reject Christ are not loved by God, they are hated by Him. John 3:16 says, “God so loved the world that He sent His begotten son that those believing will never perish but have eternal life.” What then will happen to those who do not believe? You guessed it! They will perish.

John 3:16 is touted so often by Christians as only being a love verse. But John 3:16 not only uses the word ‘love’ in it but also the word ‘perish’. John 3:16 is both a love and hate Bible verse! There is a condition by which God loves us instead of hating us, namely, being counted as sinless by way of the faith God grants due to Christ’s atonement (Rom 4:5, Eph 2:8). Therefore, God’s love is most known by the unbeliever… if they believe. Because then they’ll know they are right with God because of Jesus Christ.

*Here we see a very poor attempt to explain to a walking corpse how sinful they are. The FSL’s simply do what most modern evangelical Christians do. It simply throws out the word “sin” without naming any specifics sins. My teacher in college once said, “here’s an example of a vague concept: sin” I thought if only Christians did their job and used the Ten Commandments in explaining what sin is, she would never say that! 1 John 3:4 says “Everyone who sins breaks the law. In fact, sin is lawlessness.” The Ten Commandments are not dead. They are what reveal to us God’s perfect and holy character and thus our imperfect and unholy character. (Exodus 20, Deut 5) So once we are found sinful, the reason it is so serious is because God does not grade our rebellion to Him on a curve. He is not partially holy but completely holy. We are required to be flawless (James 2:10, Gal 3:10, Deut 27:26).

*Again, sin is a vague concept. TFSL’s tell us that this mysterious sin problem is what separates us from God. But why? Those who are walking corpses need to be specifically told why they are in fact separated from God. They have rebelled against Him. God has put a conscience in their hearts as to what is pleasing to Him and what is not. All sinners are guilty before Christ for violating their consciences. They have all done what they knew they shouldn’t, and they have not done what they should have.

*We are to be forever separated from Christ if we have 1. not worshiped the true God 2. made false idols (can be anything) 3. have used God’s name in vain 4. have not kept the Sabbath holy 5. have not obeyed our parents (implicitly, and explicitly unless asked to sin) 6. have murdered (hatred is a form of murder) 7. have committed adultery (premarital sex and lust apart from your single spouse is a form of adultery) 8. have stolen (no matter how little) 9. have lied (even to ourselves) 10. have been jealous of what we don’t have. TFSL’s do not mention any of these crucial reasons as to why we should be eternally separated from God Almighty. It just states that man tries to reach his “goals” through his own efforts. This unclear problem does not drive home the truth that we are repugnant sinners before a holy Judge. Only the Ten Commandments will drive this truth home.

*Now we are on the topic of the cross as the “3rd spiritual law”. Sin has not even been properly addressed yet. Thus, the notion of why Christ would need to suffer and die remains extremely vague! If TFSL’s were all that we had to explain the gospel, then the cross would seem to be some mystical event which brakes a mystical spell between us and God which enables us to achieve our goals in life and become winners. Nothing is mentioned about Christ’s life in that He lived a perfectly sinless human life in order to transfer it to us. Nothing is mentioned about how our sin is transferred to Christ so that it will be crushed in Him instead of us. It is not mentioned that we can never undo the work of Christ’s perfect sacrifice because He rose from the dead, re-ensuring that all of OUR sin is fully paid for because new life is possible. (Heb 4:15, Rom 8:1-3, Rom 4:25, Rom 6:4-10)

*Revelations 3:20 is taken out of context on the bottom slide. It is referring to the church of Laodicea being luke-warm. In other words, the church had usurped Christ with man-made traditions and idols like most churches in America today. Christ is pounding on the door of the church admonishing them to give up their semi-Christian ways and once again make Him center focus. Unfortunately, history records for us that all of the churches in Rev 3 soon disappeared. It makes me wonder what will happen to the American church? Will history repeat itself? It certainly will unless we come back to the gospel. This is the theme of this website. This is what I mean by “restoring the gospel”. The gospel is not broken but our understanding of it is.

*TFSL’s are an incomplete version of the gospel. There are points that it doesn’t cover enough such as God’s holiness through the moral law, the degree of the sinner’s sin, and God’s coming judgment of our sin. Then there are points that are unbiblical such as declaring that the goal of the gospel is “God’s plan for your life”. Agian, the gospel is not “Jesus makes a way for you to have your needs met” but first “Jesus makes a way for God to have His needs met, namely, your sins to be crushed!” God had every right to be loving towards Himself and not tolerate your rebellion. But God made a way to remain loving towards Himself so that you and I might be pardoned. God made the believer right with Himself by Himself, Jesus Christ. Why? So that believers can “have better lives?” Not entirely. It’s so believers could experience eternal life with Him, which so happens to begin in this life time.

But first and foremost, it’s so you could have a Savior, a Rescuer from what you deserve. Selfish sinners find it offensive to be told they need a “plan”. They think they are OK on their own. The gospel doesn’t just tell people they can “have it better”; it shows them they need a Rescuer from God’s judgment to come. No one can even begin to think about engaging God’s higher plans, purposes, and pleasures until this is first accomplished. In witnessing, we can’t place the carriage before the horse. We must not make the mistake of putting the needs of the heart before the demands of a holy and angry God. Those who believe that Christ was crushed for the penalty of their sins instead of them can rest assure they are right with God. It is these ones who are truley “saved”, not those who just recite the “sinner’s prayer”.

Does any of this concern you at all? Does it make you angry even a little when you see the gospel misrepresented?

If the gospel you’re used to hearing does not make Christ more precious, beautiful, and terrifying to you, then please click here to learn the biblical gospel.

---

Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)

• Life: What is its purpose?
• The Problem With Modern Evangelism
• Lucid Theology
• What exactly is the Gospel?