Originally Posted by Pilgrim
Originally Posted by Tom
Does the following sound consistant with what you said?

Quote
During the service, the minister led the congregation to recite a forgiveness confession that was displayed on the over-head.
After this the minister said something to the effect of: "Based on your confession and on the authority as a minister of the Gospel, I proclaim that your sins are forgiven."
To me this sounds like easy believism.
1. It is not all that uncommon even in Reformed circles by some (many?) elders to view/presume the entire membership of the congregation as true members of Christ, contra to how the Puritans viewed their membership as a 'mixed group' of true and false believers.

2. However, without a qualified statement by the elder, e.g., 'To all those who are truly united to Christ by a living faith, your sins are forgiven on the basis of the merits of Christ's atoning sacrifice.', to state that based upon a group recitation of a printed confession by every attendee, every individual who was present and read that statement has been pardoned of their sins is presumptuous to say the least.

3. Re: 'easy believism'... I really can't see a direct connection between what you saw/heard and easy believism, although perhaps there is some similarity one could make if one stretched things a bit. wink

What you said in #1 makes sense and could explain this.

Perhaps it was a little bit of a stretch to call this "easy believism".
I would call it very presumptuous, for both the minister to absolve the sin of people he didn't know and for the people who may believe that because the minister said their sins are absolved. Especially when many of them only attend Church Christmas and Easter.



Tom

Last edited by Tom; Sat Jan 14, 2012 10:27 PM.