What is the harmony (unity) based upon? Being in accord with Christ Jesus! It is not just willy nilly, say you love Jesus and you're in. The Mormon Church is not in accord with Christ Jesus. The prosperity gospel is not in accord with Christ Jesus. The word faith, NAR, false signs and lying wonders and any other number of false teachings today are not in accord with Christ Jesus. To try and lift half a verse out of context shows the lengths Allen will go to in order to prove his point which is simply unbiblical.
"Instead of myriad doctrinal tests, the apostle Paul tells how to know if we are in Christ: "If you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved, for with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation" (Rom. 10:9-10). In other words, those who are justified by faith and say so are in Christ. If you are in Christ and those with whom you disagree are in Christ, you are united with them in Christ whether you admit it or not." -- Ron Allen
Wow, how breathtakingly na????ve. Perhaps this is just the end result of seeker friendly theology. When altar calls are dumbed down to three sentences and a cloud of dust it is no wonder that someone can read these scriptures and think it some kind of a magic spell I just have to recite. The soundness of doctrine to which we have been speaking is directly attached to the requisites found in these verses. One does not merely believe that Jesus was resurrected but why He needed to be. We are saved because we confess our sins and turn from them. We are saved because Christ is the final sacrificial lamb. The Lamb of God. To Ron Allen we are all in the family of God if we say any version of the sinner's prayer that touches these two verses, dismissing all of the remainder of Scripture that deals with salvation. How dangerous is this? The Mormon Church believes that Jesus is Lord and also believes in the resurrection. Jehovah Witness believers also believe in both of these. According to the logic of Ron Allen we are united in Christ with them because of this and that is frankly absurd.
"Although our unity comes through Christ, many denominations and doctrines create a great diversity within the body of Christ. Lutheran theologian Oscar Cullman said, "Unity in the church ... is unity in diversity ... recognizing others in all their variety as true Christians." Pope Francis has said, "Unity brought by the Spirit can harmonize every diversity." Unity in diversity recognizes the contributions of other streams of Christianity and blends them together in a symphony of harmony. It is a unity of the Spirit, not in doctrine or church government." -- Ron Allen
