Can We All Just Get Along? - Great Question

This is a great question that was emailed to Gary E. Gilley, Pastor at Southern View Chapel. I could not agree more with his answer and his philosophy.

Question:
A new pastor at my church stated that non-Christians have no spirit. When I questioned him about this surprising statement he said he came to this conclusion from John 3:5-8. Frankly, I didn’t get it. I wrote to another pastor I know...and he directed me to Wayne Grudems Systematic Theology chapter 23. In trying to learn something about Mr. Grudem I found your name criticizing his involvement in the Vineyard Movement. Do you discredit all his beliefs and writings about other theological issues or just this one area of his ministry? I was a Catholic (and a good one) for 43 years, then I became a Christian. In the past 8 years I’m surprised about the number of ministers and theologians that disagree with each other and I find it very confusing. I lead a Bible study for a small group of baby Christians and I so much want to teach them correctly. I know you are busy but if you could answer this question for me I’d be very grateful. EH

Answer:
I commend your desire to teach God’s truth and realize how confusing it is when Christian leaders disagree. Actually with most conservative theologians and Bible students there is remarkable agreement — as long as we stay with Scripture and not base our beliefs on experiences, tradition and human wisdom. Concerning Grudem, I of course have not read everything he believes, but from what I know I would agree with him on virtually everything except his charismatic views. My philosophy is simple: begin with Scripture, find out what it really says, then analyze everything else through this grid. I hope this helps.