The Gospel, the Nature of God and Works Righteousness

I've been corresponding for some months with a member of a cult of Christianity. He is a very passionate person. He has an analytical mind, and a very strong sense of self. He is very firmly entrenched in his convictions and as is many times the case it is unknown to me at this point whether any of our interaction with one another will bring forth fruit.

Having met on an Internet forum our interaction grew in ways not uncommon to real life friendships (in person). We were drawn together in a common area of interaction, shared ideas, had disagreements and agreements and even occasioned an outburst followed by a rebuke and an apology.

The relationship has ended poorly though, and I find myself caught between knowing I did the proper thing for the many, but harboring sorrow for the few. If that does not make very much sense to the reader--my apologies, but suffice it to say that I wish the gentleman's parting could have been avoided.

This gentleman finds the concept of a Triune God to be ridiculous, and insists that the idea was born of the Council of Nicea in 325. With everything I contributed came a parry and a riposte. Claims that I avoided answering his questions abounded as I endeavored to put questions to him that would cause him to consider the truth. The fact of the matter is that I did answer his questions. He just had no use for my answers.

Does the gospel demonstrate the Triune nature of God? No, but the gospel accounts do. God the Father speaking from heaven, the Son standing in the water for baptism while the Holy Spirit descends from heaven to "alight" on Him. As time and our correspondence rolled by it became clear that this man believed that Jesus was not Divine until about the time He began His ministry, at around thirty years of age. This is thoroughly unbiblical and the Bible says that we must understand Him rightly.

I can be a very slow learner sometimes. There are things I pick up on very quickly to the surprise of some people, but most of the time things come slowly to me. What I'm getting at is that these cult members always end up attaching some sort of work to the salvation process, and I never wondered why until recently. With this gentleman it was no different. He could be described as a "oneness" theologian. I guess he has published a book and is writing a second. He is eloquent of speech and has a very good command of the English language. Unfortunately, that gift lends itself to Scripture twisting as well.

He does not have a right understanding of the Godhead. Does a young child necessarily understand the Triune nature of God? Perhaps. Perhaps not, but a little child has an innate, probably less corrupted (by age and experience) ability to accept good things.

Without a right understanding of God, cult members in turn have a faulty understanding of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the grace of God. At some point, they have to figure out how to gain heaven with a diminished kind of savior in the lead. It always falls to works---one's own works, or a work of some kind. It was no different with this gentleman.

More than ever, the words of the Savior come to my mind with renewed meaning...."Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all."