The following is the text of a letter I sent to the Ark Encounter regarding its presentation of the gospel. I have withheld the name of the person addressed to ensure his privacy.
Dear ____________,
On June 23 of this year, my family and I enjoyed and were mightily impressed by the Ark Encounter. It was an awe-inspiring and profitable day which we spent walking in and gawking at the exterior and interior of the Ark. It’s a sight that leaves the eyes wide, the mouth agape, and that’s an understatement. All who were and are involved in the massive project are due a heart-felt, “hats-off” for a job well done.
I was also interested in the evangelistic inscriptions and plaques inside the Ark, inscriptions which I fear would leave the reader confused as to what the gospel is, that is, confused as to how to get to heaven.
As I traversed the Ark, I noted that Deck 1 gave (I may have the exact locations confused) the gospel as including, “Turn from sin.” A difficulty with that is none of us, not a single person in the Ark that day or any day, can “turn from sin.” Even Noah, on the other side of the Flood, didn’t turn from sin.
Once saved, then always saved, but we exist in this life still sinning from time to time. That’s why John wrote I John 1:8-9. Even John includes himself and the Apostles when he writes, “If we say that we have no sin. . . .” The inscribed admonition on Deck 1 requires that a person get his life in order, cleaned up, to be saved, whereas the one and only thing necessary for salvation is not a work, but “believe.”
In I Corinthians 15:3-4, Paul states the content of the gospel, that is, what a person is to believe, and, in doing so, makes no reference to having to “turn from sin.” “Turning from sin” is an impossible pre-requisite for salvation, and thus the intrusion of works into grace, something forbidden by Paul in Galatians in very strong terms. Paul said nothing about reforming one’s life in Acts 16:31.
In another gospel presentation inside the Ark, on Deck 2, I think it was, we’re told to “repent” without the word’s being defined, so the person hearing, listening with English ears, would define “repent” as “feel sorry for sin.” It’s interesting that the Gospel of John which was written to bring a person to faith in Christ never uses the word. If feeling sorry for sin was necessary for salvation, one would think John should have said so, but 99 times in the book, he conditions salvation on faith alone, not on an emotional response.
The problem is that “repent” means a change of mind, not a feeling of sorrow. The Greeks had a word for “feeling sorrow,” a word the Bible uses to describe the feeling Judas had as to what he had done. But he remained lost. “Repent” means “change your mind,” not “feel sorry.” A person is to change his mind about who Jesus is and what He did on the Cross. When a person “believes,” he has “changed his mind.”
There were other evangelistic inscriptions inside the Ark, such as “Ask for forgiveness” and “Ask God to save you,” and the quoting of Eph. 2:8-9 (saved by grace) as well as Acts 16:31. These appear to be mixed messages of works and grace.
I left thinking that a person who read all the inscriptions would be asking himself, “Which is it? Do I turn from sin, which I can’t do or Do I feel sorry for sin, or Do I ask for forgiveness? Or, Do I believe that Jesus, the Son of God died for my sins, rose from the dead, and trust Him alone?”
I know you don’t know me; I want you to know that I’m not a lone voice crying in the wilderness. There are and have been others with the same message of salvation by faith alone apart from works: Dr. John F. Walvoord (President of Dallas Seminary) Louis Sperry Chafer (Founder and first of President, Dallas Seminary), Charles (Chuck) Swindoll, Dr. Charles Ryrie, Dr. Robert P. Lightner, Drs. Charlie Bing and J. B. Hixson, et al.
Only one inscription is needed, placed at strategic points in the Ark, and it’s the one which draws its content from I Corinthians 15:3-4: “Jesus Christ, God incarnate, died for you, paying the full price your sins and rose from the dead. Believe in Him and Him alone for eternal life.”
Having said all that, I want to thank you for the Ark Encounter I and my family had on that unforgettable June day.
Yours truly,
Dr. Mike Halsey
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