We often view the Bible through the lens of what we are taught by church leaders, without question, whether actually based on the Truth or not. This can make us more susceptible to twisting God's Word and a misunderstanding of the gospel if we are not taking the time to read the Bible for ourselves. Below, I will share 4 different portions of the Bible that I didn't truly understand until I read the Bible, without any influence from man.

Are you being taught the philosophies of men or the truth of God's Word?

"6 I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: 7 Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. 8 But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. 9 As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed. 10 For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ."

Galatians 1:6-10

There is one gospel and one faith, the same one Paul preached to the Galatians prior to this moment, which is the same gospel Jesus and his disciples preached in the New Testament. In these verses, Paul is warning the Galatians that if anyone modifies the gospel he preached to them (which came from God) in any way, they would be deceiving others and would be condemned for their false teachings.

I grew up in the Laestadian Lutheran Church, hearing the Bible preached from the pulpit and expanded on by ministers. They would teach in accordance with their doctrine and what they believed to be true, as most churches do. When I was young and susceptible, I believed what they preached to be the Word of God because the ministers are viewed as God's "mouthpiece" in the LLC. In the beginning of 2022, I began to have questions and decided to read the Bible for myself, letting go of any preconceived ideas I had. I was surprised to discover that much of what I had been taught was not actually in alignment with scripture. If you were to read one verse on its own, without considering any other parts of the Bible, it could easily be misinterpreted, which explained how I had believed in a false doctrine. The more I learned and read, the less I could believe in what I had been taught for all of my life. A feeling of unease settled in my chest and I began to crave spiritual peace along with the Truth and I was willing to risk everything, including the only community I had ever known, to find it.

These are 4 beliefs I held during my time in the LLC and what I learned from the Bible, in relation to them, when I read it for the first time.

1. We Have the Power To Forgive One Another's Sins Against God For most of my life, I had an incorrect understanding of forgiveness, believing it could only come from hearing "the gospel" from another church member. "The gospel" was the phrase, "you can believe all of your sins forgiven in Jesus' name and precious blood." This is used to forgive a person's sins, a form of absolution. The Laestadian doctrine teaches that church members have the special authority as "believers" to forgive one another's sins, a concept otherwise known as the "Office of the Keys." This is taught to be the key to the kingdom of God. Only their organization holds this power, so you are required to receive this blessing from someone in the church and become a member yourself in order to be heaven acceptable. I'm sure you can imagine my surprise when I learned that we as humans have never had the power to perform absolution, only God can forgive us for our trespasses against Him, as I later learned in my own research and endeavor reading the Bible. John 20:21-23 is commonly used to support the claim that Jesus gave His disciples this power, which was supposedly passed down to those in the Laestadian Lutheran Church. The FALC and OALC also believe that only their churches have this gift. " 21 Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. 22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost: 23 Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained" John 20:23 If read in today's language, it is easy to see how this could be interpreted as Jesus blessing them with the power of the forgiveness of sins but no passage should contradict other portions of the Bible when rightly interpreted. In many other places in scripture, it clearly states that only God can forgive us of our sins. For example, in Mark 2:5-7, Jesus tells a man's son (sick with palsy) that his sins are forgiven and a nearby scribe says, " 7 Why does this man thus speak blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God only?" Jesus (one with God) can forgive sins but we as humans do not hold such power. In addition, we need to take into consideration the nuances of the Greek language because this was the original language of the Bible and some of their words had slightly different meaning than they do in today's language. If viewed through this lens, verse 23 would mean: Whose soever sins ye forgive, their sins have already been forgiven (because they believe in Jesus Christ) and whose soever sins ye don't forgive, they have already not been forgiven (because they don't believe). The disciples are able to recognize who has been forgiven and who has not through the power of the Holy Spirit, but they are not performing the absolution themselves. In verse 21, Jesus is actually sending his disciples out into the world to preach the same gospel that He had been preaching, which, according to the Bible, is the good news that Jesus was sent to save us from our sins and if we believe in Him and keep His commandments, we will be saved and receive eternal life. He is not telling them to go forgive the sins of others. Another verse that is commonly used in reference to this concept of absolution is Matthew 18:21-22: " 21 Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? 22 Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven." Matthew 18:21-22 Matthew is referring to Peter asking Jesus how many times we should forgive a brother who has offended or trespassed against us, not our trespasses against God. I grew up thinking the latter, as is taught by the LLC. We are forgiven by God and God alone but we can forgive another person when they commit an offense against us. In fact, that is required of us or God will withhold His forgiveness from us. I also recently learned about the Lord's Prayer as being a way to go to God for forgiveness, as taught by Jesus to His disciples. Of course, we need to have a penitent heart and the desire to change our ways when we say this prayer. " 9 After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. 10 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. 11 Give us this day our daily bread. 12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen. 14 For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you." Matthew 6:9-13
   

2. God's Kingdom Is Physical And You Can Physically Leave It When I learned that God's kingdom is not confined by a building or an organization, rather it is a spiritual kingdom, I was overjoyed! All of my life, I had believed it was a specific group of people - members of the Laestadian Lutheran Church and only the church that would be saved. My heart would hurt thinking about all of the people that were going to be condemned to hell for no other reason than not being a member of the church. And how lucky was I that I had been "born into God' kingdom?" When I was doing a deep-dive into research about Laestadianism and reading the Bible for the first time, I came across this verse in John: "Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence." John 18:36 Also, in Luke: "Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold the kingdom of God is within you." Luke 17:20-21 These verses are very clear that the kingdom of God is not of this earth and not a body of people but a spiritual world that we are members of when we are following Christ. John expands more on this topic in chapter 3, describing the moment when Nicodemus came to Jesus at night, so he wouldn't be seen by the other Pharisees. He had questions for Jesus and wanted to understand who he was because he could see by His miracles that he was a man of God. Jesus teaches Nicodemus about the kingdom of God and how one enters into it: " 3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. 4 Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb and be born? 5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God," John 3:3-5 As Jesus said to Nicodemus, one must be born again in order to see the kingdom of God. It is not something we can be born into or obtain by receiving a "blessing," we must make the choice to believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ, repent of our sins, and allow ourselves to be made a new creation by God. This is what it means to be "born again." There is a common statement among many denominations that their specific church is the only one that will be saved because they are the "one, true church." But how do we know which church is truly Christ's church? There was both Jesus' physical church, gatherings of His followers, back when he was preaching on the earth but there is also a spiritual church, the body of Christ, made up of all who believe in and follow Him today. This is the one, true faith mentioned in the Bible, it is not a specific denomination but those who have faith in Jesus Christ as their savior who make up the body, the kingdom of God. Anyone who believes in Jesus Christ and gives up their life for Him, living a righteous life, is a part of the kingdom of God, you are not required to be a member of a specific church. You also cannot lose your salvation by leaving a church, so long as you believe in Jesus, have been born again, and have a relationship with Him. *Side note: The book of John is a great place to start reading, for anyone interested in reading the Bible and learning about the true gospel and many of Jesus' miracles. It is simple, straightforward, and easy to understand!
   

3. We Need The Commandments/Rules of Men To Overcome Sin Many fundamental and/or legalistic churches have extra rules or guidelines that members must live by in order to obtain salvation. For example, in the LLC, if you die with "sin" on your conscience - not following the 10 commandments and what is listed in the Bible as sin, as well as wearing makeup, piercing your ears, listening to music, watching movies, owning a TV, dancing, etc., you are at risk of not going to heaven. I would often hear comments like, "what happens if you get in a car accident and you die with worldly music playing, how will people know where you went?" implying that you would be at risk of going to hell. Growing up, I was told that the Holy Spirit led the congregation to the decision to stay away from such worldly things because they can hinder your faith and give space for the devil to work in your life. Aside from the 10 commandments and the sins listed in the Bible, these rules are not actually biblical and not abiding by them will not condemn you. As I learned from God's Word, when we truly have the Holy Spirit we will be led in our spiritual lives and convicted of sin without extra rules or guidelines to tell us how we should be living. We will naturally refrain from activities and the things of the world that will pull us away from God. Rules and commandments created by men have no real power against the flesh. The power to resist sin (what is listed as sin in scripture) comes from the Holy Spirit, not from within ourselves. " 20 Therefore if you died with Christ, from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations - 21 "Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle," 22 which all concerns things which perish with the using - according to the commandments and doctrines of men? 23 These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh." Colossians 2:20-23 This portion of scripture is talking about not touching, tasting, or handling specific foods, drink, etc. but it can apply to any additional, non-biblical standards created by men in high-control religions. These kinds of standards, such as not wearing makeup and earrings, make us appear different outwardly but have no real effect on truly changing our hearts. If you are questioning if something is biblical, measure it against God's word because it will never lead you astray, but the doctrines of men certainly can.
   

4. Salvation Is Received Through A "Blessing" The idea of obtaining salvation by receiving a "blessing" from a member of a specific church, the "one, true church" is the foundation and core "gospel" of Conservative Laestadian churches such as the OALC, LLC, and FALC. Even though I grew up in the LLC, I am still not sure where this doctrine stems from. I heard it in church for the 26 years I was a member and I blindly believed it without question until I read Ed Suominen's book, "An Examination of the Pearl," and started deep-diving into ex-llc blogs. It was then that I decided to learn the Truth once and for all, rather than spending the rest of my time here on this earth feeling like something wasn't quite right in my Spirit. I had been taught this was the way to receive salvation. The only way. I rejoiced when I learned that Jesus is the way and there is indeed hope for those on the outside of the church. Since I was a child I had this sense that God was much greater than the LLC but I couldn't quite put my finger on exactly how. When I read the Bible, I finally understood what my gut had been trying to tell me for all that time. As Jesus Himself taught: "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." John 14:16 We are simply saved by grace through faith, not by someone else forgiving our sins or by following a certain set of standards. " 8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God. 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast." Ephesians 2:8-9 It is not belief in a specific church's teachings that saves us, rather it is belief in Jesus Christ. " 9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." Romans 10:9-10 And my personal favorite: " 16 For God so loved the word, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved." John 3:16-17 The concept of absolution and being a member of a specific denomination as requirements to be saved are never mentioned in the Bible, which is the ultimate Truth. How can we argue with the Word of God? As Paul wrote to the Galatians, if we teach another gospel than the one He (and Jesus Himself) preached, we are accursed. We will not be saved by a false doctrine, no matter how true another man says it is. We are saved through faith in Jesus Christ, being born again (made a new creation) and living a righteous life. There is nothing of ourselves that we can do, no manner of forgiveness (other than that granted by God) or following rules and regulations that can save us. Salvation is a gift from God not from man. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.

I am very passionate about this topic and I will understand if this post offends people, especially those who are members of the church. I want to say that it is okay if we have different beliefs. It is not my goal to sway you one way or another, I am simply here to share with you what I have learned on my own journey. My hope and prayer is that it would reach those who need it. May it open eyes and hearts to the Truth and beauty of God's Word.