LastDaysLiving.com exists for the whole body of Christ. Baptists, Methodists, Pentecostals, members of Churches of Christ, Presbyterians, Anglicans, and believers from many other traditions read these pages, and every one of them is welcome here. That’s on purpose. The site is built to help believers live faithfully as citizens of Christ’s Kingdom, and that calling belongs to every Christian in every faithful church.
But faithful Christians don’t agree on everything. There are questions where sincere believers, reading the same Bible with the same love for Christ, have reached different conclusions for centuries. This page names those questions, says what Scripture plainly teaches, and is honest about where I land personally. It also explains why this site will never be the place where those disagreements get settled.
This Isn’t a Debate Site
Let me say this plainly: Last Days Living is not a debate site. The questions on this page have been discussed by godly scholars and pastors for hundreds of years, and they won’t be resolved in an article or a comment section. I don’t write to win arguments, and I won’t use this site to pull anyone away from their church’s convictions.
Those conversations belong in the local church, under the care of pastors who know you, can sit with you, and answer for your soul (Hebrews 13:17). The site serves local churches. It never replaces one. So when one of these questions comes up in an article, I’ll say what Scripture says, link back here, and point you to your pastor.
What Every Faithful Christian Shares
Before naming where we differ, it’s worth naming how much we share, because it’s far more than the list below.
Faithful Christians across these traditions confess together that Scripture is God’s Word and the final authority for faith and life (2 Timothy 3:16–17). We confess that Jesus Christ is fully God and fully man, that He died for our sins and rose again on the third day (1 Corinthians 15:3–4), and that He reigns now and will return bodily and visibly to make all things new (Acts 1:11; Revelation 21:5). We confess that salvation is God’s gift of grace through faith in Jesus Christ, not something anyone earns (Ephesians 2:8–9), and that the Holy Spirit lives in every believer (Romans 8:9).
“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Ephesians 2:8–9)
None of the questions below change that. They’re about how to live the Christian life faithfully and how a church orders its life together. They don’t decide whether someone who trusts Christ is your brother or sister.
Baptism
What Scripture plainly says: Jesus commands it. “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19). In the New Testament, those who believed were baptized (Acts 2:41), and every believer should follow Christ in it.
Where faithful Christians differ: whether baptism is part of how God brings a person into salvation or a public step of obedience that follows it; whether it’s for believers only or also for the children of believers; and whether it’s done by immersion, pouring, or sprinkling.
Where I land: I’m a baptized believer, and I’m convinced baptism is an act of obedience and public confession that follows salvation, not part of what saves. I hold that conviction firmly, and I also know faithful Christians who read these texts differently and love Jesus just as much. Your church will teach you what it believes Scripture says here, and you should follow your pastor’s guidance.
Women and the Pastoral Office
What Scripture plainly says: women and men are equally made in God’s image (Genesis 1:27) and are full and equal heirs of grace (Galatians 3:28; 1 Peter 3:7). Women served Christ’s church in vital ways from the very beginning: Phoebe served the church at Cenchreae (Romans 16:1–2), Priscilla taught alongside her husband (Acts 18:26), and women were the first witnesses of the resurrection (Matthew 28:1–10).
Where faithful Christians differ: whether the offices of pastor and elder are open to both men and women, or given to qualified men.
Where I land: when I read passages like 1 Timothy 2–3 and Titus 1, I’m persuaded the offices of pastor and elder are given to qualified men, grounded in God’s design in creation and never in anyone’s worth or ability. But many faithful churches read those same passages differently, and I won’t let this question become a wall between me and brothers and sisters in Christ.
Can a Believer Lose Their Salvation?
What Scripture plainly says: God keeps His people. Jesus said, “I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand” (John 10:28). Scripture also gives sober warnings to believers about drifting and falling away (Hebrews 3:12–14; 10:26–31), and it calls every believer to keep walking with Christ.
Where faithful Christians differ: how those promises and warnings fit together. Some traditions teach that a true believer will be kept to the end and can’t be lost. Others teach that a believer can turn away from Christ and forfeit salvation.
Where I land: I lean toward the view that those who truly belong to Christ will be kept by Him to the end. I say “lean” on purpose, because I’m still studying the warning passages honestly, and I’m not willing to explain them away just to make a position tidier. Faithful Christians in other traditions read those warnings differently, and they take God’s grace just as seriously.
Here’s what I want you to see in that: a believer can wrestle with a hard question in Scripture without being afraid for their own soul. My confidence doesn’t rest on having this question settled. It rests on Christ, who holds His people (John 10:28), and every tradition on this page affirms what that means for you today: you can rest in Christ right now, the Holy Spirit bears witness that you’re God’s child (Romans 8:16), and God is faithful to finish what He started (Philippians 1:6).
Other Questions Faithful Churches Answer Differently
Several more questions fall in the same category, and the site handles them the same way.
Spiritual gifts: every believer has the Holy Spirit and at least one gift for building up the church (1 Corinthians 12:7), and every claimed word or experience must be tested by Scripture. Faithful churches differ on whether the miraculous gifts continue today and how they function. The site leaves that question to your church.
The Lord’s Supper: Jesus commands His people to share it, proclaiming His death until He comes (1 Corinthians 11:26). Churches differ on how often it’s shared and what happens in it.
Church government and worship: congregational, elder-led, or bishop-led, and every style of worship in between. These are your church’s to decide.
The end times: Christ will return bodily, personally, visibly, and victoriously, and the day and hour are known by the Father alone (Matthew 24:36). Faithful Christians differ on the timing of the rapture and on the millennium. When the site walks through those views, it presents each one fairly, as faithful believers hold it, without declaring a winner.
How the Site Handles These Questions
When an article touches one of these questions, it will say what Scripture plainly teaches, note that faithful Christians read the question differently, and link back to this page. It won’t argue for one tradition against another, and it will never suggest that your church’s answer makes it less faithful. Every article points you back to the local church, because that’s where God designed these questions to be taught and lived out.
So read the Bible carefully, love your brothers and sisters well, and stay close to the church God has placed you in. The things that unite us in Christ are far greater than the questions on this page, and the One who saves us is the same Lord for every one of us (Ephesians 4:4–6).