The Metaphor of War
and
The Salvation Army
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Overview Scriptural Support
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Military language
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Non-lingual support of the metaphor
Key Concepts/Doctrines
Physical representations of Key Concepts
Key Concept Resistance to the Metaphor
Glossary of Salvation Army Terms
Key Concepts/Doctrines
THE ELEVEN DOCTRINES
We believe that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments were given by inspiration of God; and that they only constitute the divine rule of Christian faith and practice.
We believe that there is only one God who is infinitely perfect - the Creator, Preserver and Governor of all things - and who is the only proper object of religious worship.
We believe that there are three persons in the Godhead - the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost - undivided in essence and co-equal in power and glory.
We believe that in the person of Jesus Christ the divine and human natures are united; so that he is truly and properly God, and truly and properly man.
We believe that our first parents were created in a state of innocency but, by their disobedience, they lost their purity and happiness; and that in consequence of their fall all men have become sinners, totally depraved, and as such are justly exposed to the wrath of God.
We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ has, by his suffering and death, made an atonement for the whole world, so that whosoever will may be saved.
We believe that repentance towards God, faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, and regeneration by the Holy Spirit are necessary to salvation.
We believe that we are justified by grace, through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ; and that he that believeth hath the witness in himself.
We believe that continuance in a state of salvation depends upon continued obedient faith in Christ.
We believe that it is the privilege of all believers to be 'wholly sanctified', and that their 'whole spirit and soul and body' may 'be preserved blame less unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ' (1 Thessalonians5: 23).
We believe in the immortality of the soul; in the resurrection of the body; in the general judgement at the end of the world; in the eternal happiness of the righteous; and in the endless punishment of the wicked.
http://www.salvationarmy.org.uk/en/Library/factSheets/Beliefs.htm
Salvation
Obviously from the name of the organization, Salvation is a driving concept.
Holiness
A concept less familiar to the public at large, even to Christians unless they are of denominations who share the doctrine, is Holiness.
"The Booths particularly embraced the Wesleyan doctrine of holiness, salvation from all sin, a point at which traditional English Wesleyanism and mid nineteenth century American revivalism merged. Both accepted a two-step process toward salvation. First, they believed in the necessity of conversion as a remedy for basic human sinfulness; and second, they believed that one needed a perfecting and empowering experience to bring more godliness to human behavior. This experience they termed holiness, entire sanctification, Christian perfection, or (in Wesley's simple phrase) "perfect love." Although both William and Catherine had unremarkable, adolescent conversion experiences, they insisted on public, often ecstatic experiences for their converts. Their persistent pursuit of holiness compensated for their lack of experience at the beginning of their own quest for salvation."
http://wesley.nnu.edu/WesleyanTheology/theojrnl/16-20/20-16.htm
A letter found on a Salvation Army website
WITH regard to the letter about holiness tables, my understanding is that it was at the holiness table that believers knelt to ‘receive the blessing of a clean heart’ (the indwelling of the Holy Spirit) or to seek a deeper communion with God.
The role of the holiness table was (is) distinct from that of the mercy seat. The teaching of holiness was given an important place in The Christian Mission and subsequently The Salvation Army. How and why this teaching has changed over the years, if it has, I am not qualified to comment on. Believers must still long for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
In a corps like Portsmouth Citadel, originally a Christian Mission station, the holiness table had another role. On the holiness table were placed the bread and wine, and from there communion was distributed. Although the practice of communion was discontinued at Portsmouth Citadel in the early 1880s, the memory has lingered. Salvationists whose families have worshipped at the Lake Road hall since Christian Mission days gave this information to me.
At Portsmouth Citadel the holiness table is still covered with a cloth, the border of which depicts the symbols of communion, despite the original hall, holiness table, chalice and plate from Christian Mission days being destroyed by bombing during the Second World War.
The question must be, does the holiness table have a role in the present day other than as a place to stand a Bible or floral arrangement? Can it still facilitate a deeper communion with God?
The last Christian Mission evangelist and the first Salvation Army officer at Portsmouth, Captain Ted Irons, wrote in his diary in January 1879: ‘Oh, how precious Jesus was to my soul as I knelt at that table and partook of the emblems of his broken body and spilt blood. He filled my soul. At one time I thought I should not be able to contain; my cup was running over.’
Simon Harmer, Portsmouth
