Abandoning the Faith
Below is an actual "What we Believe" statement from a church that claims to be a Christian Church. There is much wrong with it Scripturally, but most of all, it's extremly disturbing. This type of church is repeated all across our country today. I count at least 15 Scripturally compromising points within this statement.
The people of (Name changed to avoid confrontation) invite you to experience Christianity as a way of life, not a set of creeds and doctrines demanding total agreement. We invite you to join us as we seek to recover the meaning of the gospel for our time, looking to scripture, faith, and reason -- interpreted by love. At (Name changed to avoid confrontation) we believe that what Jesus teaches us about God is more important than what the church has taught us about Jesus. We believe in the liberty of of conscience, the responsibility of every believer to work out his or her own salvation, and the obligation of faithful men and women to become partners with God in building the kingdom. We take the Bible seriously, not literally, and believe that in our time the church must recover, above all, its radical hospitality -- welcoming all persons into her midst, without regard to race, age, gender, sexual orientation, or physical abilities.
Labels: Apostasy, Doctrine, False Religions, Problems in the Church
thoughts from Ms.Green @ Tuesday, September 30, 2008
9 Comments:
Ms Green,
You are right, there are multiple lies on top of lies.
That is a commentary on non-conditions for non-membership in a non-social club -- not a Biblical church.
In Christ eternally,
ExP(Jack)
The saddest part of all is that I know someone who goes to this church. They unrepentantly drink, curse, support abortion and homosexual marriage, and think they're saved and going to heaven.
I'm not very expert in religion. So, apologize if I am saying anything wrong.
Sometimes, I feel we are getting carried away by the 'details' rather than big picture. I've travelled around the world and visited and lived in different countries. Help me understand - why is that western societies have such a bad record when it comes to family and marriage?
No matter how you cut it- teenage sex, multiple sex partners, pre-marital sex, single mothers - we are pathetic when compared to other cultures. I've visited poor nations like India and China - Even in poverty and hardships, they have maintained a beautiful, stable family sructure and stayed away from wreckless sex life. Why the western civilization? Do you think, Christianity/Christian institutions have failed ? I would love to hear your take on this.
Thanks
V
Well, I'm not sure that the beautiful stable family structures you say you witnessed are representative of the whole culture of the countries you visited. For instance, you might want to read this about China or this about India.
Don't think you can blame Christianity for the sexual excessives of our country just because our country is called a "Christian" country. I would argue that the USA is now a post-Christian country.
Thanks for the links.
Actually I lived in both India, China and Singapore since my husband was working for a MNC.
Yes, I did witness one of the most beautiful, stable family structures out there. It doesn't mean that they never had any exceptions. I was only looking at the majority of the cases. Divorces were so rare. People didn't engage in sex prior to their marriage. Focus of teenagers was on education, not on sexual experimentation.
Anyways, as a conservative, I feel that we must do more to restore moral values in our society. Because, it's the personal and family values that represent overall spirituality of a nation or society. Not the accumulated weath.
It's frustrating to see Christian institutions and conservatives approving more and more bad behavior these days. Divorce, pre-marital sex and kids out of wedlock is not even an issue anymore in our society. More over, churches are taking it to next level...accepting homosexuals!!! It's just a matter of time before you see an explosion in homosexual activities similar to wreckless sexual activities among our teenagers and adults.
It breaks my heart to see how far we have some from a 'moral' society.
- V
"It breaks my heart to see how far we have some from a 'moral' society"
My heart breaks too. It just seems there aren't enough hearts breaking over the moral decline in our nation.
I disagree, though with your statement: "It's frustrating to see Christian institutions and conservatives approving more and more bad behavior these days."
The point of this post originally was to show how apostate some institutions that call themselves "Christian" have gone. True Christianity has been perverted into something that is not God-honoring and Christ centered, but has become man-honoring and man-centered. Thus the divorce, pre-marital sex and kids out of wedlock and rampant homosexuality. And although we as a society can all share some of the guilt, you can't really blame Christianity and conservatives for the moral decline. Surely you do not believe that the Liberals and non-believers are the ones who would bring our country back to it's original morals and values?
And the explosion in homosexual activities you warned about I think is already taking place. But that only leads to more prophecies being fulfilled from the Bible. I believe personally that the anti-Christ of Revelation will be a homosexual. I wrote about that here
Oh, how you have caused a tizzy at the blog of a certain member of that unnamed church. I asked over there, about a number of inconsistencies within that statement and a prayer of confession also posted. I hope the response is a serious one as I intended my questions to be serious and sincere.
But naturally, I agree with your statements regarding the direction of the Body of Christ in this country, as so many heresies infest it these days. But I guess that's intolerant to say so, isn't it?
It was not my intention to cause anything...which is why I did not mention the name of the church or who was a member. My intention was to show the reality of the apostasies so-called Christians and Christian churches have fallen into. I pray often for this individual - and contrary to what he thinks and judges about me, I do not think I am any better than or holier than he is - I'm a sinner just like he is. The difference is, he is in an apostate church and most likely, by his lifestyle and no obvious chastening by God, he has been dealt a counterfeit salvation. He likes to repeat the mantra of "grace, grace, grace" to excuse his cursing, drinking, supporting of abortion and homosexuality, but God clearly says in the BIble that was are not to presume upon His grace. Oh...but this individual doesn't believe that the Bible is literally the Word of God, so that part about presuming on God's grace was evidently not really written by God - see what I mean?
Indeed I do, and my queries there reflect that. Though I fail miserably myself, the Bible teaches that we are to be holy because God is Holy. A tough job to be sure, but there are plenty of examples in The Book as to what that might mean or how that might look. It inevitably goes back to the faith vs works question, but for some, it's too easy to ignore the latter after claiming the former.
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