I beg to differ. At least in the church I'm a member of. We tend to take seriously Christian living. We are exhorted to pray and read our bible on a daily basis. We pray for things during the week: prayer requests from other members, especially for those in need, those who are sick, or in financial difficulty. As the Lord leads us, we give to those who have need. We visit those who are sick. If a member is moving, many are quick to volunteer in the help. We pray for one another as a church. Pray for our nation and leaders. Recently, our pastor has introduced us to the concept of prayer and fasting (see Isaiah 58 as a guide).
And there are all kinds of activities that go on during the week. We have bible studies (including Spanish and Filipino bible studies), visitations and outreach, bus ministry, prayer meetings, food drives, and work days.
Perhaps I would just need to find a larger, more active Baptist church. It sounds like things are hopping where you are at!
I could go on and on, but you get the point. There are few pew sitters in my church. And with all that goes on, it is highly structured, if not always organized. All these things has enabled us to grow closer to God and to each other and spurned us to love and impact those in our community, which is what the church is supposed to do anyway.
Yuppers.
I'm not going to argue on this. It is a sticky subject, particularly if you are a bible-believing Christian.
I have more and more trouble with that phrase. Because to be honest, I find a lot of "Bible-believing Christians" do not read their Bible and haven't done much work separating doctrine from scripture; doctrine from their pastors' political, social, and other agendas; or study of church and doctrine history. The lack of understanding Judaism, the original contexts and languages, etc. makes "Bible-believing" a meaningless term.
Generally, to be honest, I find that what it really means is to distinguish between people who delve into the scriptures through history, language, reason, and personal revelation from people who "tow the party line" by agreeing with whatever their pastor and denomination says.
I don't mean that you're that way Dondi, but it's what I hear a lot. For example, a friend of mine just today asked if I was a "Bible-believing Christian" (let's call it BBC for short) and I asked "what does that mean?" And she could not really tell me. Here's a demonstration.
So I pose to her a question: "Why do many avowed BBCs claim that Jesus abolished the law and it is unnecessary for Jews to follow it?"
"Because he said he did," was the response.
"No, actually Jesus said he came NOT to abolish, but to fulfill, and not a single letter of the law was to be erased, and that furthermore, if we love him, we are to keep the Father's commandments- this is what he said as a Jew to Jews."
"But he said you don't have to be circumcised or worry about the food laws anymore."
"No, Paul said that to the Gentiles. But as Gentiles, we weren't ever under Judaic law anyway; we would have been under Noahide Law. So we wouldn't need to follow circumcision or food laws to begin with."
At which point she concluded I was not a BBC and got upset, and decided we shouldn't talk any longer about religion.
But let me ask this: what is a Bible-believing Christian if they are just mushing all of it together and not bothering to understand or study in depth?
I mean what do we do with those passages that warn of coming judgment? Are we supposed just let people drift away without letting them know about the love and mercy of God?
I let people know about the love and mercy of God all the time. Hell is never a part of that conversation. Judgment is not mine, but God's.
The best I can do is to demonstrate Christ's teachings, and Jesus said for me to focus on my own sins and to love and forgive others, spreading the good news that by God's grace and mercy, we are forgiven if we accept the gift.
It is not my place to judge whether or not another person is going to heaven or hell, and certainly not my place to judge entire groups of them (i.e., Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims, and so forth). That is God's place, and God's alone.
Can you imagine, there are Christians who look at Amma, the Hindu "hugging saint," and think she is going to hell because she is not Christian? This is a woman who has embraced in love over 25 million people, who works tirelessly and selflessly for compassion.
I say, when someone demonstrates they can love as she loves, then they can criticize her and judge her and her religion.
But we don't target groups of people. We go to people one at a time. We don't bash them, saying they are going to hell. But we do share what Christ did for them and how they can come into a loving relationship with God.
It sounds like your church is very reasonable in its approach, Dondi. I went to several Baptist churches that were not. When I was 12, I was attending a large Baptist church with friends. I left after they had, in Sunday school, a unit on all the "cults and Satan-led" religions of the world... which included every religion except Judaism and Christianity. I distinctly remember a worksheet of symbols of Satan that included the Yin-Yang from Taoism, for example. Yikes.
Thank God I already knew about world religions and knew that they taught peace and love, too. I knew these people were not taken over by Satan, and we couldn't judge them that way as a group- that wasn't Biblical. I knew that people from all faiths show the fruits of the Spirit when they are sincere. But think of all the kids that didn't know that...
We've several members in our church who have been on the wrong path whose lives have been changed because someone cared enough to share the gospel with them. They came to Christ as a direct result of someone visiting them one night and have experienced such a turn around. I'm talking about people who would have never had a thought or care about God, now in an intimate relationship with the Lord. However you think about hell, it was a secondary consequence of finding the love of God in their lives that made a difference.
I agree. And that is my focus- here and now. What brings us into an awareness of God now? Because really, the rest is of no significance. If we have faith in God, then we trust God with our lives and our deaths, and we do not grasp at desires. Today is sufficient for us to embrace God, to embrace our higher potential, to love and have compassion.
The thing is... I do not think one has to profess being Christian to attain this embrace and be transformed. I see people in all religions who have been illuminated with the light of God's grace and love. Therefore, I tend to encourage people in the religion they already have, if they have one. I encourage them to seek out a way to connect to God in whatever religion they are in. It isn't about one's religion, but rather about one's sincere search for God and one's willingness to look deeply at one's own flaws, to be humble, to strive for peace and love, to serve others.
