Proactive Faith

I keep hearing about Christians who are "turning people away" by "ramming Scripture down their throats." I'm told that they are overwhelming people with their zeal and passion about spreading the gospel, and many people take it the wrong way. There's just one thing that bothers me about these discussions, and the accusations about Christians that result. WHERE ARE THESE CHRISTIANS??? I read about them in books, I hear about them on tv, and people talk about them in small groups. Be honest, have you ever really met someone whose witness was just overpowering? I'm 28 years old, and in my lifetime I have only ever seen one person standing on a street corner yelling at people to repent (and I do admire his zeal and determination). I'm beginning to think that these people are nothing more than a figment of someone's imagination. The "seeker-sensitive" movement, and the emergent church want nothing more than for us to take away the offense of the gospel, so they made up a scapegoat to get us to change. They tell us about the masses of people that are "turned off" when we tell them that they need to get saved.

Let's consider some facts. 1) We have become so weak in our stand for the truth that most people are never "turned on" in the first place. We'd hate to make someone think that we're "too radical." I think our problem is that there AREN'T ENOUGH radical Christians. I am in no way promoting violence. That is not what it is to be a Christian. I mean that we need people who will live the word of God and the love of Christ with reckless abandon.

2) We have become very reactive rather than proactive in our faith. I was sitting in a conference a couple of weeks ago (it was a great conference) listening to people discuss the beliefs of the emergent church. I thought to myself, "here we are reacting to their false teachings. If we had been proactive with the truth for the last 30 years people would know that this stuff is wrong, and we wouldn't be in this position." People are being taken by false doctrine with each passing day. People cease to recognize the authority of Scripture, or the substitutionary death of Christ. They explain away the miraculous. We hear false teachings and then we respond with the truth. Why don't we simply teach the truth in the first place? As long as we're not hearing false teaching in the public arena we're content with our pop-psychology lessons in place of sermons. It's time that we become proactive with the truth that God has revealed to us.

I say all this to point out the possibility that we need Christians who are willing to preach and teach the truth. Even if it makes sinners uncomfortable. We have sacrificed truth in the name of "love" for far too long. Love is not to keep the truth of God from people. It is to obey the commands of Christ, and live our lives as servants of God, like He was. I don't care if we're in a post-modern/post-Christian culture, or any other type. The truth will still set us free.

Biblical Standards

The Bible speaks 76 times in the King James Version of "abominations." These are things that profane the holiness of God and His people. Malachi 3:11 says, "Judah has dealt treacherously, and an abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem, for Judah has profaned the Lord's holy institution which He loves: he has married the daughter of a foreign god (NKJV)." Jesus told the Pharisees, "You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God (Luke 16:15)."

Here we have Old and New Testament accounts of abominations in the sight of God, or things that defile His people who are supposed to be set apart. If the Bible speaks about things that defile God's people, why are we so quick to discount the fact that there are things in which God does not want us to take part? I agree that the Old Testament laws are shadows of New Testament truths. I'm not saying that we shouldn't eat pork, in fact, the New Testament says that we can. But it seems like every time a conversation about things that Christians should not do some simply says, "Don't be legalistic."

There was a day where holiness teaching was far too often legalistic, but I have some news for those who live in this day: that time has passed. I'm not promoting wearing your hair in a bun, or skirts that go to the floor. What I am promoting is that the Bible does certainly teach that there are things that Christians should not do. Why can't we have that conversation? As I read the web sites and blogs of the emergent church, I see over and over again criticism of any kind of standard that comes from Scripture. Christians have come to a point in our day where we don't want to tolerate anything that tells us how to act. I wonder if that has something to do with the state of the church today. Can we get on track without admitting that there are certainly something things that the Bible says Christians should not do?

"Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God(1 Corinthians 6:9, 10)."

It's funny, we have made a lot of gray area in these commands, but they seem pretty clear.

Are the Narrow Minded Always Wrong?

I sometimes wonder what we really mean when we say that something is "too narrow," or that someone is "narrow-minded." I've been accused on more than one occasion of being this way. I don't try to be, but there are some things that Scripture teaches very clearly, and on those things I will not bend unless I am shown truth beyond what God's Holy Spirit has already revealed to me.

It seems like we put a lot of emphasis on being "open minded" within the church today. We've got liberal Christians telling those who are conservative that they're "narrow" and the emergent church movement telling everyone that they're "too narrow" among other things. Now I understand that there are people who are more narrow than the truth, and that is certainly not a good thing. But if the Bible is the inspired Word of God and is authoritative in our lives, then should we really be more "broad" in our beliefs than the Bible?

This, again, comes back to convictions. After some conversations that I have had over the past couple of weeks, I wonder if we just use "narrow-minded" as a derogatory title for those who have firm convictions. I'm not trying to say that we all need to be as narrow as we can be, but maybe it wouldn't hurt us to learn to bend a little bit less on firm convictions that come from God's Witnesses, His Word and Spirit. This does not mean that we shouldn't be open to new truth, but it's time that the church (especially the holiness movements) stand firm in their convictions. There are people that can move from holiness churches to Calvinist congregations and not even know the difference. Why are we so willing to bend on holiness? Is it not a clear command in Scripture? Regardless of what background you come from, it is an indisputable truth that the Bible says, "Be holy for I am holy" (Lev. 11:45 among others).

Maybe the problem within the Holiness Movement is that we are not "narrow-minded" enough. Maybe our lack of conviction (along with a desire for everyone to pastor a mega church) has allowed us to become more "broad" in our thinking than Scripture intended.