When people reject faith, they almost always blame-shift. They consider themselves victims of legalism, flawed teachings, unloving churches, controlling pastors, imperfect parents, etc.
But Scripture tells us people reject faith because their hearts are deceived (1 John 2:19; Jeremiah 17:9).
"For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened." ~ Romans 1:21
If you feel your Christian upbringing was perfect, you’re being gracious. If you think you’re perfectly transmitting Christian faith to others, you’re being naïve.
Even the best parents, best Christians, best churches, best Bible studies, and best Christian books are flawed.
But genuine faith is strong enough to survive even the worst abuses, errors, legalism, extremism, and confusion.
When we see people “fall away” we need to pray for them, but we also need to realize that they built their faith on imperfect things and imperfect people, not on our stunningly perfect Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
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Note: If we've experienced extremist or legalistic teachings within the church, we need to adjust our beliefs biblically, but we must be careful not to throw out scriptural principles along with wrong attitudes. The worst kind of extremism is found in the "ex-vangelical" or "progressive Christian" movement which "deconstructs" Christianity, cutting and pasting truth to fit their beliefs. They are not simply moving away from legalism, they are revising Scripture. ~ In addition, we need to be careful what we call "legalism." Some teachings in and of themselves are not legalistic, but they can be applied legalistically.
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Excellent - posting this on Facebook, Gail. Thanks for tackling a tough topic with biblical truth.
ReplyDeleteI pray for this world and I pray for all people who lost their way away from Christ Jesus and the church. I pray for your salvation. I'm telling you from my experience Jesus is definitely the answer. He has done amazing things in my life and HE turned around problems in my favor when I least expected it. Why? Because it happened at HIS perfect timing, patience and waiting. That is the hard part and can be frustrating at times, but that is when you need to utilize your faith and trust which will build your strength to endure anything. I'm still working on my flaws by staying focus on Jesus and praying. I pray the same for you too.
ReplyDeleteThank you Gail, you've put so perfectly into words, what I have been feeling do greatly.
ReplyDeleteGail, I just came across our site today. I think it was a God send. As I have recently let my church. When I stopped going, I told them that because I stopped going didn't mean I was turning my back on God or that I had stopped believing. I just felt like something wasn't right and I needed to work it out with God. The bible does say that we are to work out our own salvation. I have been looking and reading stuff on your site for hours, lol but thank you for what you are doing.
ReplyDeleteDear friend,
DeleteI pray that you will let God's Word guide you as you process your thoughts. I have prayed for you.