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I have a friend from a message board I frequent who has been asking me to read the writings of someone they esteem as a Christian leader. I can tell my friend really is a strong believer in what this person teaches so I've taken the time to read what this man has written and try to hold it up against God's word. He brings up some very valid points that on the surface would make you stand up and cheer because of the plain honesty. Then you look deeper and see in between those statements are things that run in direct conflict with the word of God.

It's a common trend among some people leading churches today to try and take parts of the Bible for their purposes and then ignore other passages because it doesn't fit with what they want to accomplish. For example, a lot of churches that are focused on "loving" people will not teach or speak about the passages in the Bible which speak of hell or sin or condemnation for the person who has not accepted Christ. They think if they "love" someone they'll automatically jump in and accept Christ as Savior because of all the loving and good things that are being done. The problem is that if they're being loved and accepted and never challenged on the things the Bible says are wrong then they have no reason to change their life at all. If they're being loved and accepted without any exposure to the consequences of not accepting Christ in their life there is no reason at all for someone to accept Jesus!

The long time readers of this blog know that I don't prescribe to any particular denomination or man made way of looking at Jesus. The whole position I have is that we go to the Scriptures, see what is there and then use that to guide our lives. Some people like to try and hold that up as people are worshipping the Bible as much as God...and that's an extremely foolish position for someone to maintain. That would be like saying someone values the operations manual of their lawn mower more than the mower itself. The operations manual tells you what you need to do to run the mower but you can't do anything without the mower. When you have a problem with the mower, you go back to it and find out why that could be happening. The Bible is a guide for living that points to Jesus who is the basis for all we do to live.

To tell people to just "love" others as "Jesus" did without giving them any basis for showing how Jesus loved people is like giving someone a complex tool and telling them to go use it. They might be able to do the basic functions but will not be able to enjoy and understand the full use of that tool. Just like someone can get the basis of faith in Christ without the Bible, they might not be able to understand the full scope of what Jesus taught all of us concerning especially our freedom in Christ.

For example, you have someone who knows the basics...Jesus died for their sins, rose again, eternal life. That's great...and they can use that to share Him with others...but it would leave out large parts of the Christian walk. For example, many know Romans 8:1 (ESV) "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." On the surface...which is all the further many Christians go...they take that to mean that they are no longer under the penalty of eternity in hell because they've accepted Christ. That would be true. HOWEVER, there's more to it than just that. As someone in Christ, you no longer have anything to fear regarding God himself. God sees you as He sees Jesus...so even though we sin and make mistakes it doesn't mean that God's sitting up in heaven with God's Mighty Anvil just waiting to drop it on you. You're free and not bound up by the chains of the law.

Now, I won't deny there are far too many churches out there that have a completely misguided focus when it comes to our walk with Christ. The church is the body of believers and not a brick and mortar building. Christians are not supposed to serve a church...they're to minister to others and the church can be a place where they gather supplies, encourage each other and provide the tools needed to go and minister. If someone were to come to me and say that the majority of churches in America today have their focus 180 degrees from where it should be I would be inclined to agree. To completely bastardize a quote from President John F. Kennedy...it's not what you can do for your church but what your church can do for the community. The church is a service center where you can be recharged and reloaded to serve others while also taking the time to show respect, honor and love to the head of the church, Jesus Christ.

But I digress...the point I'm trying to make is that you need to look at the whole of what's being taught by those who are most vocally and actively attacking the "church" as it's been traditionally defined. There is ample territory to come after the way man has twisted the nature of the Scriptures and the instructions given through the disciples. You have to be very careful, though, not to take that discontent with man's actions and turn it into places where you ignore parts of Scripture just to advance a belief system that is anti-"church" (and I mean that not in a hateful manner but rather someone who advocates a system contrary to the current "church" system.) Being a Christian is not a cake-walk, it's not all "love" and it's not "happiness." Sometimes being a Christian can be painful. Sometimes the teachings of Christ can hurt you. To ignore that part of Jesus' teachings is to deny Christ himself.

For example, if we teach about being wise with the financial blessings that the Lord has provided it's going to be a place the Holy Spirit can convict someone who's been throwing their money away instead of using it in a manner that honors God. That person is going to feel hurt and condemned and angry. Some people who are "anti-church" would say this is not a teaching from Christ because it wouldn't hurt someone. Clearly, that's not the case...without something that can hurt or sting there is no conviction of the believer to bring their lives more in line with Christ.

As much as some want to try and pretend this is the case, belief in Christ is not a "get out of conviction from your sin free" card. Condemnation (to declare to be reprehensible, wrong, or evil usually after weighing evidence and without reservation) and conviction (the act of convincing a person of error or of compelling the admission of a truth) are not the same thing. Be careful of those teachers who try to blur that line for the sake of "loving" others.

To be clear, I'm not saying that everyone who talks about showing the "love of Christ" is a false teacher or that they're Scripturally unsound or that they're wrong in what they're saying to people in general. There are a lot of those who warn of the fact most churches aren't in line with Scripture who make very valid and very Scripturally solid cases and should be given full attention to their statements. In some cases they are like a modern day Martin Luther nailing up a new version of the 95 Thesis. However, you have to look very carefully at the teachings of these men and hold up EVERYTHING they're saying against the Scriptures. See where the conflicts come in and the pray about them and ask God about what you're seeing. Ultimately, Jesus is your guide to all truth but His truth is not going to conflict with the things that He has said in His word.

After all, it's possible that not all you hear a preacher say to you is necessarily what's in the Scriptures...but that's a blog for another day. :)