During World War II several companies had gathered off the lines at a supply camp and were intermingling and meeting new soldiers. At this point, a chaplain approached a group of men and asked, "Excuse me, are you men Christians?"This is the sixth in a series of seven entitled Take It Personal. I argue we all have faith in something and many of us end up claiming to believe one thing (Jesus) while our deeper faith is in something else (family, politics, theology). But in reality, all surrogates are empty and powerless. We must look to and live for Christ and him alone.
One soldier stood up and confidently answered for the group, "Of course we are, we're Americans."
One false location for faith is culture. This can look like a person from a particular background assuming they are a Christian without having a commitment to Him. It can also look like someone believing that Christian influence in culture = good culture.
But, "Christian" culture may not actually be Christian at all. In fact, I would assert that "Christian" culture can actually be the enemy of true faith. When we think of a culture marked by Christian beliefs and practice, what do we think of? Are these biblical ideas or are they something else?
It might be a set of morals or societal standards.
Donald Grey Barnhouse gave an illustration in a radio address over half a century ago where he asked the question, "What would happen if Satan took control of a city?" His answer was described by one author as this:
Barnhouse speculated that if Satan took over Philadelphia, all of the bars would be closed, pornography banished, and pristine streets would be filled with tidy pedestrians who smiled at each other. There would be no swearing. The children would say, "Yes, sir" and "No, ma'am," and the churches would be full every Sunday . . . where Christ is not preached.The accomplishment of "Christian" morals (or a high level of Christian influence in society) does not equal true faith.
I believe there have been and are millions of people who have embraced cultural Christianity by way of morality or church attendance or Facebook religious views, that are not actually members of the true body of Christ. This can be called nominalism-it is in name only (Frighteningly, I also believe many would say the above scenario sounds pretty good).
So, to be totally clear on this. Just because you are a US citizen does not make you a follower of Christ. Just because you were raised in church does not make you a follower of Christ. Just because you still attend a church does not make you a follower of Christ.
True faith is placed in Christ and him alone. Not in any of the events or statuses above. And when our faith is in him, it will inevitably change us (maybe very gradually, but change nonetheless!). Not because morality is the point, but because the Holy Spirit doesn't fail.
Recent statistics have show a huge spike in the number of Americans who formerly chose "Protestant" that now select "None" as their religious preference. This is actually welcome news to me and before you call me crazy, here's a respected Christian leader who agrees with me and makes a compelling case.
In fact, as I'd just end up trying to make the same points as him in my own words, I'm going to quote his conclusions:
Here are some reasons why I find the results of this recent poll by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life encouraging.
- Cultural Christianity has never done anything to advance the kingdom. It only inoculates against the real thing. When large numbers of nominal and cultural Christians wave the banner of Christ, it confuses the message of the gospel. But now that they have ditched the title, it opens the door for genuine disciples to get the word out without all the confusion.
- Despite the drop in the number of people who chose the label “Christian” the actual number of people who identified as evangelical and attend church continues to increase (even among those under 30). In other words, the nominals have fallen off, but they were never aboard. And the number of committed Christ followers has increased.
- The decrease in the number of people who call themselves “Christian” also shows the folly of messing with God’s Word in an attempt to make it more palatable. The drop in self-identified Christians is roughly equal to the drop in self-identified mainline Protestants. That’s right. The churches that left scripture and orthodoxy in an attempt to be culturally relevant, have become culturally irrelevant. Those who try to improve upon God’s Word or bring a new gospel have always done so at their peril. Jesus said he would build his church, not ours. (Source: Larry Osborne)
Assumed cultural Christianity does not equal real faith. And a loss of Christian "numeric power" isn't actually a bad thing.
Don't lament the loss of Christian cultural power.
Do ask, at the deepest level, "Where does your faith really lie?"
True faith is found in Christ and in him alone. He is bigger than any culture or nation.
And one day, He will return and people from every nation, tribe, and tongue who have personally, volitionally put faith in Him will praise Him in their own culturally unique ways. And it will be awesome.
2 comments:
I think this is an interesting and fairly well-written piece. It, like the rest of this series, draws an important distinction that people who profess faith in Christ would do well to consider. My only criticism would be to caution against equating at face value "people who identify as evangelical and attend church" and "committed Christ followers." While my evidence is mostly anecdotal, my experiences attending both an evangelical church and a "mainline Protestant" church have led me to believe that people of both spiritual persuasions are just as likely to place their faith in Christ as they are to place it in something else. People of both persuasions can place their faith in tradition or family or civic religion. My experience attending an evangelical church leads me to believe that, in that context, emotional experience can easily be substituted for faith in Christ. Just because someone is evangelical doesn't mean they're automatically a committed Christian. Similarly, just because someone is Lutheran or Episcopalian or Methodist doesn't mean that they're placing their faith in something other than Christ.
This is an important comment, Ted. You make a very pertinent and necessary point. I intentionally avoided using denominational or theological language the whole series and should have thought that through before posting a direct quote that used such language.
Absolutely, there are "evangelicals" that place faith in other things (that is my primary audience for most of the posts) and absolutely their are faithful, Christ-exalting Lutherans, Wesleyans, Anglicans, Catholics, etc, etc.
I would never want to imply that labeling something evangelical is to legitimize it. In fact, one of my very good friends here grew up in a Southern Baptist church and often talks about how empty and dead it was.
Finally, EMOTION! I may have to go and write an extra post now, because that's an important one. I don't end up thinking about it very often because I attend and read and listen to some pretty dry stuff, but it is definitely prominent as a surrogate for faith.
Finally, finally, let's be honest, this one wasn't very well written. I reorganized the whole thing about five times then finally just posted it because I was sick of editing.
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