Posted on 02/04/2004 5:50:56 AM PST by sheltonmac
Talk about broadbrushing. The majority of professing christians that you know, huh?
In the same way that the majority of Americans I know are ignorant of the Constitution and the writings of the founding fathers.
You know Shelton, I would venture to guess that there are probably a lot of "holier than thou" people that you know that would say the same things about you. Would they be wrong?
Who knows? I've never claimed to be holier than anyone. Others can say whatever they want about me; I couldn't care less. The only one I should be comparing myself to is Christ - and I know for a fact that my life and actions can in no way measure up. Were it not for his righteousness, I would be eternally separated from God.
Look, those "broadbrush" comments I made were coming from personal experience. If your experience has been otherwise, then that's something to be thankful for.
The study determined that evangelicals are scarce. Barna defines "evangelicals" as a subset of "born again" believers — those who say their faith is very important in their lives, believe they have a responsibility to witness to non-Christians, acknowledge the existence of Satan, contend that eternal salvation is possible only through God's grace and not good deeds, believe that Jesus Christ lived a sinless life on earth and describe God as the all-knowing, all-powerful, perfect deity who created the universe and still rules it today . . . .
Those who fit in such a category include only 8 percent of adults . . . .
And I dare say that most of those 8 percent are in churches that the author of the above article would classify as Modern Evangelical churches.
The fact is that the people who were lambasted in the Barna report are NOT evangelical at all. Heck, they're not even Christians. The term may have been hijacked by the forces of evil, but we ought not to let them get away with it.
The Jesus Freak Churches may not be strong on theology and may not have THD's and PHD's instructing the flocks. But they sure do have a heart for the lost. They are the ones reaping the harvest while the THD's and PHD's are often the ones who have led the charge into open apostacy.
Some of the best Bible expositors I have ever heard barely got out of high school, if they even did. They don't know all the intricacies of systematic theology. They love God. They know the bible. And they have a heart for the lost. That's all they need. Heck, its all any of us need.
Frankly on that subject it is the ones who think they know it all that scare me the most.
I'm afraid I would disagree. I've seen modern evangelical literature that describes coming to God with meekness as an attitude of: Me-eckky. Who can argue with such profound insight?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1071424/posts
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