USA Today reports that a new study found that "Most American religious believers, including most Christians, say eternal life is not exclusively for those who accept Christ as their savior." This study, which was conducted by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, also specified that 37 % of white evangelicals fell into this less exclusive view of salvation.
Churches qualifying as "evangelical" have really lost their evangel (good news) if Christ isn't being made known as the only way to the Father (Jn. 14:6). But this is to be expected. When the trend is to make your services more appealing to the unbelieving world, it is only logical that the offense of the gospel will be evicted.
Someone will object and say, "We're not taking out the offense of the gospel, we are just making it so that the unbelieving feel comfortable/welcome." But the gospel is emasculated precisely because of the adjustments. How do you make services more appealing? It is by removing heavy doses of Scripture, prayers of repentance, sound theologically driven music, and daring, lectio continua preaching (i.e. preaching through Bible books).
In essence: If you withdraw the regular means of communicating the gospel, you will silence the exclusive claims of the gospel. Or, if your church's motto is "Have it your way," people will walk away thinking exactly that.
(Of course, this study does beg the question of what an "evangelical" Christian is. Recent surveys have also revealed that most professing evangelicals don't know what the word "evangelical" means.)
But let it be known: "There is salvation in no one else, there is no other name under heaven, given among men, by which we must be saved." Acts 4:17
Not the labors of my hands can fulfil thy laws demands
could my zeal no respite know, could my tears forever flow,
all for sin could not atone; thou must save and thou alone.
-Augustus M. Toplady, Rock of Ages
2 comments:
Amen, brother!
What do we do when the salt loses its saltiness? And what do we do when Christ isn't exalted in his body? Thank God for voices of contemporary reformers, like yourself.
I agree Brother. So much of the church has lost its moorings due to the leadership not doing what they should be doing. God warmed Israel of this (Isa 56:9-12) as did Paul and Christ Himself. Ravenous wolves would come in.
Today it is Purpose Driven, Emergent,many strands of "home churches" etc and all this ties in with the interspirituality that that folks like Alice Bailey and others dreamed of--a New Age religion and that today is being brought in my men such as Merton, Brennan Manning and Richard Foster, and through publishers such as Zondervan, and Youth Specialties.
They all mean well, but they are not being discrning and testing he soirits , for not all soirits are of the Lord.
As East and West merge in the economic and ploitical spheres , we must understand that the is is also played out in the spiritual realms. as we one again build our Tower of Babel, there is no end to the evil that men can propagate on society. This interspirituality is the road to that tower. "Why can't we all get along?" God tells us why. "You are of your father the devil." He is a liar , murderer and thief and many follow his ways as these ways are disguised as light.But we know that there is no name under heaven and only one way that man can be saved.
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