Running with Scissors

Welcome to my corner of the blogosphere. This is where I will be posting my thoughts on various aspects of Christianity. Think of this as a Q&A session for Christians. Stick around this could get interesting.

Name:
Location: Phoenix, Arizona

Friday, December 08, 2006

A Confession From A False Convert Part 1

In my previous post I said that the people who engage in evangelism should do so only after they have received proper training. Here's why I believe this. Ray Comfort wrote in his book Hell's Best Kept Secret that in 1970 he got access to some church records and discovered that evangelistic success wasn't all it was cracked up to be. He found that the success rate of evangelistic meetings from the large ones to the small ones only boasted a 20% success rate. That means that for every 100 decisions for Christ 80 people turned back to their old ways in a matter of a few months. How is that possible? What were they lacking? I think what they were lacking is a good solid Biblical presentation of the gospel.

If you walk into any modern church in this country, and this really seems to be true of the Non-Denominational and Evangelical churches, you will hear things like "If you just ask Jesus to come into your heart, He will save you and your life will be so much better than anything you've experience thus far." Or "Jesus is my best friend. He and I hang out all the time. Whereever I am, He is there with me and He has never let me down in times of trial or hardship." Or "Do you want to be free from sickness, pain and suffering? Do you want to be free from sin? Do you want to know what your purpose in life is? Do you want peace, joy, love and happiness? Well if you just believe Jesus died for your sins, you can have all that and so much more. Don't you want to ask Jesus into your heart? Come on down to the altar and one of our prayer team members will pray with you. Don't wait another minute." Well who wouldn't be rushing down to the prayer fest and give their lives to Jesus.? I want all that stuff!

But what happens if I don't get all that stuff? What does it mean if I get sick? What does it mean if I'm not happy and joyous every day of my life? I've been told that I just have to have more faith. The promises keep coming, but still some people never get all that "stuff" they were promised. Why? And how long is someone supposed to wait? I believe all these promises that have been made by the modern church are empty and nothing more than a way to get people into the pews in order to build a bigger ministry. Their promises are empty and they're certainly not Biblical.

The one thing missing from these approaches to evangelism is the Law of God. People simply do not know the reason they need a savior. So where do backsliders come from? We make them in churches across the country every week. We make them when we give them a non-Biblical presentaion of the gospel and tell them that by asking Jesus into their heart they are saved. I'm sorry but isn't that a "work"? The Bible clearly teaches that we are saved by faith. That it is a gift of God and not of ourselves, so that no one can boast. Sounds like a mixed message to me. The church and it's false messages of being "relevant" and trying to relate to the world are doing more damage than good. I know because I thought I was saved, because I bought into this kind of nonsense at the first church I went to.

It's been said by, I believe it was John MacArthur, that if you can't remember when you were saved, not necessarily the day or month but even the year, there's a good chance you're not saved. Only recently did I realize that I couldn't even pinpoint the year in which I was saved. Was it '94,'95 or '96? It couldn't be any later than '97 and I know for sure it was before '98. I always chalked up my inability to remember the date due to the fact that I drank ALOT in the mid-nineties. I rationalized it away by saying, "it doesn't matter when I was saved, only that I was saved. I was convinced that Christianity was true. It was proven to me, all my questions were answered. But I never really got all that stuff I heard being promised to other people. I never had the overwhelming joy, I never had the peace and I was never really happy. But that didn't matter, because I was "saved".

But just what was I saved from? Well Hell, of course. Everybody knows that. But why was I going to Hell? But what was Hell? Was it not being resurrected to eternal life? Was it a place where there was gnashing of teeth and eternal torment and burning for all eternity? Was it simply separation from God? I never got a straight answer on that one. I knew I had lived apart from God, but I was told that as long as I put my faith in Him I would be saved and be made a new creature.

But I still kept on doing the things I had done before. I kept right on sinning. I never learned anything about the fruits of the spirit and about producing good fruit, so I was living like the rest of the world, but I still called myself a Christian. Why? Because I went to church and read my Bible and asked Jesus into my heart. The truth of the matter is, I wasn't saved. I was a false convert, a hypocrite and a liar. I was one of the 80% instead of one of the 20%. And ya know what the worst part of it is? I couldn't bring myself to admit it until very recently.

2 Comments:

Blogger SocietyVs said...

The false convert - good title and good blog. But I can't say I neccesarily agree altogether with it - or maybe I do - I am tossed on the issue a bit.

Salvation is a gift (nothing we can do to earn it) and that is true - it is by grace we are saved, nothing more - thus, throw out any system by which we are judged 'condemned' or 'approved'.

I struggle with the idea of teaching the law (seen strongly in Paul's writings about 'the other gospel') as any kind of standard - which I don't think you are saying - but only refrencing the law as a point of condemnation we previously lived under - but going that route a lot of churches have slipped into 'law-isms'.

I also think the whole 'feeling' and 'promises' and 'altar call' is a produced thing - based on promises that may not be able to be followed through on. I agree. I personally think the altar call should be done away with - it's sentimental not sincere.

But as for a 'false conversion' as compared to a 'real conversion' - makes me wonder - if the first one was so false then you might not have gotten to the 'real one'? I think some inclination was there to keep on - no matter how small. Reason I question is because I think the basis of the faith is on responsibility - 'treating others like ourselves' and respecting the teachings of Jesus so much we enact them in our lives - that's worship.

But I bore.

3:54 PM  
Blogger Zecryphon said...

Society:

"The false convert - good title and good blog. But I can't say I neccesarily agree altogether with it - or maybe I do - I am tossed on the issue a bit."

That's okay. I'm still working through alot of issues, too. I think we all do, it just depends on what the issue is, whether it's theological or dogmatic or whatever.

"Salvation is a gift (nothing we can do to earn it) and that is true - it is by grace we are saved, nothing more - thus, throw out any system by which we are judged 'condemned' or 'approved'."

Well God must have a standard by which He is going to judge all people on Judgment Day. I believe it to be the 10 Commandments.

"I struggle with the idea of teaching the law (seen strongly in Paul's writings about 'the other gospel') as any kind of standard - which I don't think you are saying - but only refrencing the law as a point of condemnation we previously lived under - but going that route a lot of churches have slipped into 'law-isms'."

True, the law brings to us the knowledge of sin. Keeping it, does not remove our sin or make up for it. I believe the Law was given to show our need for a savior.

"I also think the whole 'feeling' and 'promises' and 'altar call' is a produced thing - based on promises that may not be able to be followed through on."

I really have no problem with an altar call, as long as the person answering it, fully understands why they are going down there. In 99% of the cases of answering an altar call, I know they do not, because of the presentation that is given before the call is made.

"I agree. I personally think the altar call should be done away with - it's sentimental not sincere."

I don't think we have to do away with it, I just think we have to rework it. An altar call is just an invitation to go down to the pulpit area and receive salvation. If a person is brought to repentence in a proper way, there is no reason they can not have their decision for Christ be seen by the whole church. But that shouldn't be their motivation either. We are not to do our good deeds to be seen by others. We could go that whole route with it too.

"But as for a 'false conversion' as compared to a 'real conversion' - makes me wonder - if the first one was so false then you might not have gotten to the 'real one'?"

I never knew the first one was false, until I started thinking about what happened leading up to my first conversion. Until I understood what it meant to repent, there was no way I could have ever found out that my first conversion was false. To repent means to not only admit that you have sinned against God and that you are sorry for it, you must also make every effort to turn from that sinful behvaior too. I think that's a part of the repentence message that gets left out of repentence teachings in churches today. I mean as long as we say we're sorry and God forgives us endlessly, why should anyone feel a need to turn from their behavior? In short, I was convinced Christianity was true, I was not convicted by the Holy Spirt that it was true. Does that make sense?

"I think some inclination was there to keep on - no matter how small. Reason I question is because I think the basis of the faith is on responsibility - 'treating others like ourselves' and respecting the teachings of Jesus so much we enact them in our lives - that's worship."

I thought I was saved, so the inclination was to do what I was commanded to do. When I found Way of the Master a few years ago and started listening to what they were saying, and reading some of their materials, I thought I was right in line with what they were saying, then I came to a point where I was questioning my faith and how I was living my faith. Then I took another look at everything that had happened over the past ten years and I knew, I was not who I thought I was.

"But I bore."

No, you don't. You provoke good thought and discussion. :-)

1:23 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home