Churches that condemn
Submitted by Mark on August 17 2000 23:56:05
In reply to The Problem With Our Churches submitted by Chris on August 16 2000 12:37:01
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I have been wanting to post this for a while, and it fits right in with what you're saying, Chris. I think many churches and Christian organizations and leaders (such as Focus on the Family) think that the purpose of the church is to maintain purity. They are fearful of being contaminated by other people: those who have different backgrounds, characteristics, or beliefs. The following excerpt from "Building on the Rock" by Robert Buehler hits the nail on the head: "Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them." (Matthew 7:15) If anyone chooses to do God's will, he will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own. He who speaks on his own does so to gain honor for himself, but he who works for the honor of the one who sent him is a man of truth; there is nothing false about him (John 7:17-18). This passage from John agrees with our passage that the motive of the messenger has a direct bearing on the validity of the message. So the standard for discernment of who is a true or false prophet is not an objective standard based on accuracy of predictions concerning world events; it is a personal standard based on the characteristics the teaching reveals in its speaker, as well as the characteristics it produces in the hearers. Consider a preacher or politician who sets out to raise the alarm about some threat to the comfort or values of his audience. He tells stories of horror or atrocity designed to arouse fear or revulsion. He identifies as dangerous some individual or group that is clearly foreign to the persons to shom he speaks, whether it is a racial group, or an ideology, or an opposition political party, or a religious movement, or a foreign political or military leader. He calls his hearers neither to repentance nor to reconciliation, but instead seeks to arouse anger and indignation against the identified source of threat. He proposes ways his audience can protect themselves, warn their friends, and counterattack against the threat described. Note that the content of this type of preaching could be almost anything. The individual may be denouncing religion, or atheism, or big governement, or liberalism, or conservatism, or Satanism, or pornography, or fundamentalism, or communism, or capitalism, or sexism, or feminism, or homosexuality, or homophobia, or militarism, or pacifism. The fruit he produces, however, is the same in all cases: fear, mistrust, alienation, and ultimately hatred. In contrast, the fruit produced in and by someone in whom the Spirit of God is at work is described in Galations 5:22-23: "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law." Such fruit is formed in a person who has begun to "participate in the divine nature" (2 Peter 1:4) because of the goodness of God. |
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