Lawrence H. Phipps said he’s surprised it’s taken this long to catch up with us.
“Jesus said, ‘Follow me.’ He did not tell us to simply pray a prayer. He did not tell us to make decisions, but disciples,” said Phipps, pastor of Vaughn Forest Baptist Church, Montgomery.
He said it’s “pseudo-following” that has pushed Barna poll results (see story, this page) to show fewer people holding to traditional Christian beliefs but more saying they have accepted Jesus and expect to go to heaven.
“If we are not careful, we, the Church, can blur the lines. In our quest for changing methodologies to be more relevant, we cannot change the message,” Phipps said.
Roger Willmore, pastor of Deerfoot Baptist Church, Trussville, said the Church’s gradual acceptance of false doctrines is “the most dangerous issue facing the Church today.”
“The claims of Christ upon us are serious,” he said. “His claims call for death to self and sacrifice and separation from the world,” said Willmore, who has taught pastors school courses on confronting cultural Christianity and is in the process of writing a book on the topic. “Today it seems that we want to be Christian but we want our own brand of Christianity. It seems to me that many Christians adjust the teachings of Christ to make them more comfortable, acceptable and palatable.”
The result, he said, is false doctrine and superficial Christianity, not to mention an outright disregard for the exclusivity of salvation in Jesus Christ.
Gary Hardin, pastor of Enon Grove Baptist Church, Cedar Bluff, agreed.
“Alarmingly I meet a growing number of church people who believe that if you are a good person, you will go to heaven, regardless of whether you trust Jesus as Savior,” Hardin said.
And more and more people are bending the Bible’s teachings to fit their preferences, he said.
“We have more cohabitation couples attending on Sunday mornings than I’ve seen in almost 40 years of ministry. When you question them about living together, they readily admit they know their behavior is against Bible teaching, but they do it anyway,” Hardin said. “We are losing today our commitment to the Bible as our authority for moral values.”
But even though the decline is visible, the idea of people making their own gods is nothing new, said Richard L. Richie, pastor of Flint Baptist Church, Decatur.
“The concept of multiple individual religions is really nothing new. People have been trying to make sense of and define this world through the establishment of thousands of manmade gods, beliefs, religions and religious practices from the very beginning of time,” he said. “Unfortunately, it all started with the fall from grace in the Garden of Eden.”
Phipps agreed.
“I was not surprised by Barna’s research,” he said. “People have been trying to make God in their own image since creation. He does not need us for salvation. The focus is Jesus, but the self-centered want it to be them. To that end they make their own ‘religion.’” (TAB)
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