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Thread: How seeker-friendly churches hurt America

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    How seeker-friendly churches hurt America


    How seeker-friendly churches hurt America
    Tuesday, January 24, 2017
    Bryan Fischer - Guest Columnis

    The plain truth of God's Word – when America's pastors no longer have the courage to preach it, America begins to drift from its moorings. It loses its moral center.

    Many churches in America, sadly including many mega-churches, pride themselves on being "seeker-friendly," by which they mean they are not judgmental and mean like those angry fundamentalists. Carrie Underwood famously supports same-sex marriage and attends a church whose pastor has so blurred the edges on the issue of homosexuality that his parishioners likely are confused about whether God is concerned about the issue at all.

    Such seeker-friendly churches typically try to appeal to the unchurched by giving short shrift to the hard sayings in the Scriptures and the firm, fixed, and unalterable moral standards that are found there. This is because they fear seekers will find them too harsh, too difficult, and too out of phase with contemporary culture. Because such controversial truths might run seekers off, it's best to avoid them entirely and talk endlessly and exclusively about how nice, kind, and understanding God is.

    And so, as G.K. Chesterton observed, "Christianity has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and not tried."

    Now there is nothing wrong with being friendly toward those who are seeking the truth. Of course we want to have open hearts to all, and patiently explain the truths of Christianity to all who have a sincere desire to find out more about God. But patiently explaining the hard truths of Scripture to seekers is much different than avoiding them altogether or so twisting them that they are explained away.

    It's one thing for a man to be a friend of sinners, but it's another for him to be such a friend of sinners that he becomes an enemy of God by betraying His word. Such a "friend" of sinners may only be paving their way to a Christ-less eternity....




    ...When Paul met with the Ephesian elders, he reminded them twice that he had declared to them the full revelation of God, even those parts that were hard for him to preach and hard for them to hear. "I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable ... I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God." (Acts 20:20, 27)

    The fact that Paul said twice he did not shrink back indicates that he had to think about it and was tempted to do it. There was risk of blowback involved, and Paul was as human as anyone else. He had to make a deliberate decision to take a deep breath and teach things he knew would be controversial, even to leaders in the church of Christ, let alone to outsiders and to seekers.

    The word translated "shrink" (Greek hupostello) literally means to "withhold under or out of sight." Yeah, it's there, and we have to keep it in stock, but we're going to keep it under the counter where nobody will see it and we're gonna hope we don't have to bring it out and actually show it to anyone.

    But Paul steeled himself to teach not only the pleasant things of God's counsel but its difficult and challenging parts too. Why? Because the hard parts are "profitable" just like the fun parts. Truth-hungry people benefit from hearing them, and conversely are deprived of something important and valuable by not hearing them....



    This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity (futility) of their mind, having the understanding darkened...
    (Ephesians 4:17-18)

    Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly...
    (Psalm 1)

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    Senior Member Ezekiel 33's Avatar
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    In Acts chapter 2 we see the birth of the Christian church. The clear message was "Repent, and be baptized for the remission of your sins!" I have yet to find any place in scripture where that message was changed. Peter preached it, Paul preached it, Philip preached it.
    And yet, many have transmorgified (I think that is the proper Calvin & Hobbs term) the gospel into something different. They are guilty of preaching "another Jesus".

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    Senior Member Colonel's Avatar
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    Acts 20:20 how I kept back nothing that was helpful, but proclaimed it to you, and taught you publicly and from house to house,
    21 testifying to Jews, and also to Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.

    Here's one of the things that he didn't keep back and that was helpful :

    Gal 2:11 Now when Peter had come to Antioch, I withstood him to his face, because he was to be blamed;
    12 for before certain men came from James, he would eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing those who were of the circumcision.
    13 And the rest of the Jews also played the hypocrite with him, so that even Barnabas was carried away with their hypocrisy.
    14 But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter before them all, “If you, being a Jew, live in the manner of Gentiles and not as the Jews, why do you compel Gentiles to live as Jews?
    15 We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles,
    16 knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.

    That wasn't "hard gospel truths", it was quite the opposite. He taught them to get out of Jewish legalism. So the context of Acts 20:20 can be all sorts of things, all the way from "hard gospel truths" to "liberty in the Spirit".

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    * Toxic Troll - Negative Nancy Farm Truck's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ezekiel 33 View Post
    In Acts chapter 2 we see the birth of the Christian church. The clear message was "Repent, and be baptized for the remission of your sins!" I have yet to find any place in scripture where that message was changed. Peter preached it, Paul preached it, Philip preached it.
    And yet, many have transmorgified (I think that is the proper Calvin & Hobbs term) the gospel into something different. They are guilty of preaching "another Jesus".
    Yes, and the modern day church fails to teach people that they must remain in their personal relationship with the Lord in order to spend eternity with the Lord. The Word teaches that 2 cannot walk together unless they be agreed... so walking after the flesh and the things of this world ain't cuttin the mustard.

    John 15:2
    Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.

    I went to a church where the pastor said Jesus was talking about sinners out in the world in John 15:2.... needless to say, I don't attend that church anymore seeing they contradict Jesus.

    Most teach repent and be baptized for the remission of your sins and after that it really matters not what you do from there cause they believe in OSAS so one can walk after the flesh and be saved which is not scriptural.

    The Word teaches that if one walks after the flesh they SHALL die... the Word teaches if one walks after the Spirit, they are not under the law (law of sin and death), the Word teaches those that hide their sin shall not prosper but he who confesses and forsakes their sin will have mercy.

    Lots of stuff in the Word of God that demonstrates OSAS as being false doctrine.

    But, I understand... some folk want to be friendly with this world which makes them enemies of God (James 4:4)

    It's quite comical to see how OSAS people try to claim the Book of James was not written to Christians

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