Have We Failed?

It is stated about 64% of Americans are in the Christian faith. 20% of Americans say the Bible is the actual word of God to be taken literally.

So 2/3 of believers do not believe the Bible to be the actual word of God.

Does that shock anyone?

It seems that people are leaving the True faith for their own man made faith and calling it Christianity.

This is where things have gone seriously wrong. Seriously.

I lead a group of high schoolers and we have been having some interesting discussions on various topics. Capital punishment, abortion, separation of church and state, Jeffrey Dahmer.

And after listening to their thoughts, I’m finding that their beliefs are more centrally founded on what they believe and not what the Bible teaches.

Someone once told me that there should be things in the Bible that causes you to wrestle because we shouldn’t understand it all. But even though we may not agree with it, we are called to follow it.

Call me a stick in the mud. Or old school. Or a Bible thumper, but if your faith is based on your beliefs and what you consider correct, then you are basically worshiping your image as a god.

I asked them, “If someone only sins one time in their entire life, where would they go when they die?

“Heaven,” was the quick response.

Which is said no.

Then I asked, “What if someone sins a million times in a lifetime?”

That question didn’t have a quick answer.

I said, “It doesn’t matter if you sinned only once or a million times, you are still a sinner in need of grace. In God’s eyes speeding and breaking a little law is just as bad as murdering because a sin is a sin and when you do one sin you do them all in His eyes.”

“For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it. For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.”
‭‭James‬ ‭2:10-11‬ ‭ESV‬‬
https://bible.com/bible/59/jas.2.10-11.ESV

This shocked them.

Yes, murder is horrible. We shouldn’t murder. In our eyes murder is so much worse than telling a lie. But that is the thing. We can’t understand God’s perspective, but in His eyes, we are a sinner in need of Christ. Both are sins and both sins grieve Him. Both causes a separation. Both breaks that closeness. Both damage that relationship.

So my original question, Have we failed?

Have we failed by not teaching the truth? Have we sugarcoated the Gospel to please the masses? But is this pleasing God?

Is God pleased with our smiling faces that spread grace like butter and sweep away repentance under the rug?

Maybe I’m getting older, but I’m starting to feel like the Old Testament prophets seeing the wrong and stammering to himself, “where did we go wrong? Stop doing that! Your grace shouldn’t give you liberty to sin carefree.”

But I guess I am weird. Statistically I am in the minority. And for once, I feel like being the weird one is the best place to be.

So, what do you believe?

When the wind blows, which way will you fall?

Peace