Why the exodus of young evangelicals from the church? Scot Mcknight attributes it to our presentation of the Gospel. Looking forward to reading this one ...
Sounds very interesting! I thought his comment, "a church more concerned with people making decisions rather than making disciples" hit the nail on the head. This was sort of what I was attempting to get at in my post "Christian vs. Disciple". I don't think you can be one and not the other! Justification is by faith, but that faith is not simply making a decision, it is a faith that is lived out in obedience to our master, which shows the authenticity of our faith. Anything less is a gospel that presents what Bonhoeffer called "cheap grace", which is sadly what most of us want! It's a lot different from what Jesus preached. I think there is a such a fear of preaching something that sounds like "works" salvation, it has caused many to shy away from the call to repentance of sin and following Christ. But any faith that isn't prepared to do that isn't really faith at all. We don't receive salvation from forsaking all for Christ, but if we aren't prepared to do that, we really don't believe in Him. There are a lot of nuances in this discussion, so I know I risk being misunderstood. Anybody agree with what was written? or disagree?
That is Huge! I think I will read the book. Although I would assume this is the same thing that John Macarthur has been preaching for many years now. He has a great book called Hard to Believe.
Sounds very interesting! I thought his comment, "a church more concerned with people making decisions rather than making disciples" hit the nail on the head. This was sort of what I was attempting to get at in my post "Christian vs. Disciple". I don't think you can be one and not the other! Justification is by faith, but that faith is not simply making a decision, it is a faith that is lived out in obedience to our master, which shows the authenticity of our faith. Anything less is a gospel that presents what Bonhoeffer called "cheap grace", which is sadly what most of us want! It's a lot different from what Jesus preached. I think there is a such a fear of preaching something that sounds like "works" salvation, it has caused many to shy away from the call to repentance of sin and following Christ. But any faith that isn't prepared to do that isn't really faith at all. We don't receive salvation from forsaking all for Christ, but if we aren't prepared to do that, we really don't believe in Him. There are a lot of nuances in this discussion, so I know I risk being misunderstood. Anybody agree with what was written? or disagree?
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That is Huge! I think I will read the book. Although I would assume this is the same thing that John Macarthur has been preaching for many years now. He has a great book called Hard to Believe.
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