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 - Endorsed - Indifferent - Contested
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| The Nashville Statement
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Name:Daniel
Home: Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
About Me: I used to believe that evolution was reasonable, that homosexuality was genetic, and that people became Christians because they couldn't deal with the 'reality' that this life was all there was. I used to believe, that if there was a heaven - I could get there by being good - and I used to think I was more or less a good person. I was wrong on all counts. One day I finally had my eyes opened and I saw that I was not going to go to heaven, but that I was certainly going to suffer the wrath of God for all my sin. I saw myself as a treasonous rebel at heart - I hated God for creating me just to send me to Hell - and I was wretched beyond my own comprehension. Into this spiritual vacuum Jesus Christ came and he opened my understanding - delivering me from God's wrath into God's grace. I was "saved" as an adult, and now my life is hid in Christ. I am by no means sinless, but by God's grace I am a repenting believer - a born again Christian.
My complete profile...
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Daniel's posts are almost always pastoral and God centered. I appreciate and am challenged by them frequently. He has a great sense of humor as well.
- Marc Heinrich
His posts are either funny or challenging. He is very friendly and nice.
- Rose Cole
[He has] good posts, both the serious like this one, and the humorous like yesterday. [He is] the reason that I have restrained myself from making Canadian jokes in my posts.
- C-Train
This post contains nothing that is of any use to me. What were you thinking? Anyway, it's probably the best I've read all day.
- David Kjos
Daniel, nicely done and much more original than Frank the Turk.
- Jonathan Moorhead
There are some people who are smart, deep, or funny. There are not very many people that are all 3. Daniel is one of those people. His opinion, insight and humor have kept me coming back to his blog since I first visited earlier this year.
- Carla Rolfe
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| The apathetic Christian |
I wish this weren't so, but I believe it is. I believe that the average person who professes faith in Jesus Christ does not make it his or her daily practice to walk in the Spirit.
Do you understand what that means? It means that I believe the average Christian is apathetic when it comes to living the Christian life.
Somewhere along the way the ability to articulate an orthodox expression of evangelical faith became trump, and it didn't really matter all that much if you were actually walking in that faith.
I can't imagine painting this picture with a bigger brush, and by that I mean I understand that I am making a statement so broad that there will likely be a great many exceptions to what I have said, nevertheless I believe it is true.
Yet why is that? Why do I think that the grand slice of Christianity is Christian in theology only, and not in actual practice? I think that way because I don't see a great deal of surrender in the church; perhaps I am blind or have a jaundiced eye - I allow the possibility that it is not the church that is suffering, but rather my discernment. I would prefer that this was the case, but if I am deceived, then I am wholeheartedly deceived, because I believe this thing will all my being. I do not see sacrificial living, rather I see a sort of Christianized paganism, and let me be the first to say, I am not guiltless in the charge I bring.
Whenever I have heard this person or that person say, "this is my 'life verse'", I have always wondered what that meant. I supposed that it meant that this particular verse was definitive to them in some way - that is, it defined for them some principle that they had settled on as the primary principle by which they lived. If that is the case, I think Paul said it best when He said, "For me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain", I think if I were going to choose one single teaching from the scriptures to set up as the primary "goal" or though - Paul's thought there would be a good one.
But really, I could find dozens of texts that would be just as suited to that purpose, in fact I would be hard pressed to actually choose just one verse - though I think I might be able, if pressed, to select a single theme; knowing Christ for instance. Yet I would not find it difficult to find a single verse to describe the way Christians are supposed to be living their day to day lives. For that I would choose, "But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh." (Galatians 5:16 [ESV]).
But I don't see surrender in the church, more often than not, I see religion. I see people who profess a faith that they are unwilling to surrender their lives and live. They have grabbed hold of a better afterlife, but haven't let go of this one in their heart.
Worse still, if they are genuine... they know they are doing this.
I encourage you, therefore, believer who is apathetic, to repent while you are still able.Labels: apathy, repentance, sanctification |
posted by Daniel @
11:41 AM
 
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| 1 Comments: |
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Unfortunately you are correct.
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Unfortunately you are correct.