I’m not going to link to a couple of articles that really pushed my buttons, but there were three of them and they all pushed buttons. Each one was speaking to the “children of the congregation” in various ways, each one hitting a real sour note with me.
You do not want to leave me with a sour note, or I shall never shut up about it…..
Hence “Children of the Corn,” the name of a cheesy B rated horror movie, but not unlike the same flavor of what Jesus Himself said when he pointed out in Matthew 23, “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are.”
Perhaps we mean well, perhaps we don’t know any better, perhaps we lack the eyes or the vision to see it, but when we preach to kids this kind of works based salvation, this idea that suggests it’s a good idea to always question whether or not you are saved, we set them up for failure. Perhaps we don’t mean to, but dang, we speak down to kids like they are bloody idiots. “What must you do to be saved?” Get good grades, learn to sit still in church, eat your vegetables, don’t drive your parents, (or really any adult,) crazy…..
Poof, be good and you shall be saved, children. And that is a complete lie, one so many see right through after they are about oh, about 12 or so. Is it any wonder so many young people walk away from our faith?? It isn’t a wonder to me.
“Do you love Jesus,” is hardly any better of a litmus test. Sometimes we get really angry at the people we love, or even indifferent. We aren’t saved by how well “we” love Jesus, we are saved by how well He first loved us.
So if I were in that position, which I am not but I shall say it anyway, I would answer those questions, “what must I do to be saved,” by asking “what makes you think it is all about you??”
And “what makes you think it is all about you” is probably the very question a great deal of kids today need to be asking themselves anyway, but not just kids, more than a few pastors and some parents, too.
Especially those who have to the gall to try to provide this handy dandy checklist of good salvation behavior, behavior that just so happens to align with your own parental world view. Like no kid is ever going to go, well shoot, God sure looks a whole lot like all these dysfunctional adults in my life? I’m starting to believe He just might be a figment of their imagination, someone they invented just to try to control me…..
And that is precisely what many people who have left the church, left the faith even, tell me. And I can see it now, I can see how those lies and deceptions are built on a foundation of perpetually sinking sand.
So kid, how must you be saved? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. It’s not about you or what “you do” or what you “dew,” or how well you perform in public, it is just all about Him.
So stop it, just stop it. Stop preaching good behavior as if it were some kind of litmus test for salvation…
And one last thing, the three men who wrote these article are three men who have me blocked on social media. So listen, when you pull out Psalm 141 in regards to children, (children!) ya’ll be hypocrites. Like apparently you don’t really believe those words or you’d actually be listening to me. What kind wounded soul would ever think to preach to kids, “Let a righteous man strike me—that is a kindness; let him rebuke me—that is oil on my head.”
What kind of wounded soul? The kind that has apparently never read the rest of the verse, “Their rulers will be thrown down from the cliffs, and the wicked will learn that my words were well spoken.”
Yeah, that ain’t a Psalm being sung to the “children of the congregation” that’s a Psalm being sung to YOU. That’s your kindness, that’s your rebuke, that is the oil on YOUR head.
Very interesting, thank you for not have poset a long peace because if so i cannot follow ADD, Having a relationship with the Lord, i started to tell my grandkids 23 12 20, when they where younger, to talk to Jesus for help.etc and my grandaughter when she was 12 years old, gave her sweet little life to the lrd and now in college she still has a relationship with Him.Sorry so long, I hope it was not too long, lol
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Yes. Many false teachers at the end of the end times. 😦
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My early days in church was sporadic at best and was mostly fraught with “if you don’t mind your mother God will punish you!” and I tried to be a good girl, but when you aren’t even sure what you are doing wrong it is hard to be “good”. When I became a teen I went to a church that met in homes for awhile called The Way Ministry and my daughter still has my Bible from those days. After the chapter in my hometown left I stopped going for a long time. I didn’t really attend much church til my 30’s when I was baptized a few years later my marriage failed and I left for Texas where I was finally saved and you know what it was totally broken me and Jesus curled up in a ball on my bed crying my eyes out. There was no pastor and no congregation because all I had gotten from them in my life was indifference or condemnation. I now never recommend a brick and mortar churches I recommend reading their Bible and even if you don’t understand at first pray for wisdom and God will give it. I learned about the love of God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit mostly on my own and He slowly revealed to me things I needed to know and brought good Godly people into my life. If I had stayed with brick and mortar churches I am pretty certain I would never have been saved.
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I’m sorry that the “brick and mortar church” has not always been there for you. But I really appreciate your testimony, because it speaks to the truth that Jesus saves, that He exists outside the church too, that we can find Him anywhere. I think that’s really true. I’m a big fan of local churches, but I’m a far bigger fan of His spirit moving through our lives.
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Thanks and I think God places us where we need to be when we need to be there. I am sure there are very good churches out there, but now that I am disabled I don’t have the strength to search, but God is great and as He has always done He meets me where I am. I am also a huge fan of His spirit moving through lives. I like small meetings in homes where all feel comfortable and able to participate I know it was the one time in my life I was half way comfortable worshipping with others.
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I’ve been taking a break from the church since the beginning of January. I’ve become very frustrated and irritable with the teachings of men. I’ve really tried reflecting on God and realigning myself with Him. Recently, I’ve been being called mean and told I don’t love God’s people because I’m taking a break. It really has been highlighted to me as of late that Jesus wasn’t nice at all to the pharisees. I’d say Jesus is meaner than I have been. I’ve always questioned beliefs of men followed up with scripture and what the Bible, mainly Jesus, has to say on certain subjects. That has identified me as rude, mean, etc. But I’ve taken into note that Jesus was speaking with the utmost authority when confronting pharisees and the like which is a personal presence that I’d like to tap into through my time of being away from the church. To gain, regain, the courage and the direction of my being within God. (Hopefully that isn’t confusing) The false prophets have arisen, the itching ears are abundant, false teachings are huge, the end times are ever so close and the roaring of the Almighty grows louder each day. Look up and smile for our time is drawing near. 🙂
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I chuckled at being labeled “mean.” Me too! I’m really not, but sometimes when people get that pharisitical spirit going on, this warrior I don’t even know I have inside just rises up for battle. The last time it happened I simply told someone, “Uh no.” I know, very “mean” of me, but seriously you would have thought I’d thrown some tables over and trashed the temple or something. 🙂
I actually love the church, well most of the time, but if you read the bible, those guys often went off into the wilderness to pray, or up a mountain to encounter God. So, yes I really do believe there is a place for those religious sabbaticals, for just spending some time alone with God.
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IB you forgot your whip lol.
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You go girllll😇👍😀🎺🎉
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The precise ‘Gospel in a nutshell’: “Nothing but the blood of Jesus. It’s not about you or what “you do” or what you “dew,” or how well you perform in public, it is just all about Him.” Amen – PERIOD. Kudos, IB!
Everything else religion attempts to promote is mere fanciful myth like Santa Clause. (S.A.N.T.A .= salvation’s alternative never to accept). When ‘church’ is thought of as an ‘organization’ rather than Christ’s living ‘organism’, grace is frustrated and wrongly perceived as a by-product of salvation – something to merely ‘help’ us to endure. Membership always requires qualifications and expectations that true grace infinitely supersedes.
Christ’s church is an eternal organism equipped by God to introduce the living Christ to this dying planet. Not confined to buildings or exclusive fellowships, church is most effective spilling out on the ‘unchurched’.
True Deity needs no ‘list’ of who’s naughty or nice. Forced good behavior tends only towards self-righteousness, ignoring the purpose of God’s Grace. True goodness comes as a natural result of salvation, ( a proof to the individual that they are truly saved), NOT a qualification by which salvation may be earned. Those who attempt to prove to others that they are saved by displaying their good works are merely masquerading ‘wolves in sheep’s clothing’.
God knows who are truly His. Those who truly are can rightly discern who is by recognizing the Spirit of Christ imparted to every born again individual. None of us while remaining in these ‘human vessels’ have yet to attain perfection. Life as a believer is a perpetual movement towards that goal, but THAT life BEGINS with salvation. It is NOT the destination.
“And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work” – Ro. 11:6.
“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast” – Eph. 2:8, 9.
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Hey IB. Yup. To even add one word—It’s not what you do, dew, or due. Or is due a Canadian version. We certainly cannot pay what is due, because Christ paid it all, for all of us.
You said everything so well, truthful and straightforward, I will just say thank you, and Amen!
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Perfect, George! “Do” or “due,” either way, you can’t earn it. 🙂
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