What We Believe

The topic of what Christians believe has been on my mind for a while to the point that I’m starting a new sermon series on this topic this Sunday, December 18th, 2022. Here is a link our YouTube channel if you would like to find it. There is so much rapid change happening in Western culture right now, and it makes my mind go back as to what are the foundational things that can not change. What are the nonnegotiable things that a Christian has to stand on. This always takes me back to the Bible. the Bible is our foundation. It is the guide to what is true, and it teaches us how to God calls us to live our lives. I see churches arguing abortion is ok. I see churches affirming every lifestyle choice you can imagine. I read an article just before I began writing this post about a pastor that said the virgin birth of Jesus was not an important doctrine for Christians. Here is the direct quote, “Christianity doesn’t hinge on the truth or even the stories around the birth of Jesus. It really hinges on the resurrection of Jesus.” Want to talk about not understanding theology or the Bible! This belief undermines the trustworthiness of Scripture, and if you do just a little bit of theological study you find quickly that it undermines the truth that Christ was sinless. These things I read, see, and hear are really troubling to me. Things I never thought would be up for debate within the church, I always knew they were up for debate in the larger world, are now on the table.

What has happened is the church has been affected by the world instead of the world being affected by the church. I’m not talking about music style or if you wear jeans or a suit and tie to the service. I’m talking about on a more foundational level. The actual teachings and beliefs of the church and the people sitting in the pews or chairs are being affected, and this often at a level of belief about basic things that should be nonnegotiable.

Let me give you some examples of these basic teachings and what Christians say they believe about them. Let’s start with original sin. the Bible clearly teaches about original sin. We are all born into sin. We inherit original sin going back to Adam in the garden. Psalm 51:5 makes this clear, “For I was born a sinner yes, from the moment my mother conceived me.” That’s just one verse. There are many others that teach this fact, but this one is so clear even a child can understand it. According to the 2022 state of theology survey conducted by Ligonier Ministries and LifeWay Research almost two-thirds of evangelicals believe that humans are born in a state of innocence. This reveals that the biblical teaching of original sin is not embraced by most evangelicals. Here is a link to the entire survey, 2022 state of theology. This survey found 56% of Christians believe God accepts the worship of all religions, including Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. This is in direct conflict with Jesus’s own statement found in John 14:6, “Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.”

Let’s look at a few more of the questions from this survey. Christians were asked, is gender identity is a matter of choice? 37% of Christians said yes. Going back to creation God made man and woman. It is a gender binary there are only two. Some might say I feel like I was created wrong. That does not line up with Scripture. Psalm 139:14, “I will give thanks to You, because I am awesomely and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well.” God did not make a “mistake” with anyone he created. We are wonderfully made with a purpose. He formed us our mother’s womb, and we are made exactly as he intended. I could do an entire post about this topic, and I may do that sometime, but the truth is God didn’t create us wrong no matter how we may feel at any moment about anything in our lives. He has a purpose for us all, and he made us for that purpose.

26% a little over one-quarter of all Christians surveyed believed the Bible, like all sacred writings, contains helpful accounts of ancient myths but is not literally true. This means there is no basis for faith or trust in anything the Bible says. If you believe this then all bets are off. We can believe anything we want, and it is all acceptable. This is the door to straight moral relativism. The percentage that answered yes to this has gone up by 10% in the last six years. The author of the article and survey linked above put it this way, “A rising disbelief in the Bible’s literal truth may help us understand why American evangelicals also increasingly believe that religious faith is a subjective experience rather than an objective reality.” I could go on and on about this topic. I’m only scratching the surface of what this survey shows and what preachers and pastors are saying from pulpits that is directly in conflict with what actual Word of God says.

There are things we can change within the church and Christianity. What time the service starts. What we may wear to church. The style of music. The design of our buildings. Our methods may change, but the underlying message and truth of the Word of God can not change. We must be the house that Jesus talked about that was built on the rock. When the storm came the house stood firm because it was built on something that was solid and true, and could stand up to the storm. The foundational teachings of the Bible is that rock we build our lives and our churches on. We can’t alter what we believe because the culture around us changes because our God and His Word do not change. That’s what we should believe. If you are local to Okeechobee I would love for you to come here these messages, and if you find this post on the web somewhere follow that YouTube link to hear more.