A couple of weeks ago, I posted a blog called, "Seal of Authenticity." Some were confused by this while others tracked with me from beginning to end. For those who did not get my point, I apologize for not being more concise. For those who'll admit they were wandering around in my musing, here's a rear view reflection . . . this time from someone else's perspective.When blog responses come in, I can usually tell if you are truly interested in the subject or just appeasing me with your comment. This particular comment stuck out and I knew I hit a nerve.
With the author's permission, I have saved their response from that blog as this week's article and would ask that you voice your opinion to the author when you comment. It is raw, strong and opinionated, which I love.
"WANTING BUT DON'T RECEIVE, FAKE PEOPLE, AND FEEL GOODS
I could go to church every day for the rest of my life, read the bible everyday, say a prayer 100 times everyday and have that mind set. I could say I'm an authentic Christian. Sad to say this isn't the case. Faith gets you into heaven not a prayer.
I hate it how teens/people say there Christians, and you go to ask them how do you know and all they have to say is I go to church. All i do is cry on the inside. These people think that there living right. Trying there hardest everyday can't barely pay the bills. parents are getting high in the kitchen. Living life day to day struggling to make it through.
yet all along there deceived and confused.
all there wanting is that unconditional love that was promised to them by these heretic preachers sitting up in these pulpits lying to these people saying if you say these words. It's not the words that get them to heaven, It's the faith!!! They don't tell them that!!! They lie to make them feel good for the time being. All along we sit back watching it happen. We wonder why teenagers are committing suicide. Having sex because there looking for love in the wrong way. Doing drugs you name it. All because people are to afraid to tell the truth. Lets wake up and see the facts. People need truth. So quit feeding the lies. Quit putting oxygen to fire.
Then we got these preachers who think it's ok to be gay. They think that God loves you no madder what. Thats a lie from hell. God says to turn from evil and seek him, not do evil and seek him. Then were wondering why people say there confused. Look whats happening right in front of your eye's.
Then we have you common feel goods. Preachers who preach a feel good message instead of the truth. When all the while there afraid that they might offend someone. That there population in the church might go down. God didn't care!!! He said speak my word. He never said care if your going to offend someone. People are going to listen if they want to listen.
let me tell you something there is no such thing as an authentic christian.
you either believe or you don't
there is a heaven and a hell.
you will go to one or the other.
you will stand before God.
You will bow down before him.
end of story.
When you finally realize that it's the faith that makes you a christian. It's the blindness to it. It's knowing that there is no other way. It's knowing that God is God there are know in betweens.
Your way of life will change, but you have to be willing to try.
Martin Luther was blind towards God. He sought nothing but truth.
He was persecuted for it. He didn't care.
so let us pray Lead us from our evil ways let us not seek evil but seek you. let God do as he will in my life. let us set aside our pride for you. I Can't move on without you. I need you in my life. I am asking for your forgiveness to forgive me for all of my sins. I want to turn from my evil ways. I want to stop practicing these things. I want to live my life in your image. With my hands held high surrendering. I am asking you to come into my life and do your works.
To anyone that reads this. If you prayed this or have prayed this or something like it and are truly living for God, and truly surrendered you life to God. You will know If you are a Christian. You will feel like your Completely changed.
Your whole out look on things will change. You will notice your life going smoother. this doesn't mean there wont be trials. When you let God move he will move. you just have to surrender.
He loves all of us.
you just have to let him move.
This is how you know if someone is a christian or not. same goes for you and me.
Jesus said you will no them by there fruits.
Don't be fake, be real. Surrender, let him move, and love your life again.
this is my motto for authenticity.
Jesus loves you."
JoShUa DaViDsOn
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26 comments:
Wow. Whoever it was who posted that definitely has a deep mind, although there were many places where I wanted to erase and correctly spell a word, or put in the proper punctuation; but no matter how much my typing nazi wanted to break forth, I thought that article was just incredible,
and the author was right on.
I hate this modernizing of Christianity. Post-modernism and liberal views of Christianity is only a road towards destruction. Why do we try to be so careful with what we say concerning the Bible? These pansies just waltz around on their high horses repeating the phrase "politically correct". Why can't the "Christians" today just suck it up and be abrasive and tell sinners they are going to Hell?
Why not be truthful and harsh, as the Bible clearly makes it, instead of giving your "feel good messages"?
Why not?
Wow, did Josh really write that?
It is BEAUTIFUL.
Josh,
Am I supposed to discuss your article or rant about how bad the American church in general has become?
Wow Josh...I never knew you had so many words in you...haha
This was great. I love how you said exactly what you were thinking and feeling. I kind of understand better what mrs. Larson was talking about after reading your opinion.
Oh, and I see Josh wrote it. My apologies for not noticing your caps and non-caps signature at the bottom of the article. lol
Wow, you've no idea how like this I've been feeling recently. I'm tired of all the people walking on eggshells around each other because God forbid someone get their feelings hurt. Josh, you have done a simply amazing job at get all of the emotions in it out there. It has such feeling in it that its nearly tangible. Thank you for not being afraid to say what needs to be said.
Some people are never going to accept God for who He is unless they're hit with the hard truths of heaven and hell. I don't think people quite realize the severity that is eternal damnation any more. They just brush it off as some myth and go on with their lives. Atheists, agnostics, and every other religious sect and or cult out there is going to be in for a harsh shock when they die. People need to know what they're in for. The world isn't sugar coated, so why should we be?
Hmm... I guess I'll comment on the article. I agree with most everything you said. The church today isn't as intrested in making disciples as they are in raking in new members (and new tithe money). If you clean the piece up a little you could publish somewhere.
I totally agree with you Nathan I think we both have the same point of view.
In today's society to many people are worried about how speaking the truth might affect them or it might make them look bad.
Truth is truth, God never said it would be easy to speak the truth. We should at least try instead of giving people the run around though.
It's all good about the name.
Daniel, it doesn't matter, just speak your mind on the subject.
Shay thank you for your feelings on my writing but i know you have an opinion on this, as little as i know you you seem like an opinionated person. I would love it if you shared your opinion on the subject.
Oh, and something else I would like to add is this:
Sunday night was at my girlfriend's church with her and some of her friends. The youth pastor was preaching on the passage of the rich man and Lazarus (not the Lazarus Jesus brought back from the dead, but the one in this parable).
Lazarus was a beggar, and the rich man was of course, a rich man. Lazarus sat outside the rich man's house as to hope for a fallen crumb to come across his possession. They both died upon the same day, and the rich man went to Hell as Lazarus went on to Heaven.
The passage goes on to say that the rich man saw Lazarus by Abraham's side (Abraham being a symbol for God) up above. The rich man asks for Lazarus to dip his finger in some water as to cool the rich man's tongue. Abraham declines the request and the man asks for a chance to go to his father's house and tell him not to go to this place of agony. Once again Abraham declines the request and says "If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.", saying that if they don't listen to what the prophets are saying, then a dead man will not leave an impression upon them either.
Now, I know this passage doesn't completely go along with the article, but that last phrase Abraham uttered makes me think this: if we don't get out there and tell people the truth, then why would they listen to a dead man who comes back to life to do so?
I really agree with this. I hate how our culture has to be nice and correct to everyone.
I like the believe that I tell it like it is. My mom has often scolded me for being to straight-forward. I hate it when people are afraid to say something because it might hurt someone's feeling. If they are living in sin, or screwing something up it would be worse to just let them continue.
I honestly loathe "Christians" that believe it is ok for gays and the like, to be accepted. It's freaky, they're freaks, and they should have more people tell it to them.
What I loathe even more that those "Christians" are the hypocrites. Now I don't want to get political , but I know there are a large number of "Christians" the voted for Obama. Without even looking at what he stands for. Does it tell you something that the first major law he sets forth is(And Get This)to PAY for abortion in OTHER countries. So now America is going to be owning up to its own sins as well as the other sins its helped to commit. Are Christians really so bland as to throw out their beliefs as soon as a new fad comes around? What even happened to holding true to your beliefs no matter what was popular or expected?
I ,like yourself, am really irritated with this garbage that has run amok in our churches. (We really need like some 500 question test, with 12 essays of 1000 or more words, and maybe even an obstacle course, like on Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Complete with booby-traps that are only passable when you think like a Christian.... Yeah, that would certainly limit the number of false Christians.)
Whoa. Josh, you pretty much said it all there! I feel the same way about those things..Christians need to step up and show what we are made of..
The world is becoming chaotic, I think it has something to do with Christian teenagers. I say that because teens seem to be the ones running away from things for love, and other selfish desires. Christians are not exactly hypocrites, as non-believers state us to be..but I've been noticing the change in christians. People seem to say they are a christian then go and completely dishonor the things they state. But I could be wrong about the whole "hypocrite" thing because only God knows their hearts.
That wasn't exactly how I wanted to put that but it'll do :/
By the way, Josh your writing is great! I love how you completely spoke out boldly!
I agree with what you said about churches. I have certainly felt the same way for a while. When we were looking for a church, it was amazing to us that there were so many churches that don't even preach the gospel anymore. Alot of their sermons were about their golf games or the problems that they were having with their children.
I feel like teenagers are so confused because they look at their parents who do not set a good example and feel that this is all there is to life. After the loss of my grandfather I have realized how short life can really be. Our lives are certainly a vapor and what we do here on earth for Christ is all that matters. I have also learned that you can't put your faith in others no matter how important they may be in the church. You can only put your faith in Christ.
Nathan I totally agree with you. Your little thing you added does make sense. Why would anybody listen to someone who has risen from the dead to speak truth. Number one they wouldn't believe it if it was true, and on the other hand How are they going to believe if nobody has told them the truth.
Either way there in a not, and the only way that not is going to be broken is if we stand up and start telling people the truth no matter what the consequences are.
I totally agree with you Kyle. Then Indiana Jones idea was great. You have to remember though even the Christians who aren't corrupted make mistakes.
Your exactly right about the voting for O'bama I strongly agree with this. So many people voted for him just because he was the person to vote for at that time.
Now we have a president who is setting America up for a big fall.
Alaina You have a very good point about how people are never going to except Christ for who he is unless there hit with the hard truth.
I think a lot of us have been feeling the same way as you and are getting fed up with it. thank you for your honesty.
Alyssa I agree with you in some aspects. Others i don't.
When you said that you don't believe that Christians are hypocrites i disagree and I'm going to help you see my point.
All these people who are non believers see two things. The things that are wrong with the church and the things that are wrong with the people in the Church.
lets take a small plant seed for example. That seed is in the middle of a whole bunch of Vines. Just pretend that the vines are money and fame.
The Plant will slowly Grow and it will soon tower over the vines. Then the vines start Taking the life out of the plant. Then the plant dies and becomes one with the vine.
The preacher started out fresh, then he started to notice money. We need to support our preachers don't get me wrong, but when they turn away from looking at it like a calling and start noticing it as a Job. There is you problem.
Most churches today it's about dollar signs.
And it's very hard to confront pastors about it because they got the whole church corrupted.
All we can do is start praying. And hope that one day they will see what there doing wrong.
People want truth not feel good stories. And these famous preachers are starting to preach feel goods.
this is pretty good. even though there were typo's but that doesn't matter. unfurtunatly all the people want to do in this world is feel good, and you're right they need to know the truth. and joel osteen won't help or save you.
Yes Jesus Christ definetly changes your life for the better amen Josh amen
My dad in all his wisdom once told me, "You least like the people most like yourself." That just means you clash with those with the same personality. I'm going to tweak the quote a bit, and maybe its meaning a lot, and use it in the collective sense: "We least like the people most like ourselves."
I think we're so hard on hypocrites, posers and backsliders because we all find ourselves looking like one or the other at any given time and detest it. It's difficult living the "victorious Christian life," and we beat ourselves up about it. It's hard being consistent in our walk, and we make excuses for not witnessing. It's hard to find a good way to tell somebody they're going to hell without Jesus.
Because we're stuck with our human nature, we fail miserably. And we hate it when others are failing just as miserably. I agree that we need to separate the wheat from the chaff, but so many of us look like chaff at times, depending on how the scythe strikes. As we go about speaking the truth (and it needs to be spoken; there is not much time), we need to remember to season truth with compassion. The hypocrite needs to see that we are not one. The backslider needs to be firmly but gently loved back into right behavior. The poser (non-Christian) needs to see that our anger is focused on the enemy, not them.
There is a time to collectively rant in righteous indignation. There is also a time to individually look an unrighteous person in the face, with meekness and sincerity, with genuine tears over your own sin and his, tell him about the Way, the Truth, and the Life. God grant each of us the boldness.
Yeah! give em the truth! slap em in the face and tell them they are going to hell! the old fashioned way! that will bring the whole world to their knees! Great job Josh!
-Hunter Rice
THAT WAS AMAZING!!!
A lot of people say that they are Christians. The worlds tags us as "Evangelical Christians" if we are true to our faith. I hate these polls that have "Evangelical vs. Just Plain" because you can label yourself as you want to, but only God can put the true label on you.
WOW. Josh that was completely amazing!!! You are so right about hypocrites and "feel good" messages!! This is a subject I feel quite strongly about, too!!!
I remember last year at UNF piano camp, I met this one girl who told me in answer to my statement that you cannot be a Christian and be gay, "I'm bisexual and I'm a Christian." I wish I had defended my stance better...I had so many words on the tip of my tongue...Yet I was just struck speechless with those simple SCARY words.
Dark and light cannot mix together. Neither can a life of sin and a life of righteousness. "This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth."
1 John 1:5-6
"Feel good" messages? "Politically correct?" "Coexist?" " 'I just don't want to 'judge' people'?" These are words I ABSOLUTELY despise!! They should not even be in our pulpits or in our churches!!! Yes, we are supposed to spread the "good news," but before the good news, you have to tell them the bad news!!! You can just say, "Jesus loves you. Oh, there's nothing really wrong...but you know, Jesus loves you." WHY in the world would you even listen to a "gospel" message like that?!?!?! It's like telling somebody who is about to die from cancer that you have the cure without telling the person why they need it. Man's sin/depravity, the Law, hell, and repentance (turning completely from your life of sin) are essential parts of the gospel message!!!
Also, some people say that you can believe anything and still be a Christian. I missed Obama's inauguration but I did catch the benediction. The reverend (I forgot his name) who prayed first just talked about God and things that were seemingly "ok." But easily, I realized he wasn't talking about the true Jehovah God, Jesus Christ...for he put Christians, Jews, Muslims, and all other religions in the same boat! There is only ONE WAY to Heaven, and that is through our God and Savior JESUS CHRIST!!
"Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."
John 14:6
So I see three main problems. Of course, the root is sin, but specifically...
1) "Feel good" messages...Paul (inspired by the Holy Spirit..meaning that these are actually God's words) told Timothy, a preacher, "I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching." (2 Timothy 4:1-2) He does not say appease people, get big churches, and get big bucks!
2) Paul also said, "For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths."(2 Timothy 4:3-4) People just don't want to hear the truth anymore even though that's what they need. Supposed Christians call for teaching that is pleasing to their ears...and of course, many preachers try to appease their members and not "offend" unbelievers...We need to tell them anyway and not worry about how they will respond. That's why Paul warned Timothy of this, not telling him to stop preaching God's Word, but encouraging him to keep on being bold!!!
3)The reason why the church struggles with hypocrisy and sin run a muck is because there is no practice of Biblical church discipline. Once again, pastors fear losing their members, even if it means killing the church.
The process is: "If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector."
Matthew 18:15-17
The goal is restoration...but if the person does not listen, discipline must be practiced..
First: private confrontation
Second (if the person does not listen): Other witnesses of the sin join in the confrontation
Third (if the person still does not listen): Tell it to the church
Fourth (if the person still does not listen): They must be put out of the church...but still, there should be efforts made to restore them!
Ok, whew, I think that's all I have to say...but this is probably just a summary...Oh well, the Lord says it all in His Word! PRAISE HIM!!!!
What a lot of people don't realize when they get saved is that it is a commitment not just something you can forget about and go on living your life as you did before.If you are sincere in asking Jesus to save you, you will have a changed heart a desire to be different and to live for God.
Josh's Mom here! I just had to comment. Josh has so amazed me and made me a proud mama with his post. I agree with everything. All of you who have responded seem to agree. I pray that God can give all of you a boldness to be truthful when it matters. There is a famine of truth in the land. Truth may not always be the easiest to say , but I assure you it is the best. I know that I gave my life to the Lord when I was 12 because someone preached a message that made me see what a wretched sinner I was. It made me see how lost I was without Christ. It was not a message telling me I can have "my best life now." As a matter of fact the Bible talks more about trials and tribulations than it does a bed of roses. Josh has inspired me to start posting at my blog again. Check it out if you like. I started it back in 2006 and there is quite a bit of good reading (or so I like to think) on it. It is http://noreligionjustjesus.blogspot.com
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