The Institute (協会)

I attend a church that has in one of its booklets explaining rudimentary Christianity an entire section on "losing your salvation" by committing sin. It is very, very sad, and they will get quite upset if you challenge the doctrine of "losing salvation" or "free will."

Bill, wow, how can I get a copy of that?

Wow! i was talking to a friend today and, as far as Baptists are concerned and many Pentecostals, those faith traditions are answering existential questions with metaphysical answers. So if you ask, "Why does God feel so far from me, or impersonal?" the answer usually is to quote some verse or axiom or say "Well u know who hasnt moved..."

A true failure... one which is hard to see how the damage done will be rectified. You see this damage done most at Baptist youth groups ( or youth groups in general) pentacostal getaway wknds, and kids "church" camps, where kids arent stupid, are thinking (hopefully asking) the right questions, and the church/group leaders are totally oblivious.

I think this is where evangelicalism has failed in general. Its not just about Penticostalism, even though it does have its share of problems. I am from a Penticostal Tradition, so I speak with some experience.

At the heart of the problem is the issue of questioning our faith. Evangelicals are taught as a whole to accept everything as truth.... be conifident in your salvation, etc. If you werent sure, or you questioned God then there is something wrong with your faith. This is unfortunate in so many ways, including the fact that its not Biblical. God embraces questions. Moses questioned Gods existence by challenging Him. Jesus on the cross asked the question, " My God, My God why has thou forsaken me?". There are statements such as, " Lord I believe, help my unbelief". You will find variations on this theme several places in the Word of God itself.. the same word we are told never to question. Even the Apostle Paul brought into question his own spirituality when he stated, " the law is spiritual, but I am carnal". The church needs to undergo a serious paradigm shift before more people fall by the wayside as a result of well meaning christians who dont believe its Ok to question faith, or just say " I dont know".

I believe that these questions about assurance of salvation, etc. are rooted in the "evangelical conversion experience."

What we are witnessing is the end result of manipulative preaching, altar calls, and decisional regeneration (I made the choice to follow Jesus, I walked the aisle, I was baptized at the age of 12, etc.). Then, after the 'convert' jumps through these hoops, they are herded into meaningless youth groups where they receive a steady diet of evangelical pop culture instead of sound teaching and preaching.

I believe that this is only the tip of the iceberg as the children of evangelical baby boomers reject the church. Part of the rebellion is rooted in their fatigue with church as it has been fashioned by their parents (showy, plastic and lacking depth). Part of the rebellion is the result of never being grounded in the faith (and possibly receiving false assurances of salvation). This young man was very troubled and was lashing out at the very people whom he saw as the problem and not the ones who could answer his questions.

I agree that we need more teaching about grace but we also need more solid teaching in other areas too (law and gospel).