Is trhe Church Member Sitting Beside You Really a Christian?

[CGMedley]

Researcher Thom Rainer was amazed at how many-church going people have never accepted Jesus Christ. You can read his sobering article in this week's Adventist Review.

http://www.adventistreview.org/article.php?id=1583

[aldona]

Our Muslim friends have an interesting saying.

"When one Muslim tells another Muslim that he/she is not a true Muslim...then one of the two is not a true Muslim."

Now insert "Christian" for "Muslim".

We should be very careful when trying to decide if another person is not a true Christian or not.

aldona

[Woody]

Way to Go Aldona ....

What are all these heathens doing in church anyway?

Did the poll actually ask them if they were Christians?

Quote:

An overwhelming number responded that they thought they were Christians. Yet later they had discovered they were wrong.

Then we asked them why they hadn’t become Christians as members.

Oh. Yes. They WERE Christians ...

What this is actually about is "Membership". What does "membership" have to do with being Christian? The truth is that the new generation can rightly see that it has nothing to do with it and it is NOT important to them.

Maybe it is US who are not behaving as Christians. Maybe THEY are MORE christian than WE. They just may be rejecting the "wrong" image that we are giving to them.

[Gerr]

And how is a Christian supposed to behave?

Gerry

[Vivlives4God]

Hello Gerry!

Christians are to represent Christ in action, speaking, listening and leading ect.

Have a great Sabbath

[jayne]

I have had at least 3 people in the last few months surprise me by telling me that they were not Christians. One had come to that conclusion early in life, but stayed in the church and held many leadership offices to make sure the young people were able to have enough fun and weren't "bored to death by the people who were all worried about heaven". Another was never baptized and doesn't pretend to be Adventist outside of church time, but he's always around to help at church, socials, evangelistic series, etc, always willing to transport people, run the sound, cleanup afterwards, and so on, he actually shows up faithfully to meetings that don't gather more than 10 other church members. The third is a father, and says He can't serve a God who would ask for allegiance above family. He downs people like Abraham who would be willing to sacrifice his son at God's command. He is at church every week though, teaches children's Sabbath School, VBS, nature nuggets, and is very faithful and helpful. It's not unusual to hear him say something like, "You all are looking forward to a future life, but this is the only one I've got, I've got to make the most of it." That doesn't seem to translate into the Self-absorbed life I would expect from someone who really believed that though.

It really surprised me to learn that these three people who attend church regularly had already made a conscious decision to not be a Christian. It can't be just for show, because they aren't secretive about their true beliefs.

All three of these people got me really thinking, wondering, what is it that draws a person to church? What is it that brings the step of truly surrendering the life to Christ? I know I don't always feel like a saved Christian, because I can see all the times I take a different way than the one I know will strengthen my relationship with God. I believe the relationship with God is what prepares a person for heaven. I attend church because I hope that my relationship with God will be strengthened there. Sometimes it is, sometimes it isn't. I suspect when it isn't, the problem was me getting sidetracked.

Thoughts?

[Springtime]

My Experience: I am a 3rd generation Seventh-day Adventist--my paternal grandparents came into the church via meetings in which Ellen White was involved. Does that make me particularly special? NO. It just seems I should have “had it together” better.

As a child there was a lot of confusion in our home. I had terrible dreams over and over night-after-night. I was touched by the gospel shared at a week of prayer when I was twelve. Soon after I was impressed to pray about my recurring dreams—They never came back. I knew that God was interested in me. This encouraged me for years to come to keep pursuing God. But, I never understood how to grow in Christ and maintain relationship with Him. For the next 20 PLUS years, I went to church, talked about God/Jesus to everyone, & did things for other people, while at the same time being inappropriate in my relationships with boyfriends (prior to marriage), then with men other than my husband, after marriage. My life was one of self-righteousness and hypocrisy--I didn't KNOW Jesus. Yet I didn't KNOW that I didn't know. It wasn't until my latter 30's that I asked God to show me, on a heart level, my need of a savior.

Even though I'd "given my heart to Christ" the best I knew when I was 12, I was not converted--I was not a Christian. Since I began a growing walk with Christ in my latter 30's, God has been convicting me of sin in my heart; of His righteousness that covers me; and of judgment to come, which keeps me close to Him. He is leading me in ever deepening repentance. He has also been testing my resolve to follow Him (I do not always pass the test). I am now a growing Christian who often misses the mark—but still growing. I have peace that Christ is sufficient for me, but I am not content to stay as I am—I want to grow.

I am human. I have the same weaknesses that are common to man. So, it is not difficult to recognize the same symptoms in others. This is not to judge others. The symptoms are just so obvious—they are difficult to NOT notice. Yet the observation gives me opportunity to pray for others while examining my own life & motives in the light of God's word.

Therefore, I don’t have difficulty accepting that MANY church going people don’t know Jesus Christ as their personal Savior & LORD.

Father God, please help us.

[aldona]

Welcome, Springtime, and thank you for sharing your experiences!

Of course it is true that there are many church members that are not converted.

We all have the responsibility of examining our own heart and asking ourselves the question, "Am I a true Christian?"

But nobody ever has the right to point their finger at another person and say, "YOU are not a true Christian."

Only God (through the Holy Spirit) can do that, as we do not have access to the secrets in another person's heart and mind.

That is the difference.

aldona

[Woody]

The 'mission' of the church is to bring all those heathen nonChristians INTO the church. The seperation is not to be NOW. That will come at the end of time. And is it US who do it? No.

Quote:

"The casting of the net is the preaching of the gospel. This gathers both good and evil into the church. When the mission of the gospel is completed, the judgment will accomplish the work of separation. Christ saw how the existence of false brethren in the church would cause the way of truth to be evil spoken of." COL 122

"The wheat and the tares grow together until the harvest. The good and the bad fish are together drawn ashore for a final separation." {COL 123.1}

Therefore ... if there are NonChristians in the Church ... I say

Praise God we are doing our mission.

[Woody]

How does one have a "conversation" with a 'drive by shooter'?

[fccool]

It is interesting to see how many people come back just to counter certain views and for the sake of argument too . Some come back because of fear too. But, as somebody pointed out... the church is not a building, but a community. It is an unseen country (kingdom) if you will... with its own laws/rules/regulations. The great thing is that you don't need a Visa for re-entery and it is only Christ who is in charge of the citizenship not us, because He alone aware of our motives. So it is great that people are coming back. God allows time and gives people some space for examination and decision. I know that some people are actually evaluating us and making appropriate decisions.