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Originally Posted by KC Kings
The biggest problem I have with Christianity is that most Christians miss the whole point. The basis of being saved is 'Belief', but since salvation is unconditional they start to think that the belief is all they need. There are multiple scriptures that talk about Faith without works that are not emphasized in the church. Christianity is not a "works based" faith, so a lot of people fail to concentrate on the works. For too many years Christians have pounded a 'Doom and Gloom' message down everybody's throat that have turned off millions of people. I grew up in the church, but as soon as I grew up I got out of it as quickly as possible. The Christians that I grew up around were hypocrits, and cared more about peoples soul than the actual person.
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Ephesians 2:8-10 (Chieficus paraphrase): We're saved by grace through faith, not by works...but we're saved with part of the result that we're to do good works...
I agree that Christians need to be doing more--serving the community, feeding and clothing the needy poor, caring for the widows and orphans, picking up trash along the roadways, inviting the neighbors over for dinner or offering to watch their kids for a night, etc.... and then also share the Gospel, which does include some of the doom and gloom--we are speaking of salvation from the judment of God, devestation of sin, and the horror of hell hear...
My fear is that a lot of churches have reacted to the "soul winnin' without people serving" mentality by swining the other way: We're going to serve you but we aren't going to tell you anything that might offend you. We've gone from evangelism without service to service without evangelism when what we need is both.
The Gospel is a confrontive thing--it makes people agitated and uncomfortable at times, but if we truly believe that men and women are lost and dying in their sins, then we've got to share the reality of hell and the hope of Christ. It's as Paul said, "I am not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation..." (Romans 1:16)
Over and over I encourage my congregation to live a complete Christian life--in public and in private, in acts of humble service and in acts of concerned sharing, when going door to door and when having lunch with a friend... I think that's what we see Jesus telling us, as well as Paul, Peter, and others, and I think that's what we see in the Christian community of the early church (e.g. in the book of Acts)...