One of the great boasts of many Western evangelical Christians is their devotion to the Scriptures. It is hard to find a church that does not at one time or another brag about being “Bible believing.” When I first came here, I made the mistake of taking that description at face value. But I have come to see that many evangelical Christians do not really believe the Word of God, especially when it talks about Hell and judgment. Instead, they selectively accept only the portions that allow them to continue living in their current lifestyles.
– K.P. Yohannan
Christ Alone Wyoming 
This is so true. I sometimes catch myself doing this very thing with the Word of God, as well. If it weren’t for all the apostles’ warnings against such things, I think we would all be caught in this folly. Hence the verse, “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you–unless indeed you fail the test?”
That verse scares me sometimes; for others, but also for myself.
Yohannan’s plain and innocent observations spoken here make me ashamed of myself; I’m not talking about other Christians here, I’m talking about myself. I myself am an American Christian, I grew up in this mess, I sang the songs, I painted Joseph’s coat of many colors, I went to youth camp solely to chase cute girls, I prayed that prayer and felt good about my decision, I knocked on doors and spreaded a half-gospel, I did it all. But when this Christian from a foreign land with a seemingly foreign Christianity comes to me and says these things, I can do nothing but test the spirits – including mine – and do so according to the whole counsel of God.
What I find brings shame upon me and those like me, for his words are true; so much are they true that I repepnt and weep. Who truly remembers the hight from which we have fallen – from why and upon how this land was even founded? No, not us who were born in this easy-feely, post-modern, graven-image of a society. Who knows the depths that we have fallen – even from 30 years ago, dare we touch from before the Fall? Indeed, by far not us who were born in an eternal black-hole of a pit, well dug before we ever drew our first breath.
I remember the road I have traveled to get where I am now. It has been long, tiresome, hard, often lonely and seemingly impossible. Yet there’s so much more to go, but oh! what a work has been done by Jesus, the Son of God!!! I thank God for His atoning work towards the ungodly, for His abundant mercy towards the rebelious, for His great love with which He has loved me, for His Spirit that strengthens and guides me, and for His Word. Abiding in it really does make us wise unto salvation!
As Jeff Noblit has said, “A true theology produces a true doxology.”
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