A little discouraged

[MaidforHim]

After visiting some of the forums for a couple months now I find myself a bit surprised, a little confused and I don't know if I should say discouraged or disappointed :o

There are so many REALLY liberal Christians. I mean very far left learning. Failing marriages, affairs, ungodly activities... :scratch:

I know we all fall short and we're not all in the same place in our walk with the Lord. BUT what I wondering is if any of you feel like the secular world has crept into the church so much that people are getting a watered down message to the point that it seriously affects their views?

Maybe to some believers I seem liberal and it's all just perspective? :(

Does it surprise you when people ask for advice and then the people giving it rarely offer any scripture, prayer or reference to Jesus Christs' will, or His miraculous ability to free us from the chains of sin?

I guess I am hoping for an encouraging word here or some reason :prayer:

Thank you and God bless

[DiscipleOfIAm]

You are correct!

[TwinCrier]

The world certainly is making headway into the church and this forum really emphasises it. The only encouragement I have to offer is that Jesus is coming back soon.

I've especially disacouraged ever since I laid eyes on my kids' report cards today. :(

[TheGroominator]

Your post is so true. I believe that the main reason is that we have lost our fear of God. We go to church Sunday morning believing that we have blessed God just by our appearance and then we go out to live like the world. Many Christians do not read their Bibles, they do not have a prayer life, they've not only forgotten that we are to be witnesses of God's grace, love and work in our lives, giving testimony to others of how He has changed our lives and taking the Good News out to the world but for six days a week they put God on a shelf, not thinking of Him again until the next Sunday morning. They have no fear of the consequences of not living in His will, if indeed they believe that they should.

It's sad, many saved people cannot be differentiated from those that are not. A Christian cannot hold hands with the world and with God at the same time.

[chris777]

I am glad I am not alone in this.

I used to be really secular, and worldly, but the more of the scriptures I read the less I love the world.

I just keep wondering if I am reading the same scriptures that those who water down the faith do.

I tried to justify my sins like the next person, BEFORE I was saved, I hear people every day that just brush off all manner of sin as tolerable by God, there is a difference between a sin being forgivable, and it being justified.

I was in fact liberal in my thinking, until like Groominator stated, I began to literally fear the Lord. I even questioned the accuracy of scripture much like the muslims, and mormans (along with apparently a large number of posters on this site) But then I read the warnig in Revelations about not adding, or diminishing from the scriptures, and it dawned on me, I believed all this doubtful speculation, with no evidence to back it up, and it scared me

The scriptures are like a road map to God, you can't just arbitrarily start changing directions and expect to reach the correct destination.
We are living in a sad time, where many are falling away from the truth

[TheGroominator]

Words to live by Chris.

[Gentle]

Amen

[Project 86]

Yes MaidforHim, I have felt the same things you have stated.

[cubanito]

Little maiden, I hope the chorus of "yup, sure feel that often..." you've gotten helps you see that God always keeps a remnant of His people.

JR

[MaidforHim]

Thanks so much for the encouragement. It's nice to know I am not alone in these observations. Sometimes you find yourself surrounded by people who call themselves Christians, but show no sign of their faith and you start wondering what book they learn from.

You share a scripture and it's like they can't even hear or see the words.

I guess it's still planting seeds right?

I remember being a fallen, confused young Christian. I believed, but really knew nothing about God. I am so glad He brought me back, I hoped to help others find their way back too. I need to remember that happens in God's time not mine.

Your right God is one to be feared and loved too, if Christians don't have both it seems they get lost in the world.

Thanks so much for your replies. God bless you all.

[tamtam92]

It is a relief to know that this situation has always been, that even the people of God would go astray. The enemy is in the church too.

I think David also in his time would feel alone, and many if not all of the prophets.

See Psalm 101-102.

[4Christ2]

Thanks so much for the encouragement. It's nice to know I am not alone in these observations. Sometimes you find yourself surrounded by people who call themselves Christians, but show no sign of their faith and you start wondering what book they learn from.

You share a scripture and it's like they can't even hear or see the words.

I guess it's still planting seeds right?

I remember being a fallen, confused young Christian. I believed, but really knew nothing about God. I am so glad He brought me back, I hoped to help others find their way back too. I need to remember that happens in God's time not mine.

Your right God is one to be feared and loved too, if Christians don't have both it seems they get lost in the world.

Thanks so much for your replies. God bless you all.
I received many blessings from reading this thread. Thank you Maiden for your truthfulness in being willing to reveal that sin has indeed prospered in the church. The word of God tells us however that there will be judgement and this judgement will begin in the Church.

I hate to sound like a naysayer and fire and brimstone preacher, but it is clear by scripture that we are living in the days of the Laodicea church where God says in
Rev. 3:14-16:

"14There are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God's creation. 15I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! 16So, because you are lukewarm -- neither hot nor cold--I am about to spit you out of my mouth." NIV

[MaidforHim]

I received many blessings from reading this thread. Thank you Maiden for your truthfulness in being willing to reveal that sin has indeed prospered in the church. The word of God tells us however that there will be judgement and this judgement will begin in the Church.

I hate to sound like a naysayer and fire and brimstone preacher, but it is clear by scripture that we are living in the days of the Laodicea church where God says in
Rev. 3:14-16:

"14There are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God's creation. 15I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! 16So, because you are lukewarm -- neither hot nor cold--I am about to spit you out of my mouth." NIV


Thank you for this reminder. Sometimes I forget about the warnings to the churches in Revelations. God has made it clear that these problems will continue in the church until the end.

It is very encouraging to see that there are others who see this and are fighting the good fight and keeping God's word at the forefront.

God is good!!! God bless you.

[SurfedIT]

I really do believe that our churches are being watered down. We are all trying to be "politically correct" and such. I'm very blessed to go to a church where there is a lot of love, but they are very to the point. I think for a lot of 'younger' people it has to do with public schools. It confuses them so then they take there Christian walk more liberal. Has anyone heard of Worldview? It is an amazing organization. I believe this is the link. www.worldview.com

<3Heidi

[MaidforHim]

I really do believe that our churches are being watered down. We are all trying to be "politically correct" and such. I'm very blessed to go to a church where there is a lot of love, but they are very to the point. I think for a lot of 'younger' people it has to do with public schools. It confuses them so then they take there Christian walk more liberal. Has anyone heard of Worldview? It is an amazing organization. I believe this is the link. www.worldview.com

<3Heidi
I think your right about the public school connection. We homeschool our children for that reason. We too are lucky to have a good church that teaches from the Bible. I feel so blessed to finally have a church like that.

When you see Christians in general embracing liberal morals and concepts and downright ignoreing scripture you wonder what is taught in their churches or if they use the Bible at all.

I heard some churches don't encourage you to read your Bible at all, they think you can't understand it on your own. I was very surprised by this and had no idea there were churches like that.

[ExtremeDays]

After visiting some of the forums for a couple months now I find myself a bit surprised, a little confused and I don't know if I should say discouraged or disappointed :o

There are so many REALLY liberal Christians. I mean very far left learning. Failing marriages, affairs, ungodly activities... :scratch:

I know we all fall short and we're not all in the same place in our walk with the Lord. BUT what I wondering is if any of you feel like the secular world has crept into the church so much that people are getting a watered down message to the point that it seriously affects their views?

Maybe to some believers I seem liberal and it's all just perspective? :(

Does it surprise you when people ask for advice and then the people giving it rarely offer any scripture, prayer or reference to Jesus Christs' will, or His miraculous ability to free us from the chains of sin?

I guess I am hoping for an encouraging word here or some reason :prayer:

Thank you and God bless

I have felt the same way, but one thing the Lord has worked for good for me, is that this has caused me to keep going back to the Word, to check, to remind me of truth..and to just keep my head on straight (as in straight and narrow).

Thanks for sharing your feelings, you aren't alone.

[cubanito]

We forget that it was always a remnant that followed the Lord. The Bible rightly focuses much on the life and victories of the godly remnant that we get the impressions that the "good ol' days" were full of godly people.

Oh yes, Peter preached a sermon on pentecost that converted thousands...in a city whose population had swelled into the millions owing to passover.

Read Paul's missionary journeys. At many cities so few came to belief that they all get listed. Even at many of his greatest successes, as soon as Paul leaves heresy, disension and all manner of immorality ("even such as is not seen among the gentiles" 1Cor) breaks out en masse.

My dear, dear siblings; we have always been the few. In the "good ol' days" a superficial morality permeated this or that culture. But I do not believe the saved have EVER been in the majority of any large culture. And the externally "moral" but unrepentant man goes to Hell as fast, if not faster, than the one who wallows in sin. I love y'all, even when I disagree, because I know you bow to the external Authority of the written Word.

When I get discouraged it so quickly puts a smile on my face to remember that, no matter what, I am among the saved. So the world is going to Hell in a handbasket. Too bad, but IT AINT MY WORLD!!!

So I extend my hand, as friendly as I can, and most times get ignored and at times spat on. Big deal, so what, I don't live in Darfur and even those martyrs have it waaay better than most people will when God settles the books.

Meantime I thank God my wife and kids know God, which is Soooo much more than I deserve.

JR

[lilymarie]

Yes, I can empathize and often feel saddended by the liberal Christianity that hardly resembles the Bible I know if at all, which is rampant on CF.

I am so glad to have found this section of the forum. I was beginning to believe there were only a few left who believed God's word, and I have been so heartsick of God's Holy word constantly being put down on CF.

This is awesome to find you guys, and I feel like crying!

This may be the forum for me!

But in defense of CF... let's remember, as I have learned, this is kind of a new frontier they have here... it's open to all kinds of beliefs, and one day I popped on CF and saw in the chat area that someone had given their heart to The Lord. And, just that one person was worth all the heartache I've gone through by being put down and persecuted and laughed at and slapped in the face for posting scriptures from the Bible on CF.

Anyhow, how blessed I feel right now to have found this sub-forum, and to have CF and to know that if one person can be saved and give their heart to The Lord... well, just maybe one day another will too!

[cubanito]

CF has an excellent system. It has areas of safety, for almost any view, and areas for wide ranging war.

I like it

JR

[MaidforHim]

You all are awesome!!! I feel truly blessed to be keeping company with you, even if only on the net.

The encouragement and support along with God's word is priceless. Thank you for being here.

God bless you all.

[Ringo84]

After visiting some of the forums for a couple months now I find myself a bit surprised, a little confused and I don't know if I should say discouraged or disappointed :o

There are so many REALLY liberal Christians. I mean very far left learning. Failing marriages, affairs, ungodly activities... :scratch:

I know we all fall short and we're not all in the same place in our walk with the Lord. BUT what I wondering is if any of you feel like the secular world has crept into the church so much that people are getting a watered down message to the point that it seriously affects their views?

Maybe to some believers I seem liberal and it's all just perspective? :(

Does it surprise you when people ask for advice and then the people giving it rarely offer any scripture, prayer or reference to Jesus Christs' will, or His miraculous ability to free us from the chains of sin?

I guess I am hoping for an encouraging word here or some reason :prayer:

Thank you and God bless
Yeah, I'm a liberal. I'm proud to be one and I don't make any apologies for it. I'm also not going anywhere

Christianity doesn't belong to conservatives or fundamentalists. There are people who have different opinions on theology. I don't think you mean it this way,


Ringo

[No Swansong]

I would like to remind our non-Fundamentalist bretheren that they are welcome to post fellowhip and query posts, but according to CF rules may not debate on this forum.

We welcome any honest questions and will do our best to respond to them in a charitable manner. We also hope you stick around to fellowhip with us.

[Waiting for the Verdict]

I'm a libber, but I just wanted to let you guys know that if you're looking for a more conservative sight, you might want to check out christianity.com . That sight is almost exclusively fundamentalist (with a few Catholics and Orthodox) and has almost as many posters as CF (though not as many cool features).

God bless.

[ExtremeDays]

I'm a libber, but I just wanted to let you guys know that if you're looking for a more conservative sight, you might want to check out christianity.com . That sight is almost exclusively fundamentalist (with a few Catholics and Orthodox) and has almost as many posters as CF (though not as many cool features).

God bless.

Thanks for the info...looking into it:wave:

[jlujan69]

CF has shown me just how many religious people there are in Christianity. One of the characteristics all believers share is their reverence for the holy Scriptures and their willingness to judge all things by it. It doesn't mean we all come to the same conclusion on every matter, but we seek our answers first and foremost from the Bible. Even if it is difficult to nail down a precise biblical teaching on something, and we have to rely on human reason, for the believer, his conclusion is still based on biblical principle. (I hope I said that right). An example of this would be gambling. All I can say is to stay encouraged and when you need edification (and we all do at times), the fundy forum is one place to get it and a few other Congregational sub-forums where God's word is still deeply cherished. A simple test to perform when determining which sub-forums I'm referring to: Start with a simple biblical premise, for example: the sexually immoral shall not enter Heaven. If the most common response you get is Amen, brother, then you'll know those guys are basically ok. If, however, the most common response is blatant disagreement or some sort of wishy-washy attempt at justification of the sin or obfuscation of that truth, then you'll know where God's word really stands in that particular forum.

[No Swansong]

I'm a libber, but I just wanted to let you guys know that if you're looking for a more conservative sight, you might want to check out christianity.com . That sight is almost exclusively fundamentalist (with a few Catholics and Orthodox) and has almost as many posters as CF (though not as many cool features).

God bless.
Thank you. It was very kind of you to share this with us.

[cubanito]

I'm a libber, but I just wanted to let you guys know that if you're looking for a more conservative sight, you might want to check out christianity.com . That sight is almost exclusively fundamentalist (with a few Catholics and Orthodox) and has almost as many posters as CF (though not as many cool features).

God bless.

I too wish to offer a public thank you for a kind attitude.

It is this respectful kindness towards those whom we disagree with that should be applauded :clap:

JR