Reasons for a hurting world

[ByTheSpirit]

According to Pew Research in 2015 (nothing more recent apparently) 2.3 billion people on the planet consider themselves Christians. According to UN estimates there are currently about 7.9 billion people on the planet. So, simple math says that over 25% of the world's population call Jesus their Lord or at least say they follow him. With 1 out of every 4 people saying they believe in Jesus, peace and love should be abounding everywhere!

So why is it then the world (most of it anyway) is consumed in so much hatred and violence? The fruits of a sinful planet are everywhere, even within the church. A Barna Research poll found that over 50% of American Christians believe Jesus actually sinned while on earth (What Do Americans Believe About Jesus? 5 Popular Beliefs - Barna Group)
That is absolutely heartbreaking to me.

What are some other reasons the world is hurting so much, besides sin and moral decay?

1) We preach a gospel that we ourselves really don't believe in! The gospel is the message of Jesus in his totality. At it's base it's about him dying to make a way for us to have forgiveness from sin and the hope of new life, sure! But it's really more than that. It's about how God watches over those who belong to him and even through the thickest fogs or darkest valleys, he is there with them. How he will never leave us, nor forsake us. The gospel doesn't begin with Jesus on the cross and end with Jesus' resurrection, it encompasses the entirety of the scriptures and God's promises to those who believe. How can we convince a lost and dying world that God will watch over them and free them when we ourselves are fearful, addicted, and just as worldly as they are?

2) We believe our job is just to get them into the church. I truly cannot speak for churches in other countries and cultures, but my gut tells me it would be fairly similar to what I see in America. Churches are for the most part, social gathering points. People go to church to hang out with friends, get some coffee, and punch a hole in their on the way to heaven card. Living a new life, being free from sin, being the light of the world is for holy rollers, Jesus Freaks, Bible Thumpers. When more than 50% of those who call themselves Christians say Jesus sinned, there's a fundamental ill within the walls of "the church". God didn't save us to call us to bring people to church. We are the church! We are the church whether we are at work, school, home, play, etc. Every where we go, we carry God's Spirit and we are expected to be the salt and light of the earth! No need to bring them to Sunday worship so they can hear our awesome praise team, have a coffee on the house, and hear an uplifting message.

3) Make Truth Great Again! Truth is dying more and more by the minute. Jesus loves you as you are is an accurate statement, before you believed. God sent Jesus to die for us while we were yet in sin, that is scriptural. What is not scriptural is that Jesus wants us to never change. There's this prevailing belief that people will never stop sinning, even after salvation and so just say a prayer of forgiveness and go about your day. No! We were washed with the precious blood of Jesus! He didn't die so that we could live in defeatism. Every one of us should live every moment of our earthly lives at war with the body of flesh. It doesn't mean that we won't stumble, but we should be growing in holiness as we walk with the Spirit. As you mature in the faith, you should stumble less and less. Not continuing in sin so grace may continue to abound. The world needs the truth, Jesus died for the Truth, we are expected to live the Truth. The truth is what will set the world free, not more social programs, not more advocacy groups, not more self help seminars. The truth that God can deliver on his promises if we only believe in him!

Oh God, Revive us again!

 

[DiscipleOfChrist85]

Can say how it is where you live but in America we live in a secular humanistic country that regards any faith as an outdated fairytale that is complete contray to the culture. No one wants to complete alienate themselves from their group because to be a christian is to live like jesus and he was a radical. Most people aren't going to trade their social status to follow the way of a jewish God from 2000 years ago who lived a life completely different lifestyle and forsake all the carnal comforts for something vague as an afterlife.

 

[ByTheSpirit]

Can say how it is where you live but in America we live in a secular humanistic country that regards any faith as an outdated fairytale that is complete contray to the culture. No one wants to complete alienate themselves from their group because to be a christian is to live like jesus and he was a radical. Most people aren't going to trade their social status to follow the way of a jewish God from 2000 years ago who lived a life completely different lifestyle and forsake all the carnal comforts for something vague as an afterlife.

I agree, Jesus was a radical. His followers were considered radical. That's why they were able to turn the world upside down. They didn't just add Jesus to a list of life's demands and fit him in when the time was convenient. They lived Jesus. They let his Spirit guide them in all that they did. Those are inconvenient truths that most of the world... most of "the church" do not want. We for the most part, want to just go to church on Sunday, do our time, then go about our business. Being Christian for all of 1 hour and Lord forbid the preacher goes a minute over his/her alloted time.

 

[Adrian99]

With 1 out of every 4 people saying they believe in Jesus, peace and love should be abounding everywhere!

So why is it then the world (most of it anyway) is consumed in so much hatred and violence? The fruits of a sinful planet are everywhere, even within the church.

A lot of people say they are Christian because they grew up Christian or they go to church on Sundays, but that's as far as they ever take it. Most aren't trying to live like Christ. Remember, the overarching opinion seems to be that as long as you say you accept Christ then you will go to Heaven. There's no need to actually DO anything.

Christianity is also a way for people to make connections and further themselves in their community. Heaps of people use the title to get ahead. Churches, particularly in tax-free donation America, can be a great way to make, hide and funnel money.

Then there's all the different sects. You have the loads of "crazy christians", the fundamentalists who can be some of the most awful people on the planet. They practice incest, rape, abuse, torture, pedophilia etc and firmly use their religion to justify it.
I worked with a guy years ago now who was always on at everyone about needing to be Christian or they're going to hell. You had to be his exact type of Christian too or hell for you. Meanwhile, he was the most aggressive, self entitled jerk you ever met and... spent several of his holidays (apparently, probably just wishes) packing bombs for Israel. He was so proud of that.

So, a person ticking Christian on a survey or calling themself Christian does not in any way mean they are a decent, kind person. It doesn't even mean they are a Christian.

 

[SANTOSO]

According to Pew Research in 2015 (nothing more recent apparently) 2.3 billion people on the planet consider themselves Christians. According to UN estimates there are currently about 7.9 billion people on the planet. So, simple math says that over 25% of the world's population call Jesus their Lord or at least say they follow him. With 1 out of every 4 people saying they believe in Jesus, peace and love should be abounding everywhere!

So why is it then the world (most of it anyway) is consumed in so much hatred and violence? The fruits of a sinful planet are everywhere, even within the church. A Barna Research poll found that over 50% of American Christians believe Jesus actually sinned while on earth (What Do Americans Believe About Jesus? 5 Popular Beliefs - Barna Group)
That is absolutely heartbreaking to me.

What are some other reasons the world is hurting so much, besides sin and moral decay?

1) We preach a gospel that we ourselves really don't believe in! The gospel is the message of Jesus in his totality. At it's base it's about him dying to make a way for us to have forgiveness from sin and the hope of new life, sure! But it's really more than that. It's about how God watches over those who belong to him and even through the thickest fogs or darkest valleys, he is there with them. How he will never leave us, nor forsake us. The gospel doesn't begin with Jesus on the cross and end with Jesus' resurrection, it encompasses the entirety of the scriptures and God's promises to those who believe. How can we convince a lost and dying world that God will watch over them and free them when we ourselves are fearful, addicted, and just as worldly as they are?

2) We believe our job is just to get them into the church. I truly cannot speak for churches in other countries and cultures, but my gut tells me it would be fairly similar to what I see in America. Churches are for the most part, social gathering points. People go to church to hang out with friends, get some coffee, and punch a hole in their on the way to heaven card. Living a new life, being free from sin, being the light of the world is for holy rollers, Jesus Freaks, Bible Thumpers. When more than 50% of those who call themselves Christians say Jesus sinned, there's a fundamental ill within the walls of "the church". God didn't save us to call us to bring people to church. We are the church! We are the church whether we are at work, school, home, play, etc. Every where we go, we carry God's Spirit and we are expected to be the salt and light of the earth! No need to bring them to Sunday worship so they can hear our awesome praise team, have a coffee on the house, and hear an uplifting message.

3) Make Truth Great Again! Truth is dying more and more by the minute. Jesus loves you as you are is an accurate statement, before you believed. God sent Jesus to die for us while we were yet in sin, that is scriptural. What is not scriptural is that Jesus wants us to never change. There's this prevailing belief that people will never stop sinning, even after salvation and so just say a prayer of forgiveness and go about your day. No! We were washed with the precious blood of Jesus! He didn't die so that we could live in defeatism. Every one of us should live every moment of our earthly lives at war with the body of flesh. It doesn't mean that we won't stumble, but we should be growing in holiness as we walk with the Spirit. As you mature in the faith, you should stumble less and less. Not continuing in sin so grace may continue to abound. The world needs the truth, Jesus died for the Truth, we are expected to live the Truth. The truth is what will set the world free, not more social programs, not more advocacy groups, not more self help seminars. The truth that God can deliver on his promises if we only believe in him!

Oh God, Revive us again!

Beloved one, we heard :

“I thank my God, making mention of thee always in my prayers, hearing of thy love and faith, which thou hast toward the Lord Jesus, and toward all saints; that the communication of thy faith may become effectual by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus.”
‭‭Philemon‬ ‭1:4-6‬ ‭KJV‬‬

So let us communicate or share our faith by acknowledging of every good things which is in us in Christ Jesus, that is, our love and faith toward the Lord Jesus.

With 1 out of every 4 people saying they believe in Jesus, peace and love should be abounding everywhere!

So why is it then the world (most of it anyway) is consumed in so much hatred and violence?

Beloved one, those who are in so much hatred and violence — are they in darkness or in the light ? If they are in darkness, they don’t have the teaching of Jesus. If they are in the light, they have the teaching of Jesus.
So those who are in darkness, we can’t consider them to have believe in Jesus.

For we heard:
But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. -1 John 1:7

So those who walk in the light or in the teaching of Jesus, have fellowship with Jesus, for they are the ones who believe in Jesus.

A Barna Research poll found that over 50% of American Christians believe Jesus actually sinned while on earth

Why give heed to false report ?

Consider what has been written in Psalm 50:

“You sit and speak against your brother; You slander your own mother’s son. These things you have done, and I kept silent; You thought that I was altogether like you; But I will rebuke you, And set them in order before your eyes.”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭50:20-21‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Beloved one — we should not speak against our brother, Jesus Christ. And we should NOT consider Jesus Christ as sinner like the false report said.

Beloved one, if you have sinned, repent.

seek to communicate only of your faith expressing in love, that those who hear, may hear of your love and faith toward Jesus Christ, acknowledging the Lord’s goodness in Christ Jesus.

If you considered the world is hurt, then heal through the love of God that is in you.
If you considered other Christians have sinned, comfort them with the mercy of God, that they may return to God and be healed.

To God be all glory and thanksgiving through Christ. Amen

 

[aiki]

1) We preach a gospel that we ourselves really don't believe in! The gospel is the message of Jesus in his totality. At it's base it's about him dying to make a way for us to have forgiveness from sin and the hope of new life, sure! But it's really more than that. It's about how God watches over those who belong to him and even through the thickest fogs or darkest valleys, he is there with them. How he will never leave us, nor forsake us. The gospel doesn't begin with Jesus on the cross and end with Jesus' resurrection, it encompasses the entirety of the scriptures and God's promises to those who believe. How can we convince a lost and dying world that God will watch over them and free them when we ourselves are fearful, addicted, and just as worldly as they are?

Here's the thing, though: It isn't what God does for us that is truly important, that is the vital "selling point" of the Gospel, but God Himself. He is the "exceeding great reward" of the Christian faith. But God has grown very small in the eyes of most believers, a distant figure on the margins of their lives, aiding them in achieving "their best life now." God is merely a means to an end, not any longer The End, the Ultimate Goal of existence. We pursue God for His stuff, for the peace, joy, protection, guidance and power He might give us rather than for Himself. And so, the Church is tepid, self-centered and weak, Christians manufacturing for themselves human counterfeits that they call "the peace of God," or "the power of God," or "the love of God" in the absence of the Real Thing they can only find in the God they don't really want.

Every where we go, we carry God's Spirit and we are expected to be the salt and light of the earth!

Amen! Preach it!

No need to bring them to Sunday worship so they can hear our awesome praise team, have a coffee on the house, and hear an uplifting message.

The house of worship of believers, the "small-c" church, is not for the non-believer. What part can a non-believer have in the worship of a God they don't know nor love? (2 Corinthians 6:14-18) It is an evil thing to invite them to participate in worship when they are yet unrepentant in their sins, haters of God, and under His wrath. What place does such a person have in the prayer times of believers? None. What sense can they make of the spiritual "meat" issuing from the pulpit, intended for the edification of Spirit-indwelt saints? They are blind, deaf and dead in their sins and incapable of benefiting from such "food." No, instead, the Church (you, and I, and all genuine believers) is to go out into all the world, preach the Gospel and make disciples who are then, as born-again disciples of Jesus, brought into the church. Because we, the Church, have not done this, the Church is now crowded with "tares," false brethren, "seekers," who have "leavened" the Church profoundly (1 Corinthians 5:6-7), making it largely spiritually impotent in the World.

Make Truth Great Again! Truth is dying more and more by the minute. Jesus loves you as you are is an accurate statement, before you believed.

But this isn't entirely accurate. If Jesus loves the sinner just as they are, why do they require salvation and cleansing from their sin? Scripture makes it crystal clear that if the lost sinner, having died, meets God "just as they are," "dead in trespasses and sins," they will spend an eternity in hell! So, while Jesus loved us before we believed in the Gospel, he did not accept us as such, but called us to repentance from sin, and faith in himself as our Savior and Lord.

Every one of us should live every moment of our earthly lives at war with the body of flesh. It doesn't mean that we won't stumble, but we should be growing in holiness as we walk with the Spirit. As you mature in the faith, you should stumble less and less. Not continuing in sin so grace may continue to abound.

Right. Except for the "live every moment of our earthly lives at war with the body of flesh." This is nowhere stated in Scripture. We don't war against "flesh and blood," Paul wrote but "spiritual wickedness in high places." The battle isn't against our flesh but over what we will truly believe. If we believe what Paul wrote in Romans 6, Galatians 2:20 and Galatians 5:24, for example, standing daily, unmoved, in its light, constantly submitted to God, we find there is no battle with the flesh, only the freedom from it that is our spiritual birthright in Christ.

But you are absolutely correct that normal Christian living is not a perennial cycle of sin-confession-sin-confession. Spiritual maturity, a genuinely holy life, is possible - and ought to be the normal experience - of every true disciple of Jesus. Amen.

Romans 6:1-2
1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?
2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?

 

[nhisname]

According to Pew Research in 2015 (nothing more recent apparently) 2.3 billion people on the planet consider themselves Christians. According to UN estimates there are currently about 7.9 billion people on the planet. So, simple math says that over 25% of the world's population call Jesus their Lord or at least say they follow him. With 1 out of every 4 people saying they believe in Jesus, peace and love should be abounding everywhere!

So why is it then the world (most of it anyway) is consumed in so much hatred and violence? The fruits of a sinful planet are everywhere, even within the church. A Barna Research poll found that over 50% of American Christians believe Jesus actually sinned while on earth (What Do Americans Believe About Jesus? 5 Popular Beliefs - Barna Group)
That is absolutely heartbreaking to me.

What are some other reasons the world is hurting so much, besides sin and moral decay?

1) We preach a gospel that we ourselves really don't believe in! The gospel is the message of Jesus in his totality. At it's base it's about him dying to make a way for us to have forgiveness from sin and the hope of new life, sure! But it's really more than that. It's about how God watches over those who belong to him and even through the thickest fogs or darkest valleys, he is there with them. How he will never leave us, nor forsake us. The gospel doesn't begin with Jesus on the cross and end with Jesus' resurrection, it encompasses the entirety of the scriptures and God's promises to those who believe. How can we convince a lost and dying world that God will watch over them and free them when we ourselves are fearful, addicted, and just as worldly as they are?

Let's face it the Christian lifestyle is hard and some ppl would rather live the worldly way.
Churches nowadays want ppl to feel comfortable from the coffee bars, music and preaching, how does any of this bring conviction? When was the last time you saw someone under conviction at a service? Let me tell you friend Satan has his little minions
at work in most churches today.


2) We believe our job is just to get them into the church. I truly cannot speak for churches in other countries and cultures, but my gut tells me it would be fairly similar to what I see in America. Churches are for the most part, social gathering points. People go to church to hang out with friends, get some coffee, and punch a hole in their on the way to heaven card. Living a new life, being free from sin, being the light of the world is for holy rollers, Jesus Freaks, Bible Thumpers. When more than 50% of those who call themselves Christians say Jesus sinned, there's a fundamental ill within the walls of "the church". God didn't save us to call us to bring people to church. We are the church! We are the church whether we are at work, school, home, play, etc. Every where we go, we carry God's Spirit and we are expected to be the salt and light of the earth! No need to bring them to Sunday worship so they can hear our awesome praise team, have a coffee on the house, and hear an uplifting message.

3) Make Truth Great Again! Truth is dying more and more by the minute. Jesus loves you as you are is an accurate statement, before you believed. God sent Jesus to die for us while we were yet in sin, that is scriptural. What is not scriptural is that Jesus wants us to never change. There's this prevailing belief that people will never stop sinning, even after salvation and so just say a prayer of forgiveness and go about your day. No! We were washed with the precious blood of Jesus! He didn't die so that we could live in defeatism. Every one of us should live every moment of our earthly lives at war with the body of flesh. It doesn't mean that we won't stumble, but we should be growing in holiness as we walk with the Spirit. As you mature in the faith, you should stumble less and less. Not continuing in sin so grace may continue to abound. The world needs the truth, Jesus died for the Truth, we are expected to live the Truth. The truth is what will set the world free, not more social programs, not more advocacy groups, not more self help seminars. The truth that God can deliver on his promises if we only believe in him!

Oh God, Revive us again!