The lack of real spirituality in today's Christian culture is really a very simple problem:

We are a people who stubbornly refuse to confront the truth and do business with it; we are a people who refuse to acknowledge the truth as truth and embrace it with all our soul.

The "just love Jesus and don't worry your pretty little head about doctrine" mentality - which is all too common among us today - has led to a virtual famine of biblical understanding in the modern world. We no longer know what the Bible says, and we no longer care.

We are becoming a biblically illiterate culture; and that at a time when we are patting ourselves on the back for our rediscovery of spirituality.

The solution is simple: we must repent! We must change our minds and make a different choice. We must decide to pursue truth. And the best and most direct way to do that is by pursuing an understanding of the Bible.

We must decide to embrace the Bible with our whole being and to live our lives in the light of its truth.

It is not correct doctrine per se that is needed; rather, it is true belief with all the passion and burning existential commitment that it ought to entail.

If you have heard this once, you have heard it a million times:

Christianity is not about believing the right set of doctrines, nor about following the right set of rules; Christianity is about a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

We need to get away from theology and quibbling over doctrine. Theology only divides Christians from one another. Emphasizing doctrine too much causes quarrels and splits among Christian brothers. Surely we are grieving our Lord and breaking His heart when we let merely intellectual beliefs separate us from one another.

Christianity is not a matter of the head; it is a matter of the heart. We need to stop using our heads, stop trying to understand God, and just start loving Him instead. The body of Christ is made up of everyone and anyone who loves Jesus. How can we criticize and call "wrong" anyone whose heart is given over to Him? To criticize people who don't agree with us just because they have different beliefs is so unchristian.

There are all kinds of Christians, but we all love Jesus, which is all that God requires. Jesus told us to strive to maintain our unity, and the way to do that is to set our theology aside and get on with the business of loving our brothers and sisters no matter what they happen to believe. As long as a person says he loves Jesus, and as long as he really does, we have no choice but to accept him as our brother without question, without criticism, and without hesitation.

This is a fictional quotation. But it expresses a whole set of widespread sentiments, attitudes, and beliefs in the Christian culture today. Yet nothing in this quote even begins to reflect an understanding of the nature and complexion of true biblical faith. Ultimately, everything about this quote is wrong, rooted in worldly foolishness. Nevertheless, most of us modern Christians are not far removed from the beliefs and sentiments it expresses.

page two

by date
by topic