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Papers > Religion > Religion That Lives In The Past
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Religion That Lives In The Past |
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Religion That Lives In The Past American Christians are confronted by a society filled with moral and religious decay. Romans 1:18-32 offers an apt description of the process of decay in thought and morality that many have been witnesses to in our culture for the past 50 years. ... ” In fact, the call to return to what one writer has described as “a religion that lives in the past” is an unbiblical call, that pits one flawed culture against another (the 50’s versus the 90’s, if you will). ... Consider … Religion That Lives In The Past Is Established On Flawed Foundations There are several examples from brethren in the past that illustrate this. ... The tenor of these Scriptures stands in stark contrast to the bitter and pugnacious spirit often exemplified among brethren in past decades that remains alive today. An overemphasis on particular doctrinal issues: The gospel proclaimed in the past was often a “reactionary gospel. ... A pattern of segregation & partiality has dominated the lives of individuals and churches on the basis of race. ... ” These examples should slam the door shut on any mentality that brethren in the past “arrived at the truth” and all we have to do is maintain their teachings. They serve, instead, to completely undermine any idea that the teachings and beliefs of the past were guided only by the purity of Scripture, and never influenced by culture. ... “Let him who thinks he stands, take heed …” Religion That Lives In The Past Falls Prey To Pharisaic Exclusivity The Lord rebuked the scribes and Pharisees, “because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from people; for you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in” (Mt. ... We may also shut off the kingdom when we seek to justify practices on the basis of what past generations did rather than on what God authorizes. ... Religion That Lives In The Past Results In Idolatry & Denominational Pride In 2 Kings 18:4 Hezekiah destroyed the bronze serpent that Moses had erected in the wilderness because it had become an idol among the people. They elevated an object of the past to a position never intended by the Lord. We are guilty of the same when we put our faith in religious forms and practices of past generations. ... He didn’t fit the “idol” of their past understanding, so they rejected Him. ... How do we judge a teaching that differs from what we’ve heard in the past or what we’ve “always believed? ... When we hold up our own conclusions or those of the past as the standard, we are guilty of a subtle but deadly form of religious idolatry. ... It is witnessed in an attachment and devotion, not to Christ, but to great teachers of the past; to a brotherhood journal; or to a group of churches called “the church of Christ. ... The real solution to problems from the past that haunt us still and to the influences of culture today is to repent in humility and shame and fervently seek to restore ourselves to the Lord. Clinging to the past only allows the flaws of the past to keep us from the Lord, just as the same attitude kept the Pharisees from accepting Him. ... It is a people who spend their earthly lives (as they will also spend eternity) in the loving service of God and of others. ... Indeed part of our problem of holding to a “religion that lives in the past” is due to a mentality that fails to place proper reliance on God’s mercy & grace for our salvation. ... A couple of years ago in a private discussion with another preacher, who was quick to condemn everyone who differed with him on various doctrinal issues, I asked him if he thought he was ever mistaken about any doctrinal matters in the past. ... We must not fail to see that if we are going to be saved (or if those of generations past were saved) it will not be because we have attained perfection in doctrine or practice, because we never will. |
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Title: Religion That Lives In The Past
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