Opinion: "Glad to be born in America"

[Maarten]

But being raised in a Christian family does not mean you will turn out to be a Christian. In the West, to some degree, Christianity has watered down to a tradition rather than a living faith and many go to church because they are raised as suh rather than that they are truly born again and saved. The problem is, nobody is going to try and convert these people because they're going to church al ready, while these people are in dire need for conversion because their faith is dead. Churches are full of these people.

I don't believe anybody will be a Christian by being raised as such. Whether you are born in a Christian country, or a Christian family; everybody needs redemption and to be born again.

[Patrick]

That's a matter of one's beliefs, and I respect that. Whether or not a person is truly converted, seems to be a matter mostly in God's hands. However, whether or not the symbol of a society is church, mosque, synagogue, palace, university, or dictator seems to be mostly a product of culture. Only God knows all the dynamics of what causes a person to be "born again" or not, but what I can say is that people tend to gravitate toward (or at least respect) what their culture glorifies.

[Feather]

I feel like to be born in America almost completely ruins your chances of being a Christian. I think people confuse church-goers for Christians far too much. Yes, you'll likely have a belief system that you subscribe to because your parents did as did their parents before them. You'll believe whatever your pastor's seminary teacher's pastor's pastor taught him. Rather than being Christlike, you'll become "Baptist" or "Catholic" or "non-denominational". You'll seek to save the lost like Jesus apparently did: By throwing the first stone. For every 5 megachurches with their 20,000 "christians," you'd be lucky to find 2 Christlike individuals.

The people in countries with less access to the watered down hypocricy that is American "Christianity" are far more lucky and far more likely to discover TRUE Christianity.

[Paul]

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[Feather]

I disagree wholeheartedly. In the Bible, Christ gives the example of the religious who "believe" they are saved (have faith, if you will,) ones who have even performed miracles in His name. He tells them 'depart from me, workers of iniquity, I never knew you.' "Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and PUTS THEM INTO PRACTICE is like a wise man who built his house upon a rock." (Emphasis mine.)

It's not about BELIEVING you're saved. It's not about "hearing." It's about being Christlike, period. Anybody who would say being Christlike is not a prerequisite to being saved has very little grasp on what Christianity is and has spent too much time sitting in a pew listening to the b.s. they sell from the pulpit. Hence my theory that it's very difficult to actually get saved in a country as thoroughly saturated in religion as America is.

And for the record: I am NOT a Christian.

[Paul]

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[Feather]

I didn't say the Bible was foolish. I know my stuff better than 90% of you pew warmers. I was a Christian a lot longer than I've been a heathen and all the views I have now on Christianity in America are the same that I had as a Christian.

So you can say what you think I believe about the Bible, but it's not true. I have a ton of respect for the words of God. Just not really a fan of people like you who look for loopholes to get out of being Christlike. "Oh, woe is me. Just a sinner saved by grace!" WHATEVER. Fact of the matter is that the Bible is NOT foolishness to me and secondly that you are NOT a Christian.

[Maarten]

Justification through faith alone is not a loophole around being Christlike. You need to make sure you don't confuse justification with sanctification.

People get right with God by grace, through faith. Adding any work to that is an insult to God's grace.

However, genuine salvation is followed up by sanctification. If God truly saved a person, that person will become ever more Christlike, not through their own work but through the work of God. Rather than an act of man and the source of his salvation, a Christlike life is the fruit of putting your trust in God rather than in your own merit.

This does mean that a lot of people who claim to be Christians, but do not have the fruit in their lives that is expected from a truly born again man, are probably not saved. If they had been, Christ would be working in their lives. Although that is true, one should be careful to condemn people and tell them they're not saved. It is usually better, in my opinion, to tell them the truth and let them examine their own lives to see if their salvation matches whatever the bible says about salvation.

[Paul]

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[Feather]

There's my point exactly. I will grant you that the murderous felon is much more of a Christian than the holier-than-thou churchgoer. Thank you for illustrating my point. The church is FILLED to the brim with "Christians" who came to salvation through faith and never grew beyond that. The Bible says that the branch that grows no fruit is dead and will be cut off and cast into the fire. It doesn't say that the branch was never a part of the vine to begin with but it's not anymore. Love is the first and foremost fruit of the spirit. I have attended literally HUNDREDS of churches in America and I saw the same thing everywhere. A bunch of dried up dead branches. They are taught from the pulpit that they are saved through faith and as long as they come to Christ through faith they're okay. They're not told that if they fail to bear fruit (be Christlike) they will be cut off and cast into the fire. The Bible is full of examples of Christians who come to Christ through faith but then are "choked up by the cares of this world" or "have no roots so they wither up and die." Unfortunately, they remain in their pews completely oblivious to the fact that they are going to hell in a handbasket.

How do I know? Because there's no Love in them. It's: "I can't believe somebody like that would bring their same sex partner in here!" or "Well if I had known you're not a Christian I wouldn't have even wasted my time talking to you because you're a fool." Where Jesus was: "Let he who has no sin cast the first stone," and only ever showed anger toward the religious. He spent his time speaking to the prostitutes and theives. Was it because he felt they were too foolish to understand? No, probably not.

My whole comment to begin with was that the churches are filled with the religious who beat their chest and cry, "I thank God I'm not like these sinners!" while on their way to hell. My comment was that this kind of hypocricy is what the American church teaches. "Well as long as I've got my ticket to heaven, screw them all!" I believe being in an environment with no other Christian influences would be BETTER than being led blindly to the slaughter by a pastor who says, "I'm going to let him keep living in adultury & tell him he's okay because he tithes so much and I can't offend him."