Featured Pastor turned athiest

From professing Christian to professing Atheist is a good read.

First he was not taught that turning and trusting requires a full blown comment to Christ, as our only priority rather than one of our priorities. Easy Believism claimed another young victim.

Next, he went from the frying pan to the fire, switching to 5 point Calvinism. Which again demonstrates he relied on the writings and thoughts of others (Calvinist books) rather than learning how to critically read God's inspired word which is trustworthy and reliable and authoritative for living our lives.

 

My experience is that folks who blame Christians for leaving faith are simply making excuses for their own vices, bitterness and unbelief. Why doesn't he just say, I don't believe it? Why the whiny-butt-you're-all-a-bunch-of-hypocrites rant?

Just let Bruce go. If he leaves Christianity, he never really was one.

If Adam couldn't point at Eve, much less can Bruce point at Christ's Bride.

 

Just pointing out that you're not willing to lift a finger to do what you demand of others, AND that what you demand of others really isn't in line with the commands of Christ.

 

And you have proven my point.

 

I don't understand the confusion. He was quite clear. The lives of many Christians look like the lives of the lost. What details are needed? Look at the person you think is a heathen and recognize that when the average lost person looks at the life of a person who says he is a follower of Christ, he doesn't see anything different.

We excuse away our drinking.
We excuse away our smoking.
We excuse away what we watch.
We excuse away what we listen to.
We excuse away why we disrespect authority.
We excuse away how we support a man who rejects Jesus while purporting to still want folks to come to Christ.
We excuse away the way we dress.
We excuse away our prejudices.
We excuse away our lack of love.
We excuse away our judging outside the church.
We excuse away our gluttony...our gossipping...and our phonyness.
We excuse away our desire to win an argument as defense of the faith.
We excuse away our nastyness in how we respond to others.
We excuse away the truth and ask for unneeded examples when we well know exactly what is being talked about.

Just to name a few.

He is absolutely correct. The folks in the church look a whole lot like the folks outside the church.

 

Because that's what he experienced. People expect to see something different when they go to the church. And lately all they are seeing is folks whose lives look no different than their own.

I mean personally I think some of you have got the nastiest dispositions I've ever seen and if I were questioning my faith and encountered a bunch of folks in church who act like some of you, i could understand someone leaving.

There's just something very unChristlike in that statement and is no doubt a display of the attitutdes that drive folks away.

 

And who are you to define what Lordship Salvation is?

Why is your view of Lordship Salvation correct and mine isn't?

I have attended lots of Baptist churches in 50 years, I am sure the same is true for you. Some are far more legalistic than others. I have attended churches where you are told what you can wear for clothing, watch on TV or listen to on the radio, what sports you can play (no cards or billiards for example), etc...

Now, I am a free thinker, anybody who reads my posts can see that. I don't let others think for me, or tell me what to believe. Nevertheless, I have seen churches that exercise a great deal of control over their members. I have attended others that didn't.

But don't come on here and tell me that you alone have Lordship Salvation all figured out. You don't.

 

Now THAT is funny. :laugh: He's an extremely wicked man and I wouldn't support him or his policies if someone paid me handsomely to do so.

 

You should never simply dismiss or blow off people that disagree with you.

Years ago I heard a preacher say one of the smartest things I have ever heard. He said that he always listens to criticism, because there is always some truth to it.

And he was right. When you dismiss all criticism, you are setting yourself up for a fall.

 

And not to mention the "just let Bruce go" attitude. Where would we be if...?

 

They ARE the same. They are sinners. They are forgiven, not perfect.

And that is the problem with Lordship Salvation, it turns everybody into a fruit counter. Instead of rejoicing that our sins are all gone, we spend all our time looking at our neighbor and judging whether he is a REAL believer or not.

Your post is a perfect example.

 

You better look at them and wonder if they are a Believer or not. If you've sat underneath the preaching of the Gospel for 5, 10, 15, 25 years and your life looks the same as it did before you " came to Christ", you're darn skippy that I'm gonna righteously judge and question whether or not someone who says they are in the Body, actually is. Why would I sit around and let someone go to hell?

Nobody said anything about perfection. But when I go through just the short list of things that I mentioned, there should be a marked difference between those indwelled by the Holy Spirit and those who are not.

There are some goats in with the sheep and the Body better not be afraid to say so.

 

Here is the article everyone should read;

http://brucegerencser.net/2014/02/stopped-believing/

And here is the REAL reason he lost his faith:

The reason this fellow became an atheist is because he lost faith that the Bible was inerrant, inspired word of God.

That is why I am a King James only, because I MUST believe that God's perfect and preserved word is in the world today. If I believed it was not, I would throw my Bible in the trashcan and live any way I want.

Now, don't turn this into a versions debate, I am just saying I can understand this fellow's point of view. He allowed men to convince him the Bible is not really true, and that very moment his faith failed.

 

If someone had given up on us?

Nope. I absolutely cannot. But he has to ENCOUNTER a working of the Holy Spirit for the Holy SPirit to convince him. That demands that I chase after him in love until the Spirit of God directs otherwise.

I'm a lover of people because Christ first loved me. Where some may see a reprobate mind I can see someone who has yet to genuinely encounter the love of Christ from another person. And Aaron is just mean. :laugh:

But i can fully see how one would become jaded. When you spend all that time with folks who are just mean spirited and more concerned about politics than they are about loving people, but who also want you to believe they love Jesus? yep , after a while, if you're not grounded in Christ, that'll drive folks either to leave those surroundings in search of some folks who truly LIVE like they know Christ, or it'll drive them away from established "religion" of any kind.