The Greatest Threat to Christianity - Final Thoughts

Shallowness and lack of discernment within the church is nothing new. It was a problem in New Testament times (Ephesians 4:14-15, Hebrews 5:12-6:1) and it continues. In 1957 in The Pursuit of God, A.W. Tozer wrote of the state of the church:

“The idea of cultivation and exercise, so dear to the saints of old, has now no place in our total religious picture. It is too slow, too common. We now demand glamour and fast-flowing dramatic action….We read our chapter, have our short devotions and rush away, hoping to make up for our deep inward bankruptcy by attending another gospel meeting or listening to another thrilling story told by a religious adventurer lately returned from afar.

The tragic results of this spirit are all about us: shallow lives, hollow religious philosophies, the preponderance of the element of fun in gospel meetings, the glorification of men, trust in religious externalities, quasi-religious fellowships, salesmanship methods, the mistaking of dynamic personality for the power of the Spirit. These and such as these are symptoms of an evil disease, a deep and serious malady of the soul.

…we have accepted one another’s notions, copied one another’s lives and made one another’s experiences the model for our own. And for a generation the trend has been downward. Now we have reached a low place of sand and burnt wire grass and, worst of all, we have made the Word of God conform to our experience and accepted this low plane as the very pasture of the blessed.”

Chasing personal comfort and utterly preoccupied with self. Do we not just look to be a part of the club sometimes? If they carry their, self-identified, Christian club card then we look no further. It is so much easier than doing the hard work of study. Why should I study the Word on what a church should actually be doing? I don’t have time and I am comfortable at that church. Why should I devote time to examining that particular doctrine? The pastor gets paid to do that and he has his theology degree.

We “outsource” our theology, our parenting and our spiritual formation to the detriment of our souls and Christ’s honor.

You can find all the posts in this series here.