Fact, Faith, Feeling

Fact - Faith - Feeling

Matthew 24:10–13 NLT

And many will turn away from me and betray and hate each other. And many false prophets will appear and will deceive many people. Sin will be rampant everywhere, and the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.

This last 4 weeks we have had some big name influential Christians that have either totally stepped away from Christianity or are contemplating publicly their thoughts about rejecting Biblical Christianity.

Josh Harris, a pastor and popular writer said this 1 week after announcing He and his wife were divorcing.

“I have undergone a massive shift in regard to my faith in Jesus,” he explained. “The popular phrase for this is “deconstruction,” the biblical phrase is “falling away.” By all the measurements that I have for defining a Christian, I am not a Christian. Many people tell me that there is a different way to practice faith and I want to remain open to this, but I’m not there now.”

“I have lived in repentance for the past several years—repenting of my self-righteousness, my fear-based approach to life, the teaching of my books, my views of women in the church, and my approach to parenting to name a few,” he wrote. “But I specifically want to add to this list now: to the LGBTQ+ community, I want to say that I am sorry for the views that I taught in my books and as a pastor regarding sexuality. I regret standing against marriage equality, for not affirming you and your place in the church, and for any ways that my writing and speaking contributed to a culture of exclusion and bigotry. I hope you can forgive me.”

So Josh is saying that He is done with His faith in Jesus. Totally walking away from it to the point that a couple of week ago He participated in a Homosexual Pride parade.

Now this last week another influential Christian said He was losing his belief in Christianity.

Marty Sampson is a songwriter and worship leader for Hillsong Music and it’s many iterations.

Here is what Marty said.

“Time for some real talk. I’m genuinely losing my faith, and it doesn’t bother me. Like, what bothers me now is nothing. I am so happy now, so at peace with the world. It’s crazy.

This is a soapbox moment so here I go … How many preachers fall? Many. No one talks about it. How many miracles happen. Not many. No one talks about it. Why is the Bible full of contradictions? No one talks about it. How can God be love yet send four billion people to a place, all ‘coz they don’t believe? No one talks about it. Christians can be the most judgmental people on the planet—they can also be some of the most beautiful and loving people. But it’s not for me.

I am not in any more. I want genuine truth. Not the “I just believe it” kind of truth. Science keeps piercing the truth of every religion. Lots of things help people change their lives, not just one version of God. Got so much more to say, but for me, I keeping it real. Unfollow if you want, I’ve never been about living my life for others.

All I know is what’s true to me right now, and Christianity just seems to me like another religion at this point. I could go on, but I won’t. Love and forgive absolutely. Be kind absolutely. Be generous and do good to others absolutely. Some things are good no matter what you believe. Let the rain fall, the sun will come up tomorrow.”

Now we don’t have enough time to go over every issue that Marty raises but let’s at least look at why would these two men leave Christianity or be thinking about it.

Let’s first understand that these are not the first two influential Christians to do what they are doing and they won’t be the last. We do not have enough time to name every influential Christian that has left Christianity.

So why?

Facts

Our faith is based on fact. There is an incredible amount of factual, archeological, scientific evidence that the Bible is an accurate and trustworthy book.

When we come to Christ we come because of this 1 fact.

John 3:16 NLT

“For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.

If you do not believe and understand this then you have missed the whole point of Christianity.

It has been said that the door to hell has a doorknob that has no lock. Anyone can walk right through it but the door to heaven is locked from the inside and the only way you can enter through it is through the blood of Jesus.

Jesus said

John 10:9–10 NLT

Yes, I am the gate. Those who come in through me will be saved. They will come and go freely and will find good pastures. The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.

2. Faith

We have to believe in Jesus. This is called Faith.

Some would say why do I need faith?

No matter what you think about where you go when you die you have to have faith that is going to happen. So therefore you are going to have faith.

3. Feelings

When you come to Christ and you give your life to him you will feel differently. Why? Because you are washed clean of your sin.

You will feel guilty when you go against the Word of God by sinning.

You will feel joy when someone else is saved from Hell because that have given their lives to the Lord.

When everything around you comes crashing down you can feel peace because you know this world does not have the final word but God does.

So why did these men and others make the choice to leave the faith?

The American church does it backwards. Instead of Facts-Faith-Feelings it goes the other way.....Feelings-Faith-Facts.

Marty said: I’m genuinely losing my faith, and it doesn’t bother me. Like, what bothers me now is nothing. I am so happy now, so at peace with the world. It’s crazy.

You see his first statement is about a feeling not facts. You see even more of that the more you read that he is not focusing on facts but the way he and others feel.

There are a number of reasons this is wrong.

Feelings change.

For example you may have felt like coming to church this morning but next week you may feel like staying home. Even though you know you should be in church you either let your feeling dictate what you are going to do or you do what you are supposed to do.

If we come to Christ just because it feels good. Maybe a feel good song was played or the pastor said something that made you feel good so you make a decision that Christianity is right for you.

Notice you did not make the decision based off of facts.

What happens when you no longer feel good.

What happens when someone close to you dies unexpectedly?

What happens when you lose your job?

What happens when your health fails?

None of these feel good but they are part of living in a broken, cursed, sin-filled world.

Why do we have Bible study on Wednesday nights?

Why do we have Discipleship classes on Sunday mornings?

Because it is where we learn the facts. Through those facts our faith in nurtured and grows like a large oak tree whose roots go deep into the ground so that when the wind blows it doesnt fall over.

Why do we have prayer meeting on Sunday nights? So that we can activate our faith.