95 Theses More (or Less)

 Building on last week, if you agree that our country is a mess, I suggest this did not happen overnight, or even in our lifetimes.  If you trace back the corruption, the racism, the persecution of the Church, the exodus from the Church, the destruction of morals, if you trace it back, the problems started 250 years ago, 500 years ago, 1700 years ago.  Those are not random numbers.  250 years ago, our beloved Founding Fathers signed the Declaration of Independence.  500 years ago was the Protestant Reformation, the founding of the Church of England in particular.  And 1700 years ago, Constantine declared Christianity to be the official religion of Rome.  

I’m a few dozen short of 95 Theses, but after 500 years, the time seems ripe for another Reformation, quick before He comes again. Here is a list of practices common to the Church now that contradict God’s Word:  

Infant baptism (removes the power of “dying to self”, paints God as a monster who sends infants to Hell); Forgiveness and reconciliation (general repentance and instant forgiveness instead of reconciling with our brother); Belief / unbelief (belief is so much more than thinking it is true, unbelief is hypocrisy); Noah and racism (did you know that Noah is the father of Slavery in the US?); Heaven and Hell (when we go, who gets in where); Discipleship (be prepared to answer for your faith, not preach to the unreceptive, not casting pearls before swine); Church as a building - giving to Christ (setting up endowments is the opposite of living on faith); Women preaching; Cheap Grace; Gospel of Wealth.  It should go without saying that the church should not have its leaders engaged in sexual assault especially of minors, having affairs with parishioners (or anyone else), creating cults, stealing money (or anything else), or any kind of abuse; and the Unforgivable Sin (if it is “lack of repentance”, encourages judgmentalism, if “abusing God’s authority”, a warning to Church leaders who should know better).   

I plan to write separately on each of those: what the Church teaches and why I believe it is unbiblical.  Most of these are common to the vast majority of Churches in this country.  This realization that the Christian Religion has lost its way has been hard for me.  Tied to it is the realization that my country not only has lost its way but seems to have always been on the wrong track.  I became a history major because of how much I love America, so this too has been disconcerting.

What I hope to show is not “All is Lost”, but “This is what God’s Plan (really) is.”  It turns out to be quite comforting to realize that this is not what He had in mind: we are not a Christian Nation.  That is not to say there are no good Christians, or that some of our Founders may have wanted to create a City on the Hill.  It is to say that when you build on a foundation that is faulty, the house will not stand.  But the right path, the Path of Righteousness, is actually very familiar.  And it leads Home.  To where our Father eagerly waits for us.