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"Ok, now this is getting crazy. Tim - come on. I would get it if you said, 'Just going to church once in a while doesn't make you a Christian. But if someone goes every week to church - really - you really think that person might not be a Christian?"
Yup.
Simple analogy. People say, "Standing in the garage doesn't make you a car." Have you heard that one? Well, think about carrying out the analogy a bit more. Does standing in the garage for a long time make you car? Does duration really impact your assessment? To be honest, if a person stood for a year in the garage saying he was a car, you would likely think even less that he was a car, and you'd probably be more convinced than ever that he was not well.
Church attendance does not make you a Christian.
It might show you are a Christian, but it doesn't have a 1:1 correlation.
Here's some proof from the Bible to back this up.
1. Again - Matthew 7 (see the last post). Many will say to Jesus, "Lord, look at all we did in Your name" and Jesus will reply "I never knew you." It fair to say that if miracles (Matthew 7:21-23) were not proof of being a true believer, then certainly going to a gathering at the local church building doesn't make a person a Christian.
2. 1 John 2:19 say this - "They went out from us, but they did not belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us." The Apostle John shows here that there are people who are actively 'with' true Christians but these people who hang around Christians are not actually Christians. At least with these people (those who John says left the fold), they showed their true colors and probably knew they were not believers since they eventually left. How horrendous to stay around believers, think you are a believer, and yet not be.
3. True Christians are people indwelt by the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38) and this changes one's behavior so that this person will bear the Fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5;22-24). The reality is that a person can attend a church service every week and yet still not be known by anyone. Come on - let's be honest. Who has been in the car on the way to church and then all of a sudden a fight breaks out. It's not pretty but oh yes - when we pull up to the church building and get out..."Praise the Lord it's a great day. How you doing Deacon Bob?"
Yup.
Simple analogy. People say, "Standing in the garage doesn't make you a car." Have you heard that one? Well, think about carrying out the analogy a bit more. Does standing in the garage for a long time make you car? Does duration really impact your assessment? To be honest, if a person stood for a year in the garage saying he was a car, you would likely think even less that he was a car, and you'd probably be more convinced than ever that he was not well.
Church attendance does not make you a Christian.
It might show you are a Christian, but it doesn't have a 1:1 correlation.
Here's some proof from the Bible to back this up.
1. Again - Matthew 7 (see the last post). Many will say to Jesus, "Lord, look at all we did in Your name" and Jesus will reply "I never knew you." It fair to say that if miracles (Matthew 7:21-23) were not proof of being a true believer, then certainly going to a gathering at the local church building doesn't make a person a Christian.
2. 1 John 2:19 say this - "They went out from us, but they did not belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us." The Apostle John shows here that there are people who are actively 'with' true Christians but these people who hang around Christians are not actually Christians. At least with these people (those who John says left the fold), they showed their true colors and probably knew they were not believers since they eventually left. How horrendous to stay around believers, think you are a believer, and yet not be.
3. True Christians are people indwelt by the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38) and this changes one's behavior so that this person will bear the Fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5;22-24). The reality is that a person can attend a church service every week and yet still not be known by anyone. Come on - let's be honest. Who has been in the car on the way to church and then all of a sudden a fight breaks out. It's not pretty but oh yes - when we pull up to the church building and get out..."Praise the Lord it's a great day. How you doing Deacon Bob?"
Why bother talking about this?
You know, I asked myself the same thing. But here's what I see.
I see people who are actively involved in the church and yet they have no desire for righteousness or, even more so, no desire for Christ.
Now I'm not talking about people in process - we are all in process, I know.
But I'm talking about people who have checked off a little box in their brain that says, "Hey, I'm in church - what more does God want from me?" This kind of attitude shows a fundamental theological fallacy which is the notion that going to church is 'doing something' for God. Acts 17:24-25 tells us that we cannot place God into our debt. As Paul says in that passage, "As though He needed anything." It also betrays a works-based salvation concept i.e. if I do the right things, God will be pleased with me and let me into Heaven when I die. This is not from the Bible or from Jesus - this is a man-made concept. John 3:16 (and many other passages as well) makes it clear that our salvation is a gift given by God's grace alone.
And so I land here. Going to a church service on Sunday or Wednesday, or Sunday and Wednesday, or Sunday and Wednesday and a special revival on Saturday - none of these make you a Christian. You can be as pagan as they come and still sit in a pew.
There must be more to truly being a Christian. And there is.
- tC
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