The Laying Aside of High Standards - The Back Lash Movement

I think I'm going to vent just a bit...My heart is heavy with the many changes I see within Fundamental Baptist Churches. I call it a type of "back-lash" movement. I hear it from friends and I even hear it from Christian leaders--"We have failed to teach our young people how to have a relationship with Christ. It's all about the rules and not a relationship." The result has been 20's, 30's and even 40's aged people abandoning their conservative Christian heritage for a more relaxed, deeper relationship with Christ. Throwing away high, Godly standards and thinking they are replacing all those RULES with a RELATIONSHIP. I assert that high, Godly (i.e. God-like) standards always result from a deep understanding of the Scriptures and a proper view of God.

There's a popular blog written by Cary Schmidt that contains "The Saddest Letter I've Ever Received." (To be clear, Bro. Schmidt does not endorse or use this letter as a case for laying aside Godly standards, but I have heard this post used as an explaination as to why standards should be relaxed). A young lady talks about how she was raised in a Christian home, went to church, Christian schools, a Christian college but was never taught how to have a relationship with Christ. It was all about the rules. She said that her dad never took time to teach her how to have a relationship with Christ. On the surface, it sounds very sad and seems very unfortunate. I've been thinking this through and I find it curious that within the past year I have heard many people (who don't even know each other) all of a sudden saying this exact same thing...same terminology, same phrases, etc. Is it possible that all of sudden so many people had the same exact words and phrases pop into their brains to express why they have turned away from their conservative Christian heritage? I think not.

I am not a Bible scholar, so for lack of a better term I call it the Back-Lash Movement. I would like to share a few pressing thoughts I've had this past year as I have examined what I see going on around me. Here's some background on me--I was not raised in a Christian home, did not have the advantage of attending a Christian school (ever), attended Catholic church a few times as a small child (mostly for weddings and funerals). I heard the Gospel for the first time in my life as a 15 year old teenager. Alone, I read the Gospel tract I had received and accepted Christ as my Savior. Within a few weeks my entire family accepted Christ. The Lord led us to a conservative, independent, fundamental Baptist Church where we immediately became involved and active in the ministry. Our desire to read the Bible and learn and grow was on fire. Through my own Bible study, the help of my new youth pastor, and Godly Christian girls I learned how to live as a new creature in Christ. I knew nothing of how to conduct myself as a believer. I remember reading passages of Scripture that taught me that I was to be a living sacrifice, to be holy, because it was my reasonable service to my Savior. That changed everything for me. I realized, as a 15 year old girl, that I did not belong to myself, that I was now a child of God. I owed everything to Him. To me, this included my music, my friends, my clothes, my attitudes, everything. (A side note, as a 15 year old, public school kid, I was able to read the KJV and actually understand it). I believe this fact to be true because I asked God to help me understand it and the Holy Spirit bore witness in my heart to help me understand what I was reading. (Another side note, I am not a KJV Only kind of person, but I do believe that we don't need to "dumb-down" the Scriptures, especially for people who have grown up in church their whole lives).

I give all this background information to make this one point--I cannot look back at my life and excuse my faults, failures, bad attitudes, or sin and blame it on my church, my Christian school, my Christian college, and especially my parents. My relationship with Christ had to be learned from Christ (the Scriptures). My parents were at the same spiritual stage I was--we were all babes in Christ. I did not enjoy the privilege of a Christian school and my first experience with a Bible-preaching church didn't come until I was 15 years old. So, my point is, the blame cannot be shifted to other people to explain away a lack of a personal relationship with Christ. It is the sole responsibility of each person to establish your own relationship with Christ--nobody can help you to do that. To say that you were not taught to have a relationship with Christ or taught how to have a relationship with Christ is just plain, intellectually dishonest. You cannot convince me that you attended Christian school your whole life, grew up in a Christian home, attended church every Sunday, and attended a Christian college and you were NEVER taught that you needed to have a personal relationship with Christ. I believe the real problem to be an apathy and boredom among young people (and many adults) because they have heard the same message consistantly and "got saved" at 5 years old. They haven't experienced for themselves the depravity of sin, thus can't grasp the truth that they may not have a past full of sin but they have been redeemed from the sinful human condition. They don't have the understanding of woman in Luke 7 who fell down and washed Jesus feet with her tears. She fully understood that she had been forgiven much and responded to Christ with full-out committment. I believe many young people and even adults who have grown up in church since they were small do not fully understand and grasp the reality of what it means to be saved from the depravity and emptiness of a life ruled by a sinful heart. To grasp that truth and understand it would wipe away excuses used to reason-away the necessity of high, God-like standards.

If you look at it logically, how do you explain a family who has several children. They all grew up in the same house, atttended the same church, same Christian school, etc. Some of them as adults say that they never learned how to have a relationship with Christ and that it was all about the rules. Others, from the same family, have grown in a strong relationship with Christ and are thankful for the heritage of strong, godly standards. I contest that it is all in the attitude (meaning way of viewing the environment, not "good" attitude or "bad" attitude) that determines what the person focused on. Some CHOSE to focus on the "rules" (I prefer for call them standards) and some CHOSE to establish their own personal relationship with Christ. It's all about personal responsibility before God--either you choose to have a relationship with Christ or you don't. Interesting observation is that many of the people that tell me that their reason for laying aside the Godly heritage they were raised in is because they weren't taught properly how to have a relationship with Christ are stuck at that point. They still will not CHOSE to have a deep, committed relationship to Christ. They seem to be caught in "limbo" of sorts in that they can't move past this new realization of the past failure of their parents and Christian institutions. They will cling to their new "reason" and still fail to make the choices necessary to have a personal relationship to Christ.

Another thing I see is the casual nature of church. There is an attempt to bring Jesus down to man. He did come in total humbleness to be a sacrifice for us but now He sits as a King at the right hand of the Father. I view Jesus as a KING. He is completely holy and he commands me to be holy while I live this live on earth. Jesus is not my best buddy who will give me a pass when I stand before Him someday. I will give an account for what I have done with the knowledge I have been given. I have received grace from the Lord and I rely on His grace daily to guide me but if we look at the whole council of God there is alot of admonition to be holy, to be set apart, to love not the world and the things of the world.

I say, we all could use a good reminder to get back into our Bibles. Allow the Word of God, which is the sharp sword to pierce into our hearts, to make us more like Christ. No more excuses, no more blame-shifting. New music will not create a relationship with Christ, a new program or a new book will not create a relationship with Christ, our parents will not create a relationship with Christ for us. Only the Word of God and a deep study of it has the power to change the human heart to be more like Christ. And I add, He will only change the heart that is willing and wanting to be changed. It's ALL ABOUT GOD and not about me at all. I am His living sacrifice--am I willing to live a pure and holy life in this sinful world or do I want to have my feet in the world, too?

That's my venting for the afternoon