This post at Churchleaders.com features the Top 5 Lies that Christians believe (HT: The Aquila Report). There are probably more. See what you think about these lies (some of which you may actually have believed!):
- Church is not necessary.
- All Christians need to do is be “good” or act “nice.”
- God doesn’t care about your small things.
- We believe that only pastors or those in “leadership” can, in fact, lead.
- God wants us to be happy.
The one that I might state differently is the fourth one. Certainly I think this is true: husbands/fathers need to lead in the home, older women can lead younger women per Titus 2, etc. But perhaps it could be stated differently, because there is another lie that lives beneath the surface: We believe that only pastors and those in leadership need to lead. In other words, some folks will turn over Christian responsibilities to “the experts,” resulting in such things as turning all the teaching of children over to the church (and therefore no religious instruction takes place in the home).
Of course, we run into the other ones as well (or at least I have). Neglecting church attendance is fairly common in our day. Self-righteousness and moralism have always been constant struggles in the church. And the “moral, therapeutic deism” of the last lie is a major problem today as well. But this is nothing new either, as centuries ago Thomas Brooks wrote:
A lazy Christian will always want four things – comfort, content[ment], confidence, and assurance. Assurance and joy are choice donatives [gifts] that Christ gives to laborious Christians only. The lazy Christian has his mouth full of complaints, when the active Christian has his heart full of comforts.
However, the 3rd one struck me when I read it. I remember a conversation I had with a young woman once (a nominal Roman Catholic), who told me that she prayed to St. Jude when she wanted her husband to get a certain job. I asked her why she did that, and her response was, “Because God has more important things to do than listen to my prayers.” She was believing the lie, and I am wondering if she had been taught that along the way.
Addendum: After posting this today, I found this blog post quoting singer Justin Bieber, which is especially relevant to this issue. Note the last sentence:
A lot of people who are religious, I think they get lost. They go to church just to go to church. I’m not trying to disrespect them . but for me, I focus more on praying and talking to Him. I don’t have to go to church.
In our celebrity culture, it will not shocking to find many teens emulating these sentiments in the future.
