'Silly Urgency': It Is Not My Fault!
I do my best to keep my posts up to date. I like to write about things that are happening in the world as we live. However, this post is a little different. This post was created by something that has bothered me for about 5 years. I hope by writing about it, I can finally put it to rest.
About 5 years ago, I was at an evangelism meeting listening to someone that the organizers of the event thought was important. He began quoting statistics about our state (Ohio). I did not write down the statistics that he used. So my memory of them may be a little off. However, I believe you will figure out that being precise doesn't affect the overall meaning of this post.
He said that there were 11.5 million people in the state of Ohio. He said that only about 1/5 go to church on Sunday mornings. He then went onto to tell us that only 10% of the churches they go to our evangelical. Then he said that something like 7 million Ohioans are considered lost. Now at this point I am all right. The only statistic that I can confirm is that there is about 11.5 million people in Ohio. However, it would not surprise if 7 or 8 million of them are not Christians. It is the way he used these statistics that bothered me.
He concluded his remarks with this line: "There are 7 million lost people in Ohio, and it is your fault". He then went on to preach about the laziness of the church. He told us that if we do our job more people would be saved. I am sure he yelled a lot at us and got a few amens from those in the congregation who do not read their Bible all that much.
Now we all know the old saying that statistics don't lie, but liars use statistics. I do not want to call this man a liar, however, I do want to call him a poor theologian. The sad part about all of this is that I have heard other men say things similar to this at other conferences.
I want to assure all of you who read this post, "It is not your fault." It has never been your fault. It never will be your fault. It simply cannot be your fault. On judgment day, there is not one lost man who can bring this charge against a saint. It is time that we get rid of this 'silly urgency' that so many evangelists want us to have.
There is no place in the Bible where it says that it is the churches fault that someone is lost. The Bible blames lostness on the individual. Certainly, each individual is born into a state of sinfulness. However, that same individual chooses sin over righteousness.
This line of thinking was brought slowly onto us by revivalists. It has absolutely no weight in the Scripture. If it did, we would all be in trouble. If I thought that a person was lost because I didn't pray enough for them, I would never leave the steps of the church. I would just sit there and pray all day long and have my food brought into me. If I thought a persons lostness was my fault, all I would ever do is cry. I could not live with myself. I could not function as a human. Thank God it is not my fault.
God is in control. He is the author of our salvation. We are to be obedient to his will. If you want to blame someone for being lost outside of the individual; I encourage you to point the finger at God. He set up the criteria for salvation. However, I think He would want you to read your Bible and figure it out for yourself.
The moral of this story is simple. When you get up to preach or teach; start with the Bible. Statistics and stories will let you down. They will lead you to say things that are not true. We need to be very careful about what we say concerning spiritual things. The Bible has some very bad things to say about false teachers. Let us be certain about our facts before we state them as undeniable truth.
About 5 years ago, I was at an evangelism meeting listening to someone that the organizers of the event thought was important. He began quoting statistics about our state (Ohio). I did not write down the statistics that he used. So my memory of them may be a little off. However, I believe you will figure out that being precise doesn't affect the overall meaning of this post.
He said that there were 11.5 million people in the state of Ohio. He said that only about 1/5 go to church on Sunday mornings. He then went onto to tell us that only 10% of the churches they go to our evangelical. Then he said that something like 7 million Ohioans are considered lost. Now at this point I am all right. The only statistic that I can confirm is that there is about 11.5 million people in Ohio. However, it would not surprise if 7 or 8 million of them are not Christians. It is the way he used these statistics that bothered me.
He concluded his remarks with this line: "There are 7 million lost people in Ohio, and it is your fault". He then went on to preach about the laziness of the church. He told us that if we do our job more people would be saved. I am sure he yelled a lot at us and got a few amens from those in the congregation who do not read their Bible all that much.
Now we all know the old saying that statistics don't lie, but liars use statistics. I do not want to call this man a liar, however, I do want to call him a poor theologian. The sad part about all of this is that I have heard other men say things similar to this at other conferences.
I want to assure all of you who read this post, "It is not your fault." It has never been your fault. It never will be your fault. It simply cannot be your fault. On judgment day, there is not one lost man who can bring this charge against a saint. It is time that we get rid of this 'silly urgency' that so many evangelists want us to have.
There is no place in the Bible where it says that it is the churches fault that someone is lost. The Bible blames lostness on the individual. Certainly, each individual is born into a state of sinfulness. However, that same individual chooses sin over righteousness.
This line of thinking was brought slowly onto us by revivalists. It has absolutely no weight in the Scripture. If it did, we would all be in trouble. If I thought that a person was lost because I didn't pray enough for them, I would never leave the steps of the church. I would just sit there and pray all day long and have my food brought into me. If I thought a persons lostness was my fault, all I would ever do is cry. I could not live with myself. I could not function as a human. Thank God it is not my fault.
God is in control. He is the author of our salvation. We are to be obedient to his will. If you want to blame someone for being lost outside of the individual; I encourage you to point the finger at God. He set up the criteria for salvation. However, I think He would want you to read your Bible and figure it out for yourself.
The moral of this story is simple. When you get up to preach or teach; start with the Bible. Statistics and stories will let you down. They will lead you to say things that are not true. We need to be very careful about what we say concerning spiritual things. The Bible has some very bad things to say about false teachers. Let us be certain about our facts before we state them as undeniable truth.
posted by Foundes Community Church @ 8:10 AM
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