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Frank Viola | Beyond Evangelical
Official Blog of Author & Speaker Frank Viola. Digging below the surface and moving beyond the shallows in today's Christianity.
7 Reasons Why Christians Abandon the Faith
Frank Viola | Beyond Evangelical
Official Blog of Author & Speaker Frank Viola. Digging below the surface and moving beyond the shallows in today's Christianity.
This article has moved HERE.
Keep the Love On
Warning….I am one of those “scrupulosity” types. I walked away from trusting in Jesus ( I believed the lie I was “taking a break” from following God) because of 3,6 and 7.
I went through a major trial that challenged my faith to its core, I prayed constantly for deliverance from the situation and it kept getting worse. I came to a point where #3 took hold. I became angry at God for not fixing my situation and meeting my expectations. So because of #6, allowing the cares of this life choke out my faith, I became frustrated at God not meeting my expectations and then #7 i revealed that I loved the world more than following God. I made a concours decision to stop being a what I coined a “good christian” and try not flowing after God and living like a sinner because it sure seemed like people who didn’t follow God had less spiritual attacks. I felt I couldn’t stand anymore and in my failure to rely on Jesus, I walked back into the world.
Sadly, it wasn’t until a blazing path of destruction and every sinful act you can think of did I decide it wasn’t better than knowing Jesus. And it wasn’t until attempting to return to walking closely with God again, did I find out that I had even walked away from trusting in Jesus.
Now I am one of those “scrupulous” types who never have assurance or know if I have Christ in me anymore. I want a relationship but fear and anxiety, perhaps #5 now keeps me away from having a relationship with Jesus again. I have times where I am secure but many times where I doubt my love for Jesus based on my walking away. If I truly love Jesus, why would I have done any of those things?
To be a believer “Christian” you have to be a “fool” for Christ. Allow him, to be him. As human beings we tend to put Christ in a box, and I believe thats where we lose it. He’s way beyond our understanding, failing to accept that is the core of Christians leaving their faith.
Dear Frank,
I have probably faced all of the 7 points but the one point that almost made me lose my faith – in fact it did for a little while – is the terrible suffering in the world. In addition – the genocide and seemingly cruel laws of the Old Testament.
I left for everything but #3 and #6. An eighth reason, could be attempting to do what you felt God wanted you to do and having the situation back fire. Being too trusting of others and confiding in the wrong people which led to suffering humiliation due to gossip was probably a clincher too. I’m far from perfect, but not close to which I was painted. I still love Jesus with all my heart and soul, but have zero intention of ever belonging to a Church again. I think Ghandi said it best…”I like your Christ, but I do not like your Christians…they are so unlike your Christ.” Saw it in myself, I saw it in others. Can’t control others attitudes and behavior, but I can control what I do…with Christ. I refuse to pay back in kind. I know who I am in Christ, that’s all that matters.
Hope. The blog post isn’t about leaving “church” or leaving “Christianity.” It’s about the reasons why people LEAVE JESUS and stop TRUSTING IN and FOLLOWING HIM. You say you love Jesus still and that you are in Christ, so you aren’t the kind the person that this post is about.
I left for the first reason, just recently.
This hits very close to home for me as I feel like I’m hanging on to God by a thread. For me it’s #’s 1, 4 and 5. I’ve gotten some of the meanest emails from ‘friends’ in the evangelical church because I didn’t totally agree with some of the cruel methods of child-rearing that we’d been taught. I’ve never been talked to so horribly in my life as what these emails did. It really hurt.
Also, the leaders. I believe, in their quest for bigger and better they throw people under the bus and there’s a huge pile behind them. They say they care, but their actions show otherwise. I’ve seen myself and others leave because of this. The leaders use the excuse that they don’t have time to be friends or have relationships with people because they are too busy doing the ‘ministry’. I’ve even read a book that tells the ‘servants’ not to expect the pastor to be your friend. Now, mind you, I’m not the kind of person that needs attention from a pastor. But, this attitude is really awful, IMO.
Also, I kind of feel like if the leaders can be so cold, unfeeling and unloving and wrong about so much maybe the men who wrote the books in the bible weren’t really right either. They were just men. I mean, all these pastors interpret the bible in a way that justifies their horrible treatment of people.
So, for me, all these things just broke something in my soul. After serving diligently in the church for over 30 years, it was our whole lives, it’s like I can’t get the feeling back that I once had. I don’t want it to be like this, I really don’t. I want to believe like I once did. I hate when people say that this is why you don’t put men on pedestals or make some comment about bitterness. I don’t feel I’ve done or been either. I’m not bitter. I guess I just can’t believe what happened. Like I said, something in my soul broke. Maybe it was my heart.
Both of my daughters cite #1 as the reason they no longer identify as Christians.
The problem isn’t that people are leaving Christianity to pursue #6 and #7; rather, they are leaving because they see that those WITHIN the faith are the ones giving in to selfish pleasures and worries, rather than focusing on the Gospel and on Loving Their Neighbor.
Religious leaders and their congregations are heard complaining that the government is trying to take away “our money,” in order to give it to “lazy people” — thus interfering with our pleasures. Other times, the complaint is a fearful warning about a “War On Christmas,” the “homosexual agenda,” or an all-out “War On Christianity.”
There’s another form of cognitive dissonance that is driving some away from Christianity: people see that we are ignorant of our own history and that we have learned nothing from it. They see how, in the past and the present, we have refused to change some brutal doctrine, until we could “discover” a new Scriptural interpretation allowing us to do so. They recognize the absurd cruelty of that logic, how it violates our claim of loving our neighbor, and they don’t want to be part of it any more.
Jeff, I’m speaking of friends I’ve had over the years. They weren’t leaving “Christianity” … rather, they stopped trusting in and following Jesus Christ. And yes, it was for one of those 7 specific reasons. At least the people I’ve known.
People leaving “Christianity” is another discussion altogether, I believe. In your comment, you’re really describing leaving “the Christian Right,” not Christianity. The two aren’t the same. The former is one sub-set of the latter. Hope that helps.
Thx. for the comment!
Frank, you make a fair point. However, many if not most of the people I know who left the church also left Jesus. The jumble of things they were told about “Jesus,” along with what they saw, left them incredulous.
Right. The 7 reasons I listed are why the people I know stopped following Jesus Christ. It sounds to me like you are referring to people who left Jesus because they associated HIM with Christian Right. So I’d chalk that up to a sub-set of #2 on my list. They were given a certain view of Jesus and the answers to their questions/concerns didn’t make sense to them.
I guess those people didn’t realize that many followers of Jesus aren’t part of the Christian Right. I’m a follower of Jesus and like countless others, I don’t align myself with the Christian Right or the Christian Left. See https://www.frankviola.org/2012/04/18/christianleftchristianright – in that post, I spoke on behalf of millions of Jesus lovers who have moved beyond the right/left categories.
One of the many but most apparent reasons I left a church (and almost Christianity) was because of the horrible sexism and mysogenistic behavior that was passed off as “biblical” and “godly”. As a woman I could not believe how other seemingly intelligent Christian women could stomach the oppression and downright sexist comments coming from the pulpit on a regular basis. Or how otherwise intelligent women could possibly allow their daughters to be raised in such an environment.
I think I may be suggesting an eighth reason unless it better fits under one of the categories already mentioned. I have seen people abandon the faith from a lack of support and community sometimes coupled with opposition. I had a friend respond to God as a child via a ‘holiday mission outreach’ but her parents were not supportive and she had no way of knowing how to connect with other Christians. A seed was planted but no one appeared around to water it… I pray there may be others who do.
A few others friends, mainly men, also seemed to lack support and love from other Christians and there did not seem to be any Christian men taking the initiative to reach out to them. As a sister I could see their need but could only do so much. They needed genuine brothers!
I think #3, God not meeting expectations is a major reason for people not coming to the Lord. I have family members in that camp. “How could a good God allow so much evil and suffering in the world…”
I also have a friend who left the Lord because her mother-in-law died (#3). Not the only reason I’m sure, but that was the decisive event.
I have been enthralled with this conversation…I don’t have alot to add because I can’t think of a single person I know who has verbalized that they are abandoning the faith/Jesus Christ…though maybe some have and I just haven’t had that conversation with them. Many, like me have left the traditional setting within the walls of organized religion, but have not abandoned the faith in our Savior. What I am witnessing more is a young, believing generation in the thralls of grappling with many of these enumerated issues, and their lost peers who are tentative to believe because of many of these issues. I’m finding that both are very receptive to mature believers who are not stauncly entrenced in the traditional routines of religion, which is refreshing to me, and I am invigorated by the honest, fearless conversations and exploration we have in God’s Word as we seek, learn and teach together. God is afraid of NO question…afraid of NO doubt and has the answer for each one…that is my comfort and my joy…thank you for this venue and this conversation Frank!!!
I used to blame other Christians for why I left the Church, but ultimately it was a love for the world and the things of this world that I turned my back on Christ. Fortunately for me, his grace and mercy are greater than I ever imagined and He gently led me back to Himself.
Thank you Frank, I must say I am very impressed with what you have done here and pray for your continued success. There is a lot of great discussion. I personally see no problem with faith and science reconciling to answer the big questions. For example does it matter if the Bible speaking on the subject of creation does not literally mean six days of 24 hours? Or can we reconcile creation with evolution? I think the answer to both of those questions is yes, however when the church attempts to reconcile itself with every secular theory out there bad things follow. I believe it results in a watered down version of the faith that looks more like pantheism than Christianity. I would offer the Episcopal Church as an example of this. The denomination has become so focused on this world that Christ has taken a back seat, as a result more and more people are leaving either to other denominations or altogether and what is left is a mish mash of feel good moral relativism and secular humanism with an occasional nod to the great social revolutionary aka Jesus Christ. I don’t wish to trash any one denomination though Lutheranism and the Catholic Church are both experiencing varying degrees of this. So to conclude my somewhat long winded rant, yes we should as Christians be able to address some of the big questions. However, we must always remember to keep Christ as the absolute pillar upon which we build our knowledge or we run the risk of relativity.
Well said! 100% with you there.
1, 2, and 3 definitely hit a nerve with me.
1 – Whether its theological disagreement, worship style wars, or the “right” way to do evangelism, it seems that many Christians are incapable or unwilling to have civil discourse.
2 – Many of the answers I had been given and believed and shared with others were simply wrong; to the point that I feel like I need to go back to people that I mislead and apologize.
3 – I spent about 10 years in a Pentecostal church. I am grateful for that time but some of the ways “Spirit-filled living” was taught set people up for frustration, disappointment, and depression.
Thanks for sharing this list. It is good for me to remember that despite any of our bests efforts we see dimly now and to extend the same grace and patience to others that I need them to extend to me.
Those I know who have abandoned their faith is mostly for number #6. Ultimately, those folks do not know their full value in Christ, very sad.
I would venture to add number 8.
People leave the faith due to not having received the true gospel in the first place.
Look at church websites and see that their main aim is to help people reach their potential and reach their destiny. This is a false message that leaves people with no foundation. The true message brings people to repentance at the foot of the cross where they find life.
I’ve had a friend leave for #5
One of my son’s left because of reasons 2 and 4.
We have a large, extensive family, all of whom desire to serve the Lord,; however, they found my son’s questions to be annoying and a sign of a lack of faith. Rather than try to answer his questions, they quoted scripture to him that he could not follow, but they felt that he Should follow.
Then an atheist friend of his introduced him to Zeitgeist and that was the end of his attempt to remain christian.
There are a lot of details to this story that have been left out, but that is the basic gist of it.
Today, he says Christians are stupid and blind. Thankfully, he still continues to talk “religion” to me. But I make an effort to listen to his questions and admit when he has a good point worth discussing or researching. But God is good andI have faith that my son will figure it out. I think he secretly wants to beleive….he just wants to hear some good reasons to be able to do it.
I’d have to say 1,2 and 4 in my personal experience. I found my spiritual home in the Orthodox Christian tradition but I think have tried on every denomination and even other religions to arrive at where I’m at.
Lots of great people in the Orthodox Church. And the Eastern Church Fathers were an amazing bunch of insightful people.
Thanks Josh! So great hearing from you.
A friend left for #6 and my son #2
I have met people who had no exposure to liberal theology but who just couldn’t believe large parts of the Bible any longer. They saw too many holes and contradictions in it.
Some also felt the Bible tells people what *not* to do but doesn’t tell them how to stop doing it (e.g. lusting), and that it tells people what *to* do but not how to do it (e.g. forgiving their abusers, loving their enemies). They got tired of striving and pretending to be “overcomers.” This is #5 but it’s more about the Bible’s silence on the “how” questions than overt legalism from pulpits.
Speaking of pulpits. I haven’t left the Lord myself, but I can’t find a church I actually *want* to attend. It’s not just because of #1, #2, and #4 but also because they’re either too formal and/or dead or too loud and raucous. I made myself go to churches for years, believing it was required by Scripture and beneficial to me in some ways, but now I can’t make myself attend any more. It’s just too depressing and discouraging.
I also tried some house churches, hoping they’d be more personal and participatory, but the members were smug and intrusive, and the kids were annoyingly ill-disciplined. I’m a very lonely Christian, though, who has little opportunity to obey the “one-another verses.”
What to do?
In response quickly, the reason why people see “holes” in the Bible is because they’re reading an ancient document with a 21st-century modernistic lens. This gets back to #2. I’ve debated with atheists in the past and when I responded to the supposed “contradictions” though threw at me, they were taken back because my response wasn’t the party line, yet it created doubt that they really were “holes” as they assumed.
Regarding church, as I’ve repeated many times, it’s difficult to find a traditional church or a “house church” (whatever that means as they are thousands of kinds) that’s embodying the Lord Jesus Christ. They exist, but they are rare. However, that’s not a reasonable reason to leave Jesus Christ. There are serious followers of Christ in every city, some of them don’t belong to any church. Others do. But this gets back to one’s expectations covered under #3. A certain kind of church that one has in mind is an expectation that goes straight to God, if they leave Him over it.
Based on your reply to Jason G. I would say #2 is most frequent.
Sorry…didn’t reply to your question in my first comment.
I have known many people that are in groups 6 and 7.
They seemed to care more about pursuing worldly things, or get “choked out” by those worldly things.
#5
I’ve seen many leave because of the great emphasis on the outward appearance; Dress standards, music style, separation and isolation, and the rule of the one (The CEO model of church leadership).
With all that being said, most of those who left for this reason didn’t seem to leave off their faith necessarily, they simply continued to search for a faith that was more alive and less outward and perfect (like a cemetary).
#2 is the one I have seen too often. And unfortunately, I have used the canned answers to the difficult questions with my own children to their harm. God has forgiven me, and I hope my children have, now I am trying to be more thoughtful, insightful, and understanding with them and their difficult questions.
Frank,
I appreciate this list for two reasons. First, I am a “recovering Catholic” by upbringing and have known my Savior personally for just over a year. This list is a good reminder to my eager heart to not believe everything I hear and read. To always measure it against scripture and consult trusted sources. Second, I am convicted to do everything I can to make sure people don’t trip over me on their way to Jesus.
I can’t really speak to your question, but simply wanted to say thank you. I am inspired by your willingness to make people uncomfortable with the truth. Annie Downs and Bianca Olthoff would consider you being a part of the “immune system” in the body of Christ.
Your courage makes me braver.
I’m not sure if my observation falls under one of the catagories listed or if it’s a new one. Many of the folk from my generation who jumped on the Jesus Bandwagon jumped off in favor of (I hardly know what to call it) fluffier things. They seemed to think Jesus was all “love peace and joy” and everybody being nice and floating around saying and doing mystical ethireal philosophical fluffy stuff, with miracles happening right and left: all for free. (I sound more snotty than I mean to.) So number one WAS a rude awakening. However, it’s more than that, I think. I believe Jesus turned out to be grittier than they thought He’d be and that He made too many demands. And again, it’s more than just loving the world (sex, drugs and booze). It’s more about the fact that it ISN’T okay to say that Buddha (or whoever) is okay too. And you CAN’T just sit around quoting lofty sounding things about “living in the moment” or “nature” being so close to God and all that stuff. Sometimes being a disciple means sorrow and pain and grief and broken heartedness and things that don’t look good on posters. Anyway, although I’m not sure how to word it, that’s why many of my peers abandoned Jesus and invented their own religions.
One of my sons has left the faith, I think mainly because of #2. I’ve stocked up on books countering evolution to study to be able to have an informed discussion with him. Pray that I make the time to read and can have a fruitful discussion.
Just a tip. If you make the discussion about a theory of origins, you’ll lose what you want to accomplish. Make the discussion about one thing and one thing only: Jesus Christ. He is the issue. Not what mechanisms God used to create human life. Again, just a tip. An important one, though.
Excellent point. I will take it to heart.
Frank,
Here are my two cents. My oldest daughter has become agnostic. She has read the Bible and is fairly literate in the text. She is also one who has been taught by my wife and me to love people no matter what their background or life-situation. As an actor (BA in theatre), she has worked with many LBGT people and has many friends who are LBGT. We also have friends with this orientation.
She has decided that she cannot believe in a God who would condemn people for something they “cannot help”. She does not accept what some LBGT Christians teach that the Bible has just been misunderstood. In her personal study of scripture she concludes that this lifestyle is condemned. So her conclusion is that she does not believe in the God of the Bible.
I’m not certain how this fits in with your seven reasons or if it is actually an eighth reason.
Sorry, I constantly invert acronyms! I meant LGBT!
Definitely a #2 issue. She’s reacting to one view in the Christian camp that doesn’t have enough nuance that the issue deserves.
I personally in my teens-20’s (1960’s-70’s) – as well as many in my family – gave up on God primarily for these reasons:
2. The canned superficial answers they had been given to complicated questions.
3. They met a God who didn’t meet their expectations.
5. Failure to live up to the gospel of legalism.
I think the church/denomination we’re raised in can often lead to this emptiness and walking away. In my heart as a child, I accepted Jesus as my Savior at a 1950’s tent meeting, wanting to know and please Him but could never find the power to do it. So after being a “Christian” for a couple of years (9 yrs old), I kept walking down the aisle for “rededication” – until the leaders told me to quit coming down “since I was already saved and I should just read my Bible/pray more”. After trying that for a year or so with no change (since I was only getting scriptural knowledge without revelation by the Spirit), I decided “OK – the thing I would hate most in the world would be to be a missionary nurse since I hated blood and pain”….so I began walking the aisle for that – seeking but no answers to be had by anyone in the 1950’s Baptist churches we were members of. By my mid-teens, I totally gave up but still attended church.
Then at 29 yrs old, God shockingly encountered me while watching Monday night football with my husband (an unbeliever) and forever changed my life! Yay God – the always faithful one who truly knows our deepest heart, seeking the lost sheep!!! Holy Spirit began teaching me Himself how to make Jesus the Lord of my life through really supernatural ways coupled with an intense hunger to devour the Word since it finally became ALIVE in/to me. I finally understood that it was this reality of a relationship with Holy Spirit (and eventually God as Father and Jesus as my Beloved) – the missing ingredient that I was longing for all along. Unfortunately, many in my family either have abandoned God completely or half-hearted live legalistically. But I’m believing to see them all restored to Jesus!
p.s. In my 50’s, God remembered my commitment to missions and called me to Mexico where I served with awe and joy as a non-traditional missionary – fortunately He “forgot” the nurse part!!
Thanks for that heart-warming and encouraging personal story, Victoria. God bless you more and more!
I have several friends that have left the faith due to 1. A major moral failure among top leadership that overlooked and even justified and many of them 2. Began to compromise their faith by mixing in spiritual practices of Eastern religions.
The #1 reason I’ve personally heard voiced to me: Hated the “dog and pony show” contrived thing they saw in church or with Christians.
Which is completely valid, but I think Jesus really got to the bottom of it for all of us when He said…
“This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed.”
This is certainly the real reason for any backsliding away from God that I’ve ever personally done. And it’s also the reason we’re warned in scripture, “See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God.”
Everyone has their own reasons they give for straying, walking away, or avoiding Jesus, but Jesus gets to the heart of it- and the truth is, straying or walking away from God really has more to do with something inside of us than anything else.
So true, Mike. Well said. I remember reading somewhere in the writings of C.S. Lewis that atheists never actually disbelieve because they have some genuine intellectual barrier to faith, but because they wanted to indulge their lusts.
I’ve seen #’s 1 and 2 a lot. And it’s not just Christians who can’t find adequate answers to tough questions, or Christians who are worn out from the in-fighting, but also non-Christians are kept away from the faith for the same reasons.
I’ve also seen #6 many times.
#5 is also common in my experience, but it is an interesting case, in that many Christians don’t necessarily give up their faith because of this (although some certainly do), but they stop participating in anything Christian or spiritual since they feel that they are going to be judged or that they won’t measure up. Unfortunately they don’t find (or even know to look for) a healthy Christian environment that practices grace and works without becoming libertine or legalistic.
I think I constantly struggle with 4, 5, 6 and 7. I understand these people and thank Jesus for His constant prayer for me, because I sure as heck would have backed away [completely] a lot of times if not for His Grace.
Thanks for your willingness to consider how the behavior of Christians and churches can play a factor in this. It’s not all the church’s fault, but there is some owning up to do.
An eighth possible factor is they simply stop believing. I doubt anyone leaves Christianity for just one reason, but I know people who, at the end of the day, no longer felt that Christianity, when seen against the larger philosophical backdrop, was a viable option.
After more than one crisis of faith, I have always seemed to find my way back. I still find the story as scripture tells it to be compelling and true (occasional serious problem notwithstanding). But I can see why some don’t. I don’t agree with them. But I understand why they made the decision that they did.
I have been walking with the Lord since I was 17. I am now 41. I have seen so many people leave the faith over that time. Indeed, for one year, I turned away from the Lord due to reason #3. Nevertheless, I found out that God keeps his promise to finish the work he began and that he never stops speaking and pursuing. I am praying for my friends and family who have turned away from the Lord trusting God to demonstrate his unfailing love and faithfulness.
In response to your questions, maybe I could rank your list:
Reason #3
Reason #5
Reason #2
Reason #7
Reason #6
Reason #4
Reason #1 (reason one is usually a barrier to a person coming to Christ; most Christians who are mistreated by other Christians simply go to another church or change faith groups)
If I had an eighth to add to your list, I would add love of ministry more than love of God. I have seen people who leave the faith when they can no longer perform, serve or minister in some way due to a changing season in their life. Their whole faith rested on what they did for God rather than on the person of God. Hence, when their ministry ended for one reason or another, their faith died.
If I had a ninth to add to your list, I would add a move to universalism or deism or spiritualism. I am not sure these are the right words, but I see a number of believers leaving the faith to embrace a more universal and “spiritual” form of religious expression. Typically, what I hear from these people is that there is not one right religion. They all are pathways to God. These people don’t like the rigid claims Christ makes about himself and they don’t like how divided religion has caused humanity to become. These people will typically say they are spiritual, but not religious; they are on their own journey, and other such statements.
Thanks for the insightful comment! Indeed, #1 is often the reason why people choose not to follow Jesus at all, but I know people who have abandoned the faith because of it also. Your 8th seems to go along with the gospel of legalism (reason 5, maybe a sub-set of that) and 9 is often because of #2. I have friends who moved into other religions because of a combination of #1 and #2. 9 seems to be the fruit of some other reason why they leave the faith.
I agree with Jason. Coming from a background of a family of many ministers and missionaries I too have seen many people’s faith lost when their position in ministry is lost. I think it’s because they think they are who they are in their job rather than in Christ.
Have seen a couple of books advertised on your site, “Slow Church”, and “The New Parish.”
I wondered if you have reviewed them or intend to, and if you recommend them.
Thanks.
Dennis Tenery
I have no plans to review either book. I interviewed the authors of one of them recently and you can read the comments people made below. I interview the authors for Slow Church on Thursday. You are welcome to ask me questions on it if you like after I do so.
Two of my closest friends from the eighties stopped following the Lord. One, a Bible college graduate and former house church leader, discovered “freedom from legalism” via Buddhism. The other, a man who had had a legendary conversion that took him from a world of drug abuse and immanent self-destruction to a life of responsibility and hard work, told me in the late eighties that he “first wanted to make a lot of money” before seriously focusing on his walk with the Lord. He confessed that his intense desire was obviously irreconcilable with true Christianity, and that he needed to separate the two issues. He made the money and is fabulously wealthy today, but never returned to the Lord.
Maybe a combination of 2 and 4 ? At least this friend of mine (who lost his faith before I met him) claims that it was simply as part of learning more about the Bible that he realized that God doesn’t exist. He did his Doctorate in Theology on the topic “Does Yahweh exist?” concluding that He does not. So maybe a number 8 could be: the teachings of “liberal theology”?
On this I have two remarks:
1. I think that there were also spiritual/relational issues that he does not mention.
2. I felt that he was too uncritical in his acceptance of the “liberal” teaching and too critical in his reading of the Bible itself. He did not always apply the same measure of scepticism with regards to their claims as he did with regards to the Bible.
Blessings
Chavoux
People usually move into liberal theology because of #1 and #2. There’s far less mean-spirited, self-righteousness in mainstream churches then there is in evangelical churches. That’s why so many people are leaving evangelicalism today, unfortunately. I have several friends who are devout followers of Jesus who now belong to liturgical and mainline churches because they couldn’t stand the horrible way many evangelicals treat their fellow brethren via slander, lies, gossip, vitriol, etc.
I have known several that would fall under reason number 6. 🙁
I pray for them frequently.
I’ve seen a number of friends discard Jesus as a result of #2 — Inadequate answers to difficult questions.
Additionally, I’ve seen the church rip to shreds struggling men and women who consequently can’t perform well enough, which was something of a combination of numbers 1, 4, and 5. (jerks, ignorance, legalism)
One idea to add to your list or as a sub-point, the absence of relational discipleship/follow up. A guy commits to the Lord because of an invitation by a Christian friend and then is left to figure it all out because his friend moved on to the next evangelical project.
Makes sense to me. That is why I have tried to warn Christians not to be too stubborn about the young earth theory. Thank you for the post!
Yes and amen!
This post is so timely and true. So many of these thoughts have been swirling around inside of me, so thank you for putting them into words. I will be sharing this post.
Thanks Frank!