Thursday, July 24, 2008
Anxiety of a Promiscuous Society
It is rare that I feel moved by a journalist's commentary on anything like I was in reading Garth George of New Zealand Herald (here). I want to add that the church as a whole in New Zealand is partly responsible for the state of morality in New Zealand today. For more than 11 years living in New Zealand at various times I can't remember as much as a single sermon condemning sexual immorality, purity in sexual relations, the sin of pre-marital sex or sexual abstinence. Only recently, my non-Christian Kiwi friend told me in no uncertain terms that he refused to go to Church or have anything to do with Christianity because in his opinion 90% of Christians (those he knows attending church) have casual sex as a lifestyle before marriage, i.e., living in sin while pretending to be Christians. We may dispute with his statistics or percentage but I admire his honesty and his detestation of hyprocrisy besetting the Western Church in the area of sexual morality. As I said before, if we Asian Christians are not vigilant in preaching and living the truth and striving to set an example for our youths, this scourge of promiscuity will sweep us away as well as it is already happening now in many Asian societies.
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Jesus, in his parables often spoke of the false convert in the midst of His redeemed.
1 John 3 makes it clear that those who are born of God do not make a practice of sinning while the false convert, who has not been given a new nature by the Spirit, will continue to live a lifestyle of unrepented sin. By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil.
If these unrepented people in the church continue in their lifestyle of unrepented sin, it is evidence that they are false converts.
It would then be puzzling that this friend would avoid church by appealing to the behaviour of those who are not Christian in the first place.
A watered-down gospel mixed with the "prosperity gospel" and "decisional regeneration" is probably the reason why there is such an influx of false converts in the church today. Nowadays, we see a "fall away" rate of 90% for churches using modern seeker-friendly methods, as compared to the a fall away rate of only 20-30% during the days of Wesley and Spurgeon. The preaching of the law and repentance has lost its place in the preaching of "modern evangelical churches", and with its demise, the power to convict the sinner of sin is removed. It is not surprising then, to see the modern church being filled with false converts.
Hi Joel, I don't think there is a copy in the library but I will ask the library to get a copy of my book.
About my present post, the problem with hypocrisy is that most non-Christians can smell it from a mile but they can't really distinguish between true and false Christians. That's why open sin in the church whether condoning cohabitation before marriage or homosexuality is the death knell to church growth. The church's witness to Christ will be severely compromised to the extent that in some churches it is only the form of religion that is left but the lampstand is already taken away.
Dear Tony,
A very happy birthday to you.
Your post gives me many points to ponder. I think many young people succumb to peer pressure (i.e. everyone is doing it). It is not always easy to be the odd one out as one's instinct is to want to belong and not many of them are able to stick to their religious beliefs and uphold their sexual morality.
Dear anonymous, thanks for sharing your dilemma. Yes, peer pressure can compel many to do what everyone alse is doing. I can't see how as Christians we can compromise in the area of sexual morality and continue to think everything is ok and confess Christ without heeding God's commands regarding holiness. The Bible including the New Testament is full of advice for us to be holy as the Lord is holy. I pray that you (whoever you may be) will receive strength to walk uprightly. God is merciful to sinners who want to turn away from their sinful ways and return to Him wholeheartedly.
Hi Tony (I finally found out yr name, *smile*),
It's just a guess, but I suspect yr non-Christian Kiwi fren is staying away from church also as a result of not having experience much love and acceptance from those who call themselves Christians.
But i could be wrong...looking fwd to hear from you.
Whilst I agree that we need to speak out against sexual promiscuity, I also feel it's even more important that Christians 'distinguish themselves' less by what they ABSTAIN than by how compassionate, kind and loving they are.
My guess is: Your Kiwi friend felt (or, rather, *didn't* feel) that coming out of the church in his community.
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