If you’ve read AsF for any time at all, you are probably aware of our family’s struggle to stay or leave the church that we have attended for 16+ years. We’ve been visiting around some this summer. Frankly, it’s not our favorite thing to do, but it’s been beneficial. It has given us a little distance (not an unhealthy amount) which has allowed us to more accurately assess our current position. We’ve been able to step back a little, so to speak. It was nice to be back and see faces we haven’t seen in several weeks this morning, but our concerns about the teaching were confirmed a little. Here’s a snippet of what we heard (based on the first few verses of 1 John 5):
-”Salvation is the desired opportunity to live in the Kingdom of God, which enables us to experience life as we would never know it and takes us where we cannot go.”
-”God will take you on as a project.”
-”If we are born again, there should be a ‘genetic pass-down’ from our heavenly Father” [I'm not sure exactly what was meant here, there wasn't much explanation.]
-”If it’s a burden to keep God’s commands, check your love levels.”
-The culmination of our communion time was the song, “Living for Jesus.” We were instructed that if we really take the communion plate seriously, the first verse should be our response. It states, “Living for Jesus, a life that is true/Striving to please Him in all that I do;/Yielding allegiance, glad hearted and free,/
This is the pathway of blessing for me. ”
While none of this is absolutely incorrect theology, it seems to me to be shallow at best, and in places, it’s simply incomplete. I’m left feeling a little like the old lady on those old Wendy’s commercials.