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4 Questionable Ideas Churches Have Taken From Modern Culture Which Have Ended Up Turning Believers From Followers Of Christ to Admirers Of Him

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Many churches have been influenced by ideologies from the culture that oppose the biblical worldview. Consequently, they now mirror a more secular worldview as opposed to a biblical one. This is often reflected in their sermons and teachings, which look more like motivational speeches and political campaigns. 

Because of this, many believers find themselves adopting beliefs from other worldviews, such as pantheism (e.g. Hinduism and Zen Buddhism) and try to mesh it with Christianity, which in turn affects their understanding and attitude towards God. 

They have become admirers of Him rather than followers. Here are some of the ideas, teachings and ways that have caused this to happen.

1. A Huge Emphasis On Self

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We live in a me-focused culture. We see it all the time on social media, ranging from people posing for selfies and documenting every minute of their lives to YouTube thumbnails. We also see this in churches. 

Churches and Christian authors have been affected by ideas that are me-focused. In fact, they have built entire doctrines from it, namely The Prosperity Gospel. 

It is one of the major teachings in the church today that is embedded with the focus on self. It encourages people to seek their best life now and teaches that they are entitled to happiness. It teaches that God only wants to bless you, whether it be financially or socially. 

It teaches that God will protect you from all harm. The prosperity gospel steers listeners away from any mention of suffering. It states that if you go through hardship, it means that you do not have enough faith or that you’ve done something to bring this to you. 

If this were true, then why would God allow Jesus to suffer and die on the Cross in order to save all from sin and death? Why would He allow Job to go through 40+ chapters of grief, loss and suffering for nothing he did? Why did Paul go through such great hardships to bring two-thirds of the New Testament and the Gospel to the world? 

While the prosperity gospel sounds nice, it is far removed from reality. It is wishful thinking and is so self-centred. It encourages us to look at ourselves on a constant basis and to do many works in order to be blessed by God. We end up having the wrong motivation because our eyes are on ourselves and not on God. 

2. Adopting Slogans That Fall Apart

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You are enough. Follow your heart. Live your truth. These phrases sound very positive, freeing and liberating. They make you feel uplifted and for some help them to keep going. That’s exactly what they are designed to make you think and feel. 

Church sermons and even popular Christian authors promote these kinds of ideas. The truth is, they give you a false sense of security. They all in one way or another claim that humans are inherently good, but unfortunately this is not true. These slogans are convenient lies. 

Believing that you are enough puts the burden on you to be the only source of your joy, peace, and contentment. We aren’t enough. Nothing we can do in our own strength will ever be enough to save us from ourselves. 

God came down to Earth because we couldn’t save ourselves. Every other religion emphasises what we have to do to reach God. But Jesus did it all for us and it is enough. Once we start saying Jesus + anything else, we go back to trying to save ourselves. We don’t need to do that. 

On the surface, follow your heart makes decision-making a lot easier. You don’t have to calculate the pros and cons or think of the consequences. Unfortunately, this is the worst advice you could give to anyone. 

Jeremiah 17:9-10 says, “The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it? I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, to give to each person according to his ways, according to the results of his deeds (NASB).” 

The Hebrew word for heart is Leb (labe) and refers to more than just feelings. It is related to all the parts of the inner man, that is mind, will, conscience, and moral character. We don’t know what’s in our hearts until we’re in an intense situation and are not in control. 

Personally, I’m always stunned at where my thoughts and emotions go when this happens to me. That’s why we cannot rely on our hearts and that’s why we shouldn’t follow them. 

There is no your truth or my truth. Truth doesn’t belong to only one person. Truth is what corresponds to reality. Truth is truth, regardless of who you are, where you’re from or what you have experienced. It applies to everyone. 

You cannot pick and choose truth like choosing what Netflix show to watch or what clothes to wear. Truth is truth, whether you like it or not.

3. Discouraging Believers To Fully Commit

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Nowadays being committed to something is seen as old-fashioned and odd. Perhaps you’ve met someone who was really dedicated to an activity or a cause but was concerned they were going to burn out or turn into a crazy person. 

A number of Christians today have the same attitude towards their commitment to their walk with Christ. They attend church, participate in events, and do try to do good works. They give a certain amount of their time to God but are very selective about it. 

They are encouraged by their pastors to do their best, as God understands ‘their hearts,’ ‘where they’re at ’ and that ‘life can be busy.’ God does understand these things, as He lived among us. But, Jesus made it very clear that believing only was not enough. They needed to follow Him, even if they didn’t know all the details and what it would cost them. 

For instance, in Luke 9:57-62 (also in Matthew 8:18-22) people came to Jesus and said they would follow Him. One of them boldly says, “I will follow you wherever You go.” (v.57). 

Jesus replies, “The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head” (v.20) and “Follow me, allow the dead bury their own dead.” (v.22). Here you can see that following Him required them to follow Him even if it meant they had no guaranteed place to stay, experienced discomfort and had to leave their family behind. 

The third one especially would have been very difficult for a Middle-Eastern person to do, as in their culture family means everything to them. Jesus knew this, yet He told them, the rich young ruler (see Matthew 19:16-29; Mark 10:17-27 and Luke 18:18-30) and the disciples to give up everything and follow Him.

For many of us, this is a lot to ask. Following Jesus requires a lot of sacrifices. They can be extremely costly while we’re here on earth. But Jesus paid the ultimate sacrifice when He went to the Cross to die for our sins so that we could be reconciled with God and live in eternity with Him. Following Jesus is worth every sacrifice you or I will ever have to make. 

The question is, are we willing? 

4. Believers Set The Terms

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Prayer nowadays is more like a checklist that God is required to fulfil. It is more like ordering God around and treating Him like Santa. And we expect Him to be OK with all our requests and choices, even if they aren’t good for us and will cause us great harm over time. 

Waiting on the Lord, seeking His will, asking for clarity and being okay with having to give up something does not seem to play a part. Our modern-day approach to prayer is far removed from the model prayer Jesus had set in Matthew 6:5-13 (also in Luke 11:1-4): 

Our Father who is in heaven,

Hallowed by Your name.

Your kingdom come, 

Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

give us this day our daily bread.

and forgive us our debts,

as we have also forgiven our debtors. 

and do not lead us into temptation,

But deliver us from evil. (NASB) 

Here we see a total adoration for God, acknowledgement of us being subject to His will, and requests being made that are not materialistic or self-centred and end with praise. 

He is in His rightful place and we are in ours. We don’t want to be in God’s place because we cannot be the judge of all humanity. We can’t even manage our own lives, let alone the lives of others.      

Handing over our desires, requests and will to God is extremely hard. We don’t know what will happen or what God’s will is until after it has been accomplished. This may not happen for weeks, months or years. 

Jesus struggled with this when He was praying in the Garden of Gethsemane (Matthew 26:31-46; Mark 14:32-42; Luke 22: 39-46). He knew He had to go to the Cross and die a horrific death to save you and me from our sins. He struggled with His own will. He prayed three times a version of this prayer: “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will.”    

Thank goodness He went to the Cross. Otherwise, we would still be in our sins and unreconciled to God. We should be able to say the same thing when we hand over our will to Him. 

Ideas have consequences. As we’ve seen, these four ideas from our culture have had major implications on the Church and not the good kind. We need to get back to biblical faith. 

Are we willing to listen carefully and lovingly challenge and question ideas any pastor or Christian influencer put to us? 

References

 “Whatever is only almost true is quite false, and among the most dangerous of errors, because being so near truth, it is the more likely to lead astray.”

Henry Ward Beecher

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