We've heard a lot about this. Yes, lately, but not just lately. They've been complaining for years that our college-age kids are leaving the faith. Pastors -- even big-named pastors -- leave the faith. Christian authors and musicians and "front men" are leaving the faith. They're doing it in droves. They do it loudly or they do it quietly. Some declare their departure explicitly and others show it in suddenly heretical teaching or dreadful and obvious, unrepented sin. Worse, this stuff gets broadcast widely. We don't hear much in the news about "This guy turned his life over to Christ" or "This prominent singer discovered Jesus and her life is radically changed." No, that's not news. What's really news is that someone you Christians thought was on your side turns out to be your enemy.
When the Bible talks about abandoned faith, it talks about it in permanent terms. "For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt" (Heb 6:4-6). The biblical description is that it is actually "impossible" to restore someone like this to repentance. That's bad. On the other hand, John wrote, "No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God" (1 John 3:9). The language here is "cannot" and is attributed to God in him. The option of abandoning the faith appears itself to be impossible. Further, John said, "They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us" (1 John 2:19). No ambiguous language there. "If they had been of us, the would have continued with us." Not "might have." The reason they "left the faith," then, was so that "it might become plain that they all are not of us."
So, if they were not of us -- just tares among the wheat, so to speak, looking for all the world just like wheat but actually not -- and if they do make a practice of sinning, what's going on here? Why do people abandon faith? What is that?
I believe that people abandon their faith. But if Scripture is to be believed, they do not abandon the faith. Given 1 John 3:9, that's out of the question. Given 1 John 2:19, that just doesn't happen. So what do I mean by "the faith" versus "their faith"? I think people profess faith in Christ for all sorts of reasons. James says even the demons believe (James 2:19). But, as James indicates, there is faith and there is saving faith. What they find, though, is that Christ isn't available for the taking. He comes on His own terms. And when they don't get what they hoped for, they jettison what they hoped for. They hoped for happiness and prosperity and peace and they get suffering and disillusionment because that's not what was intended. They intend to get what they want, but the purpose was to glorify God. When they don't get what they want, they leave. They leave what they believed in (faith) even though it was not the faith -- the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints (Jude 1:3). It was not the corpus that is Christian doctrine, not the purpose of Christianity which is God's glory above all. It was the desire to be coddled by God rather than conformed to the image of Christ.
It is abundantly clear both from Scripture and from experience that people can stray a long way from the faith. But if Scripture is to be believed, those who are of us will remain with us. That is, while a few ... no, most ... will stray and sometimes stray badly, if they are born of God they cannot remain in that condition. Their appearance of abandonment of the faith would be temporary. They would be restored. We can hope and pray for this when someone we know, care about, or just hear about goes through the motions of abandoning the faith. It is possible to restore such a one. And it is certain that those who have been born of God cannot remain in that condition. So I wouldn't venture to name names of who is not of the faith because I don't know the final outcome. Meanwhile, we who remain ought to be making our calling and election sure (2 Peter 1:3-11).
4 comments:
I like the distinction that you made, Their faith vs The faith.
People who are of the " Their Faith" category have a construct created by their own imaginations. they are operating on the concept of what a christian life should be like.
when their lofty expectations come crashing down, the party is over. when they are standing in the wreckage of broken dreams, they realize that "their faith" was a lie.
in contrast "The faith" differs because it not the product of vain imaginations, but rather it is a gift of God. "The faith" comes from outside and is imputed to the Child of God By the Holy Spirit. The faith is then refined by suffering.. those of the true faith understand that to suffer is to grow. in addition we are not saved by our faith in our faith. we are saved by our faith in Christ. who is forever blessed amen.
Stan,
I think you are on track here. I'd venture to say that when you talk about "their faith" you're talking about people who's god looks exactly like themselves. That they have faith in their version of god, without ever really encountering God.
As I dug deeper into the comments of the singer from Skillet, I found something interesting. That these "high profile" christians who fall away from their faith aren't willing to give up any of the power and influence, but instead want to lead others toward some unknown destination.
I go back to my favorite PCUSA pastor John Shuck and watch him lead his willing congregation down the road of "atheist christian" mixed with a dash of Islam and lord knows what else. He's clearly lost his christian faith, but he wants to keep the trappings, the flock, and the salary as he goes.
I think the next wave to hit the Church (the last being the LGBTQWXYZ wave) is going to be a number of pastors, bloggers, influencers, etc who follow this path of losing my religion.
In his book 'Goodbye Jesus' former Baptist Tim Sledge tells of the disappointment in his days of being a youth aspiring to the ministry to go out of town with older men who were pastors, to attend a Baptist conference, and then having them invite him to a movie rated R for sexuality. He did go on to become a head pastor, but continued to see instances of hypocrisy.
Which illustrates the point. "Christianity/Christians are not what I think they should be, so I'm jettisoning it." That's their faith, not the faith.
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