Theological deconstruction

The 21st Century American culture has permeated the church at many levels. Therefore one of the key strategies that I will employ this fall is first helping people to "unlearn what they have learned incorrectly." The basic thinking here is wrong thinking about the Bible leads to wrong application of the Bible. One of the "hot topics" for me personally over the years has been in the area of salvation. In this particular discussion with many Christians, the issue of conversation centers around when a person "got saved" or what happen when they "were saved." It may be that the preacher, teacher or evangelist said for the person to write the date of conversion in their Bible and refer back to it if they ever had doubts because of their flesh, world or the devil. The framing of their salvation in this regard becomes a past tense event, almost like purchasing a ticket that you can keep all the way to heaven. This person may have responded to an altar call in which they made a decision for Jesus and then prayed a prayer. But have you looked around and observed the fact that so many "Christians" today do not think, look, act or sound in any way different than the world. There doesn't appear to be a radical Christ centered living that is the preoccupation of their lives. However if you ask them if they are "Christians" the answer would be yes, and they may even take you back to the date when they wrote in their Bible. So what's the problem? What do we need to help folks unlearn that they have learned incorrectly? In the book of Romans, which is the epistle written on the doctrine of salvation, the apostle Paul writes these words in Romans 1:16 - For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. Allow me to paraphrase this verse with an understanding of the word "believes" which, in the Greek, is a verb that occurs in the present tense. My paraphrase would read "the gospel is the power of salvation to everyone who continues on a daily basis to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ." Do we get the significance of that statement? If there is no present believing then there is no present salvation and it doesn't matter if you walked the aisle, raised a hand, signed a card, made a decision or even prayed a prayer! Leadership team my question is not did you get saved, but are you being saved every day! Please understand the word salvation that Paul is using in Romans is much broader than justification by faith, but also includes our sanctification and glorification. We in the church better re-read Romans 1:16 and understand the full significance of who Paul is talking to in this verse and what he is saying. I am vexed like you can not imagine on this subject, regarding the number of people who sit in church each Sunday thinking they are saved and yet are headed straight to hell. Why? Because someone convinced them if they made a decision and prayed a prayer that they would be saved and that would settle the issue. But when you see this person's life there is no passion for Christ, or His word, or anything in regard to the church or serving in the kingdom. Yet, at one point in their life they walked the aisle and recited a prayer. Do you see why we need to help people learn what the Bible actually says about salvation, and not just what they have culturally absorbed about salvation? Because if there is no present day holiness and obedience in the life of a person then there has been no past tense salvation, I don't care what they said or what they did.

In our class on "Learning and Living the God-centered Life" we will spend a good bit of time understanding the word "salvation" as the Bible teaches it. We live in a culture of numbers and statistics. Therefore it becomes prominent in American evangelism that we figure out a way to get people to walk the aisle, sign a card or pray a prayer. Unfortunately this is the way we have come to think and practice, but this is not how the Bible speaks when it comes to a persons conversion to Christ. What could be more important than someones eternal salvation? We desperately need to understand what the Bible teaches about this subject so that we can accurately apply it to our lives and those in our ministry sphere of influence.