The Reality of Life

I'm a southern man. Not in the Neil Young sense of the term, but in the Lynyrd Skynyrd sense of the term. Although not my home now, Alabama will always be Sweet Home to me. It was where my life began. It was where I first began to fall in love with my Savior. It was where I was introduced to idolatry at an early age(Alabama football still at times can be today). It was also where I first experienced the reality that the modern evangelical church is screwed up!

When I went away to college my Sophomore year, I was beyond poorly prepared to know what I believed and why I believed it. I had been told knowing what I believe was important, but I had never been taught why. Instead what I was taught was here is the mainstream line of what you should believe and to deviate from this line will lead you to error. There was no application of Philippians 2:12-13 being taught from the pulpit of my church. How dare I even begin to search out my own salvation with fear and trembling? I mean, that might lead me to deviate from the party line. Oh the horror that the Holy Spirit might lead me to some other solidly Biblical conclusion on a matter.

When I showed up at Liberty University in the fall of 1997, I was hit with shock and awe. It did not take me long to realize that I might be in over my head. I knew what had been decreed to me to believe, but I didn't know why? By the grace of God, I had many professors who encouraged me and my fellow classmates, to not take what others say at face value. To make sure that what we hear lines up clearly with what we see in Scripture. What I came to find out in short time was that alot of what I had been told to believe was worth believing, but there were many other things that stunk of papal bull! Items that were purely agenda driven and aimed at furthering and feeding the egos of fallen men.

As I continued my education, finishing up at Liberty and then continuing on and finishing my Masters program at seminary, I am thankful that God led me to professors who never, ever tried to force me to adopt the views of the larger entity that they were and are a part of. And the reality of it is that on the campuses of the two schools I attended, those with an agenda are in the vast minority. It is rather unfortunate that they bloviate the loudest, but still their views are not the majority views.

The reality of life is often times scary. Why do men, when given power for good, become overcome with greed and envy? Why do men, who are given the charge of advancing the Gospel for the benefit of the entire Kingdom of God, care more about bringing in people to pad their personal pew numbers? I could go on and on, but I won't. The point is that we must face the reality of life in the modern church. We can ignore no longer. It is the white elephant in the corner and it ain't going nowhere! When we can face reality and see with hearts open to God's heart, then we can pray for and begin acting for change.