Monday, August 03, 2009

25 Evangelical Myths

Jared Wilson:
What are the myths we persist in believing?

The first five come from Michael Spencer, in response to a question asked of him on his site. The rest are a mixture of my own thoughts and inspirations from the #evangelicalmyths trend on Twitter yesterday.

1. The "victorious Christian life"

2. Biblical principles make things work better

3. Non-Christians are bad

4. Jesus is all about church growth

5. Well known pastors and preachers are telling the truth

6. The Bible exists to help you be successful and happy

7. God will bless America (again) if we'll only get a godly president, put prayer back in schools, repent of homosexuality/abortion, etc.

8. Worship = music

9. We have lots of people, so God must be blessing what we're doing

10. The reason we don't have what we want is because we're not praying hard enough

11. Making "Christian" versions of popular music, games, movies, clothes, etc. is an effective evangelism tool

12. Jesus taught in parables so that everyone would understand what he was saying

13. If you aren't happy, you aren't a good Christian

14. Lost people sense a void in their life

15. Teenagers think youth ministers are cool :-)

16. We will help the poor in our community by spending $25 million on a new building

17. Jesus would vote Republican/Democrat

18. I can't worship if there isn't a rockin' band

19. Asking Jesus into your heart after walking an aisle gets you the insurance so you can go on living any way you please

20. Hurting someone's feelings is a sin

21. Ten alliterative points in a fill-in-the-blank outline is effective for sermon retention

22. Abstinence pledges are an effective means of preventing premarital sex

23. We don't need to pay attention to anything that happened in Christian history before the 19th century. Everything before that was Catholic or something

24. If you make a decision that blows up in your face, you stepped out of God's will for your life

25. Type-A leaders with dynamic speaking abilities make the best pastors

There's more. Feel free to contribute your own in the comments . . .

7 comments:

Mark S said...

Great list, Zach! #9 made me think about John 6, esp the difference between v. 24, "So when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor his disciples, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum, seeking Jesus," and v. 66, "After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him." Numbers CAN be good (e.g. Acts 2:41, Acts 13:48), but they can also be deceptive, resulting from ear-scratching.

Eunice said...

Here's one...."You're not a real christian if you send your kids to public school."

Joe Selness said...

Non-Christians will want to become Christians if you use secular movies as the basis of your sermons.

Lesley Jebaraj said...

God won't be nice to you today, as you didn't do your daily devotions.

Both of you aren't good Christians if you don't have a great marriage.

Christopher Lake said...

Biblical manhood is encapsulated by Wild at Heart and similar books that speak to every man's supposed "desire for a great adventure" and innate "wildness".... (stereotypes, yawn)

Gary said...

I've especially learned the myth of #1 and have been embracing the truth of the defeated Christian life ever since.

At one time I believed that the resurrected life of Jesus and my union with him and my trust in him and obedience to him were enough of a resource for living this life on earth. Never perfectly but progressing. I believed the myth that his divine power had given me everything I need for life and godliness thru my knowledge of him who called me by his own glory and goodness.

But no longer! I have found all I need in my own strength and ability to live the defeated life I've always longed for. Praise God.

Christopher Lake said...

Gary,

I'm a bit confused by your comment. Certainly, it is not our obedience to Christ which gives Christians ultimate hope, because works don't justify us before God, as we will always obey Him imperfectly in this life. The Son obeyed the Father perfectly on our behalf, and thank God for that!

However, in your comment, you quoted 2 Peter 1:3 pretty directly and called it a "myth." I think that you were being sarcastically humorous, but it wasn't very clear. Could you please clarify?