Non-Believers: The Christian Religion is Not for You

The one true religion; the components that make up the Christian faith, are not for the atheist, the agnostic, or for followers of other false religions. The Christian religion is only for those who have repented, believe and follow Jesus Christ, and desire to know Him better. The Christian religion does not save a person; our religion is comprised of God-given commandments, doctrines, and directives for the born-again Christian; that is, the person who recognizes Jesus accomplished all the work on the cross and has received by faith Christ’s merciful and gracious salvation. Our religion is the means by which we learn about Jesus, His will for us and the Church, and the method by which we mature in our faith through submission and obedience.

So if the Christian religion is not for the non-believer, what should we be doing?

We should be sharing the Gospel Message and nothing else. If we’re caught up in other biblical topics, we should always aim to bring the discussion back to the Good News. Once they understand (and accept) their sinful condition, grasp how they are separated them from God, recognize their need for a Savior (Jesus Christ) in order to restore that relationship, and once they repent from their sinful ways and receive and believe by faith in Jesus Christ, then they are born-again Christian believers and are ready to partake in the God-given (not man-made) doctrines, rituals, commandments, and assorted teachings of the church.

So should we invite them to church?

I submit to you that unless the Gospel message is going to be preached, the bad news with the Good News, they are not going to comprehend or appreciate the elements of our religion, in fact they might be turned away by them. I believe those who [errantly] teach that Christianity is a “relationship and not a religion,” have suffered to one degree or another of having religion crammed down their throats before hearing and receiving the Gospel, very often for long and sustained periods of time.

Consider 1 Corinthians 2:13b-14

“[W]e speak words given to us by the Spirit, using the Spirit’s words to explain spiritual truths. But people who aren’t spiritual can’t receive these truths from God’s Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them and they can’t understand it, for only those who are spiritual can understand what the Spirit means.”

In other words, non-Christians do not have the Holy Spirit residing inside of them. The King James version refer to these folks as ‘natural men.’  Therefore, the spiritual truths of our religion are foolishness to them. However, the Holy Spirit comes alongside the non-believer for the sole purpose of understanding the Gospel Message! So, while they may scoff at our Bibles stories, our rituals, and our doctrines, they have, by the accompaniment of the Holy Spirit, the capacity to understand their need for a Lord and Savior in their life. Once they take that step of faith, they’ll receive the Holy Spirit within, and can begin to understand, bit-by-bit like the rest of us, God’s Holy Bible and the religion He has provided us.

What is the Gospel?

Go here to learn more.

Question: Does this mean we should not send our children to church?

Of course not, but I also believe that our Sunday School lessons should emphasize the Gospel Message more so than Bible stories. There will come a time that these children will have to make their own decisions and we want those decisions to be based on the full understanding of the Gospel message and nothing else.

We need to remember that the religious happenings inside our churches are primarily for equipping the saints. Sure, non-believers are welcome, but at the same time it could be likened to inviting a mathematical-illiterate to your calculus class. Unless your professor is going to pause and teach this visitor basic arithmetic, what they hear in that classroom will be mostly foolishness to them, much in the way the 1 Corinthians passage demonstrates.

 

Read Full Post »