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Friday, July 19, 2013

America Needs the Church!

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 The Second President of the United States, John Adams, said, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for a government of any other.” In other words, unless our country remains Christian the Constitution will not function properly. Is John Adams right? Can our society survive without the Christian faith?

There are many who would say that the church does not have the influence it once had. I agree. But they go on to say that the church is no longer relevant, that it is not necessary to creating a good world, that there are no absolutes, no objective truth. Are they right?

Dennis Prager, the Jewish social critic and scholar, says his favorite response to that question is a story — “Say you are walking down an alley at 11:00 p.m. in New York or Los Angeles. Suddenly, you see ten young men wearing leather jackets swaggering down the alley toward you. Would you feel more comfortable if you knew that those young men had just come out of a Bible study? Every time Prager has asked that question the answer has been “yes.”

In spite of what people may say, on the most practical level, people acknowledge the church’s positive influence.

Our society cannot exist without Christianity. So if society cannot function, if indeed our very Constitution will not work without the restraints of religion, then why do so many reject the church, Christianity, and Christ? Jesus answered that question in John 3:19-21:

“This is the crisis we’re in: God’s light streamed into the world, but men and women everywhere ran for the darkness. They went for the darkness because they were not really interested in pleasing God. Everyone who makes a practice of doing evil, addicted to denial and illusion, hates God’s light and won’t come near it, fearing a painful exposure. But anyone working and living in truth and reality welcomes God-light so the work can be seen for the God’s work it is.”

 

When Jesus appeared to Paul, Jesus called him by saying, “I’m sending you off to open the eyes of the outsiders so they can see the difference between dark and light, and choose light, see the difference between Satan and God, and choose God. I’m sending you off to present my offer of sins forgiven, and a place in the family, inviting them into the company of those who begin real living by believing in me.” (Acts 26:17-18 The Message)

"Church?!? Why bother?” Because lives are changed. Because hope is restored. Because eternity is offered. American needs the church more than she will ever know.

[Ron Otto, Lincoln Christian Church]

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