Not only is the culture collapsing around us, the second point of Alistair Begg’s threefold meme of why modern Christianity is failing is this– The Church is Confused! Do I really need to document this assertion? Just one point will suffice: A major denomination voted at their annual conference two years ago that abortion is fine and that any local, state, or federal restrictions on abortion for women and “pregnant persons” were not to be tolerated. To me, this leaves no room for doubt – The Church is Confused!
When Jesus told the Apostle Peter that he had just handed him the “keys to the kingdom” and “upon this rock [petros, Greek for rock and Peter] I will build my church,” I hardly think he had in mind a future church deciding to allow babies to be killed in the womb! When Yahweh told the prophet Jeremiah that he had been known by God even when Jeremiah was in his mother’s womb, surely God was not envisioning abortion of healthy children created in his image (Jeremiah 1:5).
Has the Church always been confused? If not, when and how did the Church become confused? The first century church at Jerusalem had some serious conflicts which were overseen by James the brother of Jesus. (See Acts 15:14-21). The fourth century Church saw the Roman Emperor Constantine forcing his soldiers to be baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ, a fact which might have upset local church boards a tad!
Our 21st century church has – drumroll please – are you ready for this?? – over 45,000 different denominations and the United States alone has over 200! When Jesus handed the keys of the kingdom to Peter one wonders if even Jesus would be shocked to see that the Church today is not one undivided Church. To say The Church is Confused is hardly a stretch of imagination to a modern church-watcher.
We have churches who focus more on political issues than on issues from the Bible. We have churches who one year declare a “policy” only to change/reverse itself the very next year! One church says sins are forgiven when one prays asking God to forgive, another church says that sins are only forgiven when one experiences baptism. One church baptizes by sprinkling water on an infant who has no idea what is happening, another church only baptizes by immersion in water which completely covers the body.
Yes, The Church is Confused and I sincerely wonder at times what God thinks of how we have messed up his plan that the church would be “one”!
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