Turining Point Church

Matthew 16:24 “Then Jesus said to his disciples, ‘If anyone wants to follow me, he must deny himself, pick up his cross, and follow me continually.’”

In her new book “Almost Christian,” United Methodist Church minister Kenda Creasy Dean has drawn startling conclusions from the results of a major study of religion among American youth. Although 75 percent of the teenagers surveyed claimed to be Christians, the study found that a majority were non-practicing and could not articulate their own beliefs or the importance of holding them.

The term “moralistic therapeutic deism” has since been coined to describe this “new religion” among youth that bears little resemblance to traditional Christianity. It is characterized by the paramount importance of personal fulfillment, moral rules are vague and sometimes flexible, and God is barely relevant except when a problem arises to be solved. In other words, God is only good for 911 situations. He is solely a 911 emergency God.

How tragic! If this is true, then the words of Jesus calling His disciples to a life of self-sacrifice and surrender to the will of God is quickly fading away. What is the answer? Pulpits must begin preaching true Christianity again, not the watered down, cultural version that focuses only on earthly success and material wealth. And true disciples of Jesus must become more aggressive in their discipling of others in the lifestyle Jesus taught.

Remember, it is only in dying that we truly live, only in giving up that we gain, and only in walking the narrow way that we find genuine life. Let’s tell it loudly and clearly!