A simple Question for you...yes, you.

I’m going to make some assumptions about you, yes you, the person reading this article. I am going to assume that you were born in the United States and you consider yourself to be a Christian. If that is the case, this article is meant for you. You are part of the 70ish% of the population of the United States that self identifies as Christian, but only about 24% of you actually are, but that’s a story for another day. 

Today, I want to ask you a question. It is meant for you, and only you can answer this. It will be very difficult for you to give an honest answer because it is hypothetical…but it’s extremely important to consider. Before I ask this question, I want you to think about why you are a Christian. Not the part about the desire for an eternity with our creator but the logistics for you coming to Christ.  

Were you like me and were fortunate enough to grow up in a Christian home and it was all you ever knew? Did you have a friend who was a Christian and invited you to church with them? Or, did you have a life-changing experience that brought you to Christ?  Probably a better way to put it is how did you come to experience Christ for the first time? There are many ways to have had this experience, especially in the United States wherein certain communities it is part of the culture.  

I grew up in the South and one of the first questions someone will ask you when you meet is, where do you go to church? It’s often assumed that you do because it is so common in the Bible belt to attend church. In other areas of the country, it is not as common but still common, especially when you consider that 70ish% of the country self-identify as Christian.  

So here is the question…If you were born in Iran, which is 99.7% Muslim, would you still be a Christian?  

If you grew up in a place where Christianity is so uncommon, would you have had the pull towards Christ or would you have just followed suit and been Muslim, after all, 99.7 % do? If you had followed the statistically logical path and been Muslim, would you have at least researched your beliefs to make sure you hold the proper beliefs? Maybe at that point through your research you would have landed on the belief you hold now, that Christianity is the only way to eternal life, but would you have done the research? Or would you have just settled into your life as a Muslim, since that’s what everyone else you knew was doing? All of your friends and family would likely be Muslim, and it would likely be the community you would be plugged in to.  

If you had been born in Iran, you might have grown up in a nice home that was Muslim, and it would have been all you ever knew. Possibly you would have had a friend who was Muslim, who asked you to go to the mosque with them. Or maybe you would have had a life-changing experience that led you to Islam since it is the common religion of the region.  

The reason for this question is not because I believe you don’t have the proper beliefs as a Christian, but because I think it is likely that you don’t know for sure that you hold the proper beliefs as a Christian and why it is correct. Like so many self-professing Christians you have never investigated it like we are told in (1 John 4:1), Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. You have just accepted it and most likely don’t know what you really believe and definitely can’t give a defense for your beliefs as (1 Peter 3:15) says, but in your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy, ready at any time to give a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.  

I also believe that it is very likely that you have never had a heart change, only a head change. I believe that because I don’t think that you are consumed with following Christ that is the result of a heart change as Paul wrote in (Romans 10:10), One believes with the heart, resulting in righteousness, and one confesses with the mouth, resulting in salvation.  

If 70ish% of the US truly were followers of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, then I have no doubt that this would be a very different country. We would not have more than 3,700 babies killed by abortion, 2,400 divorces, and 44 murders each and every day. Also, pornography wouldn’t be a $4 billion-dollar industry. But all those things are happening and it’s not the remaining 30% of the population who are fully responsible.  

It is very easy to be a Christian in the US today, which is probably why we as Christians are so complacent. It is getting more difficult to be a true Christian, but very much socially acceptable to say you are one, as long as you tailor your beliefs to fit with what secular society says is an acceptable form of Christianity.  

So, if you were born in Iran, would you be a Christian? Of course, the Calvinist point of view means that none of this matters anyway.     

OpposeConformity...Line To Nowhere

While serving in the Army I was fortunate enough to spend 15 months at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey California, learning Russian. While there I had the opportunity, the only time in my short military career, to be stationed with members of the other three branches of the military.

You might find it surprising, but, each branch of the military has their own culture and during that time at DLI I was able to hear stories unique to the other branches.

Everyone in the Navy seemed especially proud of their Marine joke exploits.

If you are not aware, the Marines and the Navy are very closely aligned in combat operations and typically it is the job of the Navy to get Marines to where they need to go. So, Marines spend a lot of time on Navy ships giving ample opportunity to “mess with the Marines.”

One thing you need to know is that when it comes to conformity, the Marines lead the way. In Marine boot camp, new Marines are not allowed to refer to themselves in the first person; they refer to themselves as “this marine.” This is a way to remove the me and insert the we, and the Navy, as a whole, have delighted in exploiting this trait.

One of their favorite jokes is for a few sailors to randomly start a line at a random door on a ship. Simply start a line appearing to wait for something at a door. Inevitably, a group of Marines will happen upon this line and join in, not knowing if the line is meant to hand out checks for a million dollars or to volunteer for a suicide mission. After a short time, the sailors find reasons to leave the line, stating that they will come back later, leaving a group of Marines patiently waiting in a line for which they are unaware of its ultimate intent.

They just want to conform.     

Psychology Today defines conformity as the tendency to align your attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors with those around you.

In a team building situation this can be a power tool. Conformity is what makes communities work. People agree to follow an agreed upon set of rules or laws and everything goes well until someone breaks from the pattern of law abiding citizen and commits a crime.

On a team, the group follows the direction of the coach with the singular goal of winning the competition which works well until someone decides not to follow the game plan.

Conformity can be good, but you don’t want to end up being a Marine standing in a line to nowhere.

Conformity in the church is a delicate balance. We want to conform to the word of God, and hope that the church does too, but when the church starts to conform to secular society, especially when it comes to ideas that do not coincide with scripture, it’s time to break from the mold.

“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. 
                                                                              
Romans 12:2”

We have been commanded to differentiate ourselves from the world. If that line becomes blurred, we need to flee.

When the world tells us that evolution, which contradicts creation, is truth, we need to flee. When the world tells us that the Bible is outdated when it comes to relationships, which contradicts the word of God, we need to flee. When the world tells us that there are many paths to God, which contradicts Jesus, we need to flee, but not in an ignorant way. When we act completely on faith, we play into the hands of secular society that already believes that we eschew intellectual rigor.

Remember in Romans 12:2 above, “we are to test and approve of God’s will,” not just take it on blind faith. Faith is good and necessary, but not in everything.

There are times where intellectual rigor is an absolute must. Many millennials have left the church in recent years and the biggest reason given is the lack of intellectual rigor. The world is willing to appear to give it, but we have not been willing to go the extra mile.

Maybe it is fear of what you might find out, if that is the case then maybe you don’t really believe. If you don’t really believe then you need to dig deep into God’s word and research how it is actually infallible to convince yourself. God knows you heart, and if it is full of doubt, God will know.  

If you are going on faith alone, because you are worried that research could lead to a contradiction in the Bible, then you don’t have complete faith in God breathed.

Ravi Zacharias and Os Guinness have said, apologetics isn’t the gospel, but it clears the way so you can better see the cross. We need to clear the way even if it doesn’t conform to society or even social mores that have worked their way into the church.

Questions have gone unanswered, and as a result we have lost souls.

Don’t be a Marine in a line to nowhere.