Blog
“A YOUNG MAN’S LETTER”
Garland Robinson
I am a student at Lipscomb University. I grew up in a very difficult church (and having escaped it without too many psychological and emotional scars), I feel that it is my duty to describe to you the state of the Church in regard to those my age. We are as men caught in a severe rainstorm, who find that they will get soaked to the bone no matter what they do. We do not necessarily agree with the older generations in all things, yet we are willing to work toward the greater good when we can actually see it before us. Most people my age are very turned off by rules and dogma that seem to do nothing more than restrict. The root of all our problems, the reason for the swelling number of abortions, rapes, murders, instances of drug use, and all other manner of evil is the attitudes of the church members. While our generation appears to you to be lost, it is not the result of actions taken by those with whom you disagree, but rather the actions of yourselves, and those whom you have programmed to hate, loath, and despise anyone who disagrees with you. This is evidenced time and time again by the hateful way that you “write up” anyone who does something you don’t like. I urge you brothers to walk the path instead of talking about it and pushing others off of it. You are walking down a road of pride and arrogance, believing that you and your denomination (yes it is a denomination, whatever semantics you use to describe it) are the only ones going to Heaven. I urge you to stop lashing out at your brothers and sisters in Christ before you stand before God in judgement. Had you, in your younger days, simply ceased to damn all those who disagreed with you, there are millions of infants who would be alive today. It is in following my heart that I have ceased to attend a Church at all. All I ever see in the church is bickering, hatred, and bitterness. Seeking to insulate myself from these, I simply study my Bible at home and pray on my own. I deal with all manner of bickering and politics, all done in the name of religion, 5 days a week. I find that I can no longer worship God with any sincerity in my heart when I find myself elbow to elbow with those who are theological brutes throughout the rest of the week. I write this to you, because I hope and pray that some sanity will return to your souls.
REPLY...
Let me make a few brief comments regarding different things you have stated. It appears you are fighting a “straw man.” From what you have said, you have met some folks with very poor attitudes and practices. I certainly do not encourage, endorse, promote or condone any wrong doing as you have suggested. My job, and what I do, is simply call people to the one Gospel for which Jesus our blessed Lord died. I found long ago that you cannot make people do anything and it wouldn’t do any good if you could. Faithfulness -- obedience -- has to be from the heart.
We must remember that “youth” have always had their problems and often reject the counsel of the wise, older, generation. Rehoboam did this in I Kings 12. He rejected the wise counsel of the old men, accepted the counsel of the young men his age, and ended up dividing the kingdom.
It is nothing new that people are turned off by rules and regulations. Eve didn’t like them either. People love to be “foot loose and fancy free.” No child, or adult for that matter, likes to be told “no.” However, God made this world and all that is in it. He made man after his own likeness. God, therefore, has every right to tell us what is right and what is wrong -- what he accepts and what he rejects. While most people reject God’s “rules and regulations,” His commandments are really “admonitions of love.” God didn’t have to provide a means of escape from the penalty of our sins. Jesus didn’t have to come to this sinful world and live among men. But, in God’s great love and mercy, he gives us his “rules and regulations” because they are good for us. He knows what’s best for us and what will make us truly happy. Parents do not love their children when they let them run wild with no restraints. Eli was condemned for not restraining his sons (1 Samuel 3:13). God loves us enough to provide us his “rules and regulations.” He didn’t have to do that. But these “rules and regulations” (commandments) are his LOVE, not his hatefulness, harshness, pride or arrogance. God is not trying to see how difficult he can make it for us. His commandments are his LOVE (1 John 2:3,4,7,8; 3:22-24).
God has His own way and He will have it His way or people will be lost. I don’t have a way. Nobody has to do things “my way.” I don’t look for people to follow me or us. I look for people to follow the Lord and the only way they can do that is by following His “rules and dogma” (John 14:15; 15:14). God doesn’t allow people to “have it their own way.” But, I’m afraid most people feel as though God is a little dog that patiently waits at the foot of the dinner table for any crumb that those who feast is willing to toss him. People somehow feel like God will accept anything they offer and be glad to get it. But, God didn’t accept Cain’s sacrifice (Gen. 4:5), nor did He accept the offering of Nadab and Abihu (Lev. 10:1-2). Their sacrifices and offerings were not what God had ordered (commanded, rules, regulations, dogmas, etc.) and therefore, rejected them. God was not happy with just anything, even if it was offered in sincerity.
You are intent on thinking that someone, somewhere, is standing around with a whip attempting to make people do what they want them to do. I have never run across that. ALL we can do, as the Lord’s servants, is tell people what is right and what is wrong and exhort them to do it. The people have the choice to do it or not. However, if the wayward are Christians, local congregations have the obligation (responsibility, duty) to rebuke them and if they do not repent, they are to withdraw fellowship from them (1 Thess. 3:6; 1 Cor. 5). Though unpleasant, this action is an act of love. It is love for both the soul of the wayward and the other members of the church. A little leaven, leavens the whole lump (1 Cor. 5:6). Faithful brethren also have the obligation to expose (Eph. 5:11), warn (1 Thess. 5:14), mark and avoid -- call attention to (Rom. 16:17) -- those who walk not uprightly (Gal. 2:14).
The root of all the problems in the world is sin, not church members. Wickedness, evil, falsehood, is sin. Sin separates from God (Isa. 59:2). Sin brings death and destruction, not church members. The rules and regulations of God bring people out of sin, not plunge them into it.
Anyone who would teach to hate, loathe, or despise anyone, is not of God. Those who hate, loathe or despise the commandments of God, his rules and dogma, is not of God. We are told to hate, loathe and despise sin, but certainly not the person who commits it. We hate the sin, but love the sinner. We love them enough to tell them God’s will for them. We, therefore, tell them what God hates and what God loves. We tell them God loves those who obey His commandments (1 John 5:2-3; John 15:14).
People who loathe, detest and despise the commandments of God are those who abort, drink, drugs, etc. etc. I haven’t forced them into it, I’m simply the messenger of God -- which message they hate. People today, many church members, are telling elders and preachers, “preach not unto us right things, preach smooth things, preach deceit” (Isa. 30:10). That is what you are advocating, not me. If we love God, we would love His word. If we would be a friend to Jesus, we would love His word (John 14:15; 15:14), not despise it.
Since when did it become pride to know the truth, believe the truth, love the truth and obey the truth? Jesus said we can know the truth (John 8:32). You make it appear that nobody can really know the truth or know that they know the truth. Did God leave us His saving word and yet reveal it in such fashion that nobody can know it? We can know the truth and know that we know the truth (John 8:32; Eph. 3:4). That is not pride or arrogance. They only way we know about sin and its remedy is by God’s inspired word. Can we trust it? If no one can really know it or understand it, then how are we going to know if someone has done what God required them to do to be saved?
I wish, desire and pray for you to sincerely obey the Gospel and return to your first love. Love the Truth and obey the Truth that you might be saved. Yes, there are hypocrites in the church. There were in the first century (Acts 5). But, we do not condone them nor support them. When they are discovered, they are to be dealt with (2 Thess. 3:6). But in the mean time, you must make your own calling and election sure. You can’t do that by sitting at home. It is a sin to forsake the assembling of the church (Heb. 10:25). I didn’t make that rule, God did. Am I an evil doer by calling your attention to it? Am I lifted up with pride and arrogance by telling people about that verse? All the prophets through the ages had the problem of their hearers hating them and dismissing their words. This generation is no different.
I pray you will change your heart and turn to the Lord in humble obedience before it’s too late.
