from author Eric Shuster
SECTION
3: WHERE ARE THE CHRISTIANS?—a
Categorization
Chapter
10: They’re Hiding—Not Practicing Their
Faith as Adequate Christians
The second place where one can find the
Christians is “in hiding.” These are Christians that are not leaving, but are
instead concealing themselves in the shadows unseen, ducking any and all
spiritual responsibility in a desire to be left alone. This is a Christian that
Paul describes as one who professes “they know God, but in works they deny him”
(Titus 1:16).
This person is a Christian that doesn’t
know their religion, who lives a form of “Christian-atheism,” avoids practicing
their faith, and is content with their level of believing without the works
that come from that belief in Christ. This group is likely the largest
contingent of Christians in the United States today, whose potential is
enormous when it comes to building and nurturing the kingdom of God on earth—a
potential that is sorely unrealized today. This individual is the Adequate Christian.
Virtually all Christian denominations
teach truth about Christ and His teachings of love, service and sacrifice. If
every Christian lived the tenets of the denomination to which they belong, the
world would be a fantastic place. Unfortunately ignorance and unwillingness are
significant self-inflicted barriers to realizing the true potential of
Christianity in the United States—thus the Adequate Christian.
The Adequate Christian is ignorant of
his or her religion. A survey by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion
and Public Life among adults found a sizable number of Christians don’t know
their religion, and are in fact lacking basic intelligence relating to
Christianity. Mormons and white Evangelical Protestants scored the highest,
while black Protestants and Catholics scored the lowest. Not coincidentally, the
Pew scores reflect entirely the same denominational rankings as those found in
Chapter 7—something that brings great validity to the synthesis conducted by
the author Shuster. One can therefore understand the precept that those who
know their religion are more apt to live it.
The Adequate Christian is lukewarm in
living Christianity. To be lukewarm means not being a passionate disciple of
Jesus Christ while at the same time refraining from serious sin thus
demonstrating a mediocre commitment to the gospel. The scripture from
Revelation 3:15-16 should scare anyone who is found to be a “lukewarm” Christian.
There have been other terms given to these Christian types such as Christian Atheists (Groeschel), Cultural Christians, Nominal Christians (Lausanne Committee
for World Evangelization) or Casual
Christians (Barna). Each of these terms arrives at the same destination of
describing a Christian who believes in Jesus Christ but fails to practice what
they profess to believe.
So far we have located the first two
places to look for the Christians—those that are leaving the faith (Departing
Christians) and those hiding in the faith (Adequate Christians). Next we will
locate a third group of Christians—those who can’t make up their mind.
Go to www.findyourchristianity.com to
watch the book trailer, find out what type of Christian you are, and to order
the book.
Where are the
Christians? The Unrealized Potential of a Divided Religion
by Eric Shuster
Coming May 2013!
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