The Dark Side of Christianity

[DesertSW]

Let me first start off with a disclaimer. I believe in the Word of God and in all the fundamental tenants of Christianity. I became a Christian back in 1993 when I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. I gave up trusting in my good works and put all my faith in what Jesus had done on the cross, for my salvation.

The "dark side" I speak of is something that is not really talked about or discussed in churches. I've attended all types of protestant churches in the past 25 years (Baptist, denominational, non-denominational) and not one really discussed this aspect of Christianity. It is factually evident and not just experiential, although I have personally experienced it, it is backed by factual evidence.

This dark side is about how born-again Christians will betray you and the faith. I've personally experienced 10 of those betrayals over the course of 25 years. The latest one which was my wife, and her parents, was the most devastating. You can read about it here:

https://www.worthychristianforums.com/topic/211844-my-marriage-divorce-testimony/

It would take quite a bit of typing to go into deep detail on these betrayals but all of them involved true Believers who ended up betraying and hurting me in such ways that left deep scars that will never go away. These betrayals involved lying, breaking promises, breaking vows/covenants, leaving the faith/church, disobeying tenants of the faith and sinning against God and breaking clear Biblical tenants, church splits and behavior that would make unbelievers blush.

Modern Christianity kind of paints a picture that once you are surrounded by other Christians, things will be OK and that they will always love and honor God. That is completely false and this dark side is not discussed because it would turn off those "seekers" or unbelievers as they would clearly see hypocrisy. If the saved Christian church is no different than the unsaved sector of society, then it offers nothing different than secular society.

If we are honest, then we should put out a disclaimer in the churches. Something like this should be in the doctrinal statement after all the major tenants of the faith are posted:

Having stated the above doctrinal positions, we want to clearly state that there are times when true believers and followers of the Christian faith will do things that will grieve and shock you, sin and dishonor God, His Word and even hurt other Christians in that process. This is part of the free will that God gives believers. Even though they are indwelt with the Holy Spirit, believers will at times hurt you and sin against you and God. These incidents will really hurt you and rock you to the core as one believes that a Christian shouldn't act that way, which they shouldn't, but can and will act that way. Pastors will sin, wives & husbands will deceive & sin, brothers and sisters in Christ will lie, dishonor, sin and hurt you.

It is important to understand this facet of the Christian faith. To enter into the Christian faith thinking that other Christians can't or will not do such things is only setting up yourself for disappointment and shock. That might, in effect, make your faith stumble. So it is best that we as a church make this disclaimer that Christians can and will do these things. It is a sad but factual truth of the human being, even when indwelt with the Holy Spirit, that they will do these things. So it is best to be prepared when those incidents occur that it is not the Christian faith that failed, but that person who failed. They failed to follow God and His Word. Christians will disappoint you, sin against you and hurt you, please be prepared that this can and most likely will occur in your lifelong journey as a Christian.

 

[missmuffet]

The only dark side of Christianity I see is those who claim to be a Christian and are counterfeits.

Revelation 3:16  So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot,^[a] I will vomit you out of My mouth.

[DesertSW]

29 minutes ago, missmuffet said:

The only dark side of Christianity I see is those who claim to be a Christian and are counterfeits.

 

I'm sorry, no offense to you, but I have heard this response 1,000x and it's hogwash.

That's the "go to" response for Christians behaving badly. The old tried and true, "well, they weren't Christians to begin with."

It's the "Escape" button that Christians press when the dilemma of Christians doing sinful and evil things comes up. But that's all it is, an excuse and a quick way to try and squash the problem.

The reality is that real Christians do sin and commit evil acts against other Christians. The reality is then Christians don't address the problem and run to the "they weren't Christians to begin with".

So even though a TRUE Christian served Christ and the church for 20 years, commits a sin and violates God's Word. Then the "Christians can't do no wrong" group comes out and throws that Christian under the bus and claims they weren't a true believer to begin with.

That response and belief should be rolled up and placed under a bird cage because that is where it belongs. The reality is Christians sin and do things that they shouldn't do. They hurt others and sin against people and God. To say otherwise is a disgrace and to put one's head in the sand.

 

 

Edited December 26, 2017 by DesertSW

[HAZARD]

Those you speak about in my opinion are Once Saved Always Saved (OSAS) so called Christians. They have it in their head that once they turn to Jesus, confess their sins, they believe they are saved forever, regardless of what sins they continue to commit, what they say, do, or not do. They never truly get out of the sin business because they believe, once saved, always saved.

[4LdKHVCzRDj2]

Sorry, DesertSW!

Those were not Christians, they're false prophets.

"You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles?
Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit."

 

"Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.
Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’
And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’" - Matthew 7:21-23

 

"We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death.
Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him." - 1 John 3:14-15

[missmuffet]

38 minutes ago, DesertSW said:

I'm sorry, no offense to you, but I have heard this response 1,000x and it's hogwash.

That's the "go to" response for Christians behaving badly. The old tried and true, "well, they weren't Christians to begin with."

It's the "Escape" button that Christians press when the dilemma of Christians doing sinful and evil things comes up. But that's all it is, an excuse and a quick way to try and squash the problem.

The reality is that real Christians do sin and commit evil acts against other Christians. The reality is then Christians don't address the problem and run to the "they weren't Christians to begin with".

So even though a TRUE Christian served Christ and the church for 20 years, commits a sin and violates God's Word. Then the "Christians can't do no wrong" group comes out and throws that Christian under the bus and claims they weren't a true believer to begin with.

That response and belief should be rolled up and placed under a bird cage because that is where it belongs. The reality is Christians sin and do things that they shouldn't do. They hurt others and sin against people and God. To say otherwise is a disgrace and to put one's head in the sand.

 

 

Suit yourself. Life is full of choices.

[HAZARD]

25 minutes ago, Cobalt1959 said:

That statement is patently false.

In your opinion. Can you prove my post is patently false. This will be interesting.

[missmuffet]

37 minutes ago, HAZARD said:

Those you speak about in my opinion are Once Saved Always Saved (OSAS) so called Christians. They have it in their head that once they turn to Jesus, confess their sins, they believe they are saved forever, regardless of what sins they continue to commit, what they say, do, or not do. They never truly get out of the sin business because they believe, once saved, always saved.

John 3: 15-16  that whoever believes in Him should not perish but^[a] have eternal life. ¹⁶ For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

If a person is promised eternal life, but then have it taken away, it was never eternal life to begin with, if eternal security is not true the promises of eternal life in the Bible is a lie.

[mven222]

Hey Hazard, i still wait for u in my thread Laws of Jesus. Join me.

[Omegaman 3.0]

1 hour ago, HAZARD said:

Those you speak about in my opinion are Once Saved Always Saved (OSAS) so called Christians. They have it in their head that once they turn to Jesus, confess their sins, they believe they are saved forever, regardless of what sins they continue to commit, what they say, do, or not do. They never truly get out of the sin business because they believe, once saved, always saved.

People who have been born of God have been changed, they have a new nature that detests sinning, and tries (generally succeeding) to resist temptation. Sin is not a lifestyle for them, they are undergoing growth, progress in holy living, and it shows in the fruit of their lives.

If there is no such fruit, then they have every reason to wonder if indeed, that have ever been saved, or are just self deceived. This has nothing at all to do with whether they believe in OSAS or not, there are people in both camps, theologically who sin with regularity, and people in both theological camps, who live exemplary lives.

For what it is worth, I have never run into anyone, who has expressed the idea that they may sin freely, since they have been saved and cannot lose it. For you to suggest otherwise (that this is how such people think) is equivalent to me saying that since you believe you can lose your salvation, that you therefore believe you salvation is predicated upon your own works, not upon your faith in the work of the Savior, which is by grace alone.

Do you suppose that those of us who hold to what we believe to be the Biblical teaching of OSAS are unfamiliar with the following text?:

1What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? 2God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? 3Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? 4Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

We are quite aware that not only are we saved by grace alone:

 8For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9Not of works, lest any man should boast.

But that we are saved for a purpose:

 10For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.