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Much of the Christian community has reacted really poorly to this... a thread. https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/music/2020/05/26/hawk-nelson-jon-steingard-doesnt-believe-god-bandmates-react/5264134002/">https://www.usatoday.com/story/ent...
I have seen many pastors and self-proclaimed Christians utterly berating @jonsteingard for sharing honestly and openly his lack of faith. This is so incredibly counterproductive for the cause of Christ.
Many people are condemning him or quoting scripture at him. First of all, he questions the infallibility of scripture. I know that I, and many other believers, do as well. Throwing the Bible in his face will absolutely not "lead him back to the flock."
The Bible was divinely inspired but it was written, transcribed and translated by man. Man, who is regularly deceitful and intentionally sinful, who regularly does the opposite of what God tells them to do. The fact that more believers don& #39;t question that is a big red flag.
What& #39;s more, Jon goes on to say that he thinks God maybe exists, and that he hopes He does and that He chooses to reveal Himself to Jon. This is not a man who has given up. This is a man who has been fed a narrative by a church body that doesn& #39;t practice what it preaches.
Faith is the belief in something we can& #39;t see or understand. Faith in and of itself is really hard. People who claim not to struggle with faith or blindly accept whatever the mainstream church says are really frightening.
The mainstream church shares a lot of things that are only partially rooted in scripture, or can be contradicted by another piece of scripture... and again that& #39;s only if you believe in thr infallibility of scripture.
People follow this partially because Jesus told them to, but partially because thinking about it for ourselves can be really hard. I don& #39;t mean that in a patronizing way. Faith forces us to address a lot of really hard questions.
For example: if we are all made in God& #39;s perfect image, why are people gay and why is that wrong? How does being transgender happen? Should a woman who was raped be forced to carry her rapist& #39;s offspring because abortion is murder? Why was slavery biblically ok but God loves all?
If you are not asking these types of questions, and hundreds of other challenging questions, and if you& #39;re more concerned with the condemnation in the Bible than the love Christ proclaims, I really worry for your faith and those whom you share it with.
Faith is not simple. God is CERTAINLY not simple. Trying to make these things black and white is impossible, and when you try, you push people farther away from Christ.
Some may think I& #39;m going to hell for saying these kinds of things (if there even is a hell), but it is my firm belief that loving each other as we are called by Christ is the only thing that matters.
Yes, we are called to be missionaries and do a dozen other things ad proclaimed in the Bible. But ultimately our greatest commandment is LOVE. For all races, genders, sexualities, religions etc. NO EXCEPTIONS.
Loving your neighbor doesn& #39;t have to look like beating people over the head with scripture or going on mission trips. Love IS the ONLY simple thing about God.
Loving simply includes: praying for others quietly, trying to understand how they are different from you without treating them as such, helping a neighbor, etc. Christ was the literal definition of love. He washed people& #39;s feet, he healed sick outcasts. He was truly radical.
Christ defied social norms in the name of connection with those who needed it most. Regardless of their belief, status, etc. That is what we are called to do, to emulate Jesus. Period.
If you& #39;re still reading along thank you. If you disagree with me, that is your right. If I& #39;ve made you consider something differently, praise God. All I& #39;m saying is, let& #39;s be more loving and less condemning of unbelief. Let& #39;s prayerfully coansider how to truly live like Jesus.
Changing how we minister to others (with radical Love rather than fear) is how we win people for God& #39;s kingdom.
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