Just Believe?

I ran across a blog post today from Mark Gungor.

Mark is usually known for his humor but this post was quite convicting. I found myself agreeing with a lot of his points and then I started putting it up in front of me as a mirror and I didn’t like what I saw.

He took on the issue of “just believing” in Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior and how the church has dumbed-down the Christian message for the masses, in a post called “Tinkerbell Christianity“.

It reminds me of the story of Peter Pan. If you have ever seen a stage show of Peter Pan, you know there is a special scene where Tinkerbell is losing all of her power and is about to die. That is when an appeal is made to the audience to just say “I believe!”. “If you want to save Tinkerbell, you have to say ‘I believe’!!” Soon the entire audience is shouting at the top of their lungs, “I believe! I believe!” To the delight of all, little Tink is saved.

There you have it, the modern Evangelical message: “just believe.”

I agree with him whole-heartedly.

I mean, is this really the heart of the Christian message? Is this really what is being preached from our pulpits today?

In some cases, yes, I think it is. Sadly it’s more wide-spread than I think we care to admit.

Is it any wonder the church has become so incredibly impotent? Instead of experiencing the miracle working resurrection power of the living Christ that can transform lives by setting people free from the power of sin, we have churches where miracles are the exception, where bitterness, anger and unforgiveness rule the day, where we barely have the finances to keep our churches operating, where people who are struggling with their emotions need to be medicated and those who suffer from addictions are placed into special programs in order to help them cope. And we are different from non-believers in what way?

What say you? Is Mark right? Did his post convict you as it did me? Let me know in the comments!

May He Increase!