November 23, 2021, an article titled, “Former Christians, Tell Us What The Turning Point Was That Made You Leave The Religion,” was published by “Yahoo! Life.” A follow up article was published by “Yahoo! Life” on December 4, 2021, titled, “Former Christians Are Sharing The Turning Points That Made Them Leave The Faith, And They Did Not Hold Back.”
The first article opened the floodgate for every malcontent to whine about something they disliked about the church. The article that followed contained some of those complaints. It is not possible to investigate each one but here are some general observations about the articles.
Not everyone who says they are a Christian is a Christian. We live in a culture that thinks saying something means something. For example, we have men who say they are women and women who say they are men. They think that means something.
So, it is understandable that there are people in church who say they are Christians but do some very un-Christian things, because in reality they are not Christian.
In each of the complaints we are only given the grievant’s side of the incident. To be fair, I need to know both sides of the issue. But the purpose of the articles was not to resolve anything, the intent was to make the church look bad.
Some left the church because they were offended by biblical morality on issues such as abortion and homosexuality. Christians have a high view of Scripture being the Word of God. We are not going to forsake God’s Word simply because someone feels offended by it. We will not offend God to spare your feelings.
The church is made up of people who are flawed. I know because I am one of them. Each of us in the church is on a spiritual journey and are at different levels of maturity in Christ making the church an imperfect work in progress. We make mistakes while learning to do better.
But the same is true of the public’s perspective of the church; it’s flawed. Those who would be the first to quote Jesus saying, “Do not judge,” are quick to judge the church and say things about it that in most instances they know little about.
Then there are wolves in sheep’s clothing who have committed atrocities and brought dishonor on the name of Christ and the work of the church. Things have been done that are inexcusable and received the just condemnation of a watching public. But these are the exception and not the rule.
John writes, “They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be shown that they all are not of us,” 1 John 2:19.
Here is the reason the Scriptures give that people leave the church; they are not truly Christians, believers, if they were “they would have remained with us.”
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