By American Christian standards, I must not be a good Christian…
I don’t like most of the Christian music on my local Christian radio station,
I don’t like most of the Christian bric-a-brac found in Christian book stores (heck, I don’t like many of the Christian BOOKS found in Christian bookstores),
I don’t tend to be a big fan of most of the popular “preachers” these days,
I don’t believe Jesus belongs to a particular political party,
I don’t believe in “blood moons”,
I don’t believe the Bible teaches that I am to be wealthy and healthy all the time,
I don’t don’t believe the earth is young (I believe it’s very old),
I don’t believe anyone should be forced to pray (or say “Merry Christmas” for that matter),
I don’t believe David Wilkerson got THE PRAYER OF JABEZ right,
I don’t believe I will ever read any of the LEFT BEHIND books (in fact, I’m confident that I will never read any of them),
I don’t believe THE SHACK makes our understanding of God more clear,
I don’t believe that any one sin sends a person to hell (being a sinner period does that…and we’re all sinners),
I don’t believe God cares one way or another if I have a tattoo,
I don’t believe that there are any rituals, liturgies, lifestyles, or good works that I have to adopt or practice to “please” God.
However, I do believe in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit (Romans 1:4),
I do believe that there is absolutely NOTHING I can contribute to my salvation (Ephesians 2:8-9),
I do believe that God is loving…and just (1 John 4:8, Romans 3:25-26),
I do believe that Jesus Christ paid for my salvation in full at the Cross (John 19:30) and in so doing Jesus satisfied God’s just demands that were upon me and released me from the indictment of, and punishment of, and slavery to the Law (Romans 8:2, Galatians 3:13),
I do believe that there is only one Mediator between God and me … and it’s Jesus, not a Pope or a priest (1 Timothy 2:5),
I do believe that anyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved (Romans 10:13),
I do believe that the Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead now lives in me (Romans 8:11)
I do believe that the Bible is the divinely inspired, inerrant word of God to us…it is total and complete and I am in no need of any further “visions”, “prophecies”, and/or “revelations” from any modern-day “prophets” or “apostles” (Hebrews 1:2, 2 Peter 1:21),
I do believe that not every one who uses the name of Jesus (especially on religious TV) is going to heaven (Matthew 7:21),
I do believe that verse-by-verse exegetical preaching is the best way to build Christian disciples (although it’s not the most popular way),
And I do believe there are many more reasons I’m not a “good” Christian in many American religious folks’ eyes.