more evidence of cultural influence in the Church???

I have been absent from the blogging world for a quite a while. Im not going to say I am sorry because plain and simple I just was not inspired to write anything and when that is the case what is the point in blogging. So with that said I guess you could say I got a little inspiration and decided to write some thoughts down.

This weekend Daniel(teaching elder at Sojourn) was preaching in Romans but he said something very quickly that caught my attention. He did not give a long draw out sermon about it(was said and passed by in less than a minute) but it was important. He said...why don't we celebrate people who have been raised in the church more than we do? What does he mean by this...well I think it is this! Think about the last time you heard a testimony. Most testimonies of salvation we hear are of people who i have come up "from the pits of Hell as a sinner and have been saved by the grace of God". Alot of times you hear the "i was a horrible sinner(ie partying, sexual sin, selfishness, etc)then God got my attention and I started to live for him. Now don't hear me wrong!!! that is AWESOME!

That is my testimony almost to a tee so I am not hating on that. But what does this do to those Christians who where raised the church and do not have that same "came from the pits of hell" testimony. Ask some of them and you might find Christians who are ashamed of that and I blame the Church. When you ask someone who was in church at an early age and became a Christian at a young age because their parents cared enough to get them in church you might hear something like, "well I was raised in the church" and they say it in a negative light.

This is a shame and I believe it is evidence of culture influencing the Church in a light that we don't ever think about. What light is that???? The fact that we have idolized testimonies that are "pits of hell testimonies" and downgraded (or at the very least not celebrated them in the correct light that they should be) those who aren't. I for one want to say to those who have been raised in the church....BE PROUD and THANKFUL. As the body we need to make sure we aren't idolizing the gift of salvation in certain peoples life and I feel that in many of our churches, in an attempt to create that "shock" factor we place certain ways in which people are saved on top of the mountain. Does this not take away from what God is doing in salvation...remember it isn't by anything we have done that we are saved!