Spiritual Blindness
Find Your Spiritual Eyes and Open them
by
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I don’t know about you, but I am tired of hearing over and over the debate over things that should have been put to rest long ago. This book is not about racism, there are books in abundance about racism. Instead, this book is about a course correction. It is my belief that we are living in the last hours before Christ’s return. World events seem to point toward that known eventuality. He could wait another one hundred years, yet He could return even before I can finish writing this down! But instead of preparing the bride of Christ for her groom, we, the Church, are needlessly engaged in discussion and turmoil over issues that have no bearing on what is truly important for the day. As a statement of record, I see no distinction between what we call the Black Church, White Church, Asian Church, Hispanic Church or any other label of church you want to apply. I am wearied from the theologies and distinctions we have invented that keep us apart, instead of bringing us together. In many cases these distinctions were created from firmly felt convictions of biblical principles, but can we not allow another their convictions? It is not my intention to endorse a unification movement that eradicates denominational distinctions. But I do think that we are so obsessed with our own perspectives, we forgot to allow our Christian Brother or Sister theirs. If you want to be a Calvinist - knock yourself out. Arminian? Go for it! I don’t have to agree with you for me to love you in the Lord. Believe what you feel convicted to believe, but let me ask you, what is really important? Your conviction is important, but is it also important that we fully agree? Is our agreement so important that we create dissention and anger toward one another? Can we not agree to disagree?
I am a Southern Baptist because I am proud of it. I don’t have to fully agree with everything in the SBC to enjoy the things I think Southern Baptists do right. Let’s not make this another barrier! This book is not just for Southern Baptists, because the Church is made up of many, not just the SBC. We can be the Church without the same label on the door or title on our sign. You don’t have to be a Southern Baptist to be saved; you have to believe in Christ, His atoning death on the Cross as a propitiation for our sins. I agree with the Baptist Faith and Message, which, by the way, defines who Southern Baptists are. If you find you don’t agree, then go someplace else, but why argue over things that only distract the world from hearing the Gospel? While we are engaged in our vituperative exchange, the lost remain confused and our message of salvation comes across as garbled and confusing.
Course Correction
The Lord said in Isaiah 1:18, Come now, let us reason together. If Almighty God who is our infallible Creator seeks to reason with us, how can we, as His followers, not reason with one another? The facts are that God has some indictments against the church as He did against Israel in Isaiah’s day. The indictments against Israel were serious problems then, but if we looked honestly, we should feel the weight of committing the same offenses today. Looking at the Church through God’s perspective, perhaps we would see the same things happening inside our Church today that troubled the Jews in the days of Isaiah. But the issues outlined in Isaiah chapter one are not our only problems. We, the Church have abandoned, or left undone, three major objectives that Jesus left for us to accomplish so the world would know that we are His and our life would be a demonstration for the world to understand God’s love for mankind and His path to salvation.
Although we may realize that Isaiah was speaking to Israel and not the Church, in the New Testament Christ and Paul had three specific things that the Church and individual Christians were supposed to be doing, that I feel, and I hope you will also see, have been left undone. These three things are:
• Loving one another
• How we treat each other (men and women) outside of marriage
• How we treat each other (husband and wife) inside of marriage
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About the Book
The New Testament teaches three specific things how individual Christians in the church are to conduct themselves;
o Love one another as Christ loved us
o How men and women treat each other outside of marriage
o How husbands and wives treat each other inside of marriage.
These three basic human relationships serve as a witness to those outside the church as an evangelistic tool. How we deal with each other has ramifications for how we conduct ourselves spiritually before a lost world. We have failed in these three basic relationships. We need someone to step unafraid from the background and face down criticism and perhaps ridicule, even persecution from the self-righteous who continue to lead the church away and resist the necessary course corrections in these final days. Who will be willing to confront the issues head-on in order for the world to know Christ? Are you, as part of His church, ready for the second coming of our Lord? Would you be willing to face discomfort and ridicule if you knew that God had called you to such a fate? What discomfort are you willing to endure for the cause of Christ?
About the Author
Dr. Mark Allison has a master’s degree from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and a doctor of ministry from Beeson Divinity School. He is recently retired from US Navy, where served as a chaplain. He and his wife, Susan, have seven children and two grandchildren. They currently reside in Meridian, Mississippi.