ORIGINS OF UNBELIEF
The Conduct of Professed Christians
A. REJECTION OF BIBLE WIDESPREAD IN AND OUT OF THE CHURCHES.
B. WHY? WHAT HAS CAUSED SUCH POPULAR INFIDELITY?
C. IN TEACHING OTHERS IT HELPS TO KNOW WHY SOME DON’T BELIEVE.
D. ONE REASON – THE CONDUCT OF SOME WHO CALL THEMSELVES
CHRISTIANS.
A. TRUE IN THE MEDIEVAL CHURCH & IN PRESENT DAY DENOMINATIONS.
ie. Statues, demons, relics liturgies, stigmata, shrouds.
1. Can we condemn our faith something it did not originate? For something arising
out of ignorance?
2. We are told ( 1 Thess. 5:21; 1 John 4:1; 1 Tim. 4:1-2 ).
B. IGNORANCE IS THE CULPRIT – NOT THE FAITH IN CHRIST JESUS.
A. HOLY WARS – 7 CRUSADES FROM 1096 – 1270 A.D.
B. THE INQUISITION – 1179 – 31,000 DIED BY TORTURE OR EXECUTION.
C. OTHER CORRUPTIONS:
1. Political manipulations.
2. Indulgences, Pardoners, suppression of the word.
D. ALL DONE IN THE NAME OF JESUS DOES NOT NECESSARILY HAVE HIS
APPROVAL( Matt. 7:21-23 ).
E. WHAT DOES JESUS TEACH?
1. About war? ( Matt. 26:51-52; John 18:36 ).
2. The true spirit of Jesus ( Luke 23:34; Acts 7:60 ).
F. WAS VIOLENCE EVER USED TO CONVERT ( Acts 26:28-29 ).
A. JESUS WARNED US AND PRAYED ( Matt. 12:25; John 17:20-21 ).
B. WHO IS AT FAULT HERE? ( 1 Cor. 4:7, 6 ).
A. FACE IT. SOME WHO CALL THEMSELVES CHRISTIANS ARE IMMORAL.
1. The image of organized religion as seen on TV.
a. Oral Roberts continually asking for money – Seed Faith.
b. Swaggert, Bakker, Ralph Abernathy’s story of Martin Luther King.
c. Cultism in the churches of Christ – Discipleship.
2. The conduct of those who are actually in the body.
a. Well-known elders and preachers – Billy Sol Estes.
b. Ungodliness in our own lives ( Rom. 2:17-24; 1 Thess. 5:22 ).
B. WHAT IS EXPECTED OF US? ( 1 Pet. 2:11-12 ).
C. ARE THERE HYPOCRITES IN THE CHURCH? YES!
BUT WHAT ABOUT ME?
A. NO HONEST PERSON CAN REJECT ON THESE GROUNDS.
B. IT IS OUR BUSINESS TO BE SURE WE DON’T INTERFERE WITH SOMEONE
ELSE’S BELIEVING ( Matt. 5:13-16 ).
