Do We Believe What We Say We Believe?

Recently I watched a video of David Platt (I have a couple of his books) asking the question; Do we believe what we say we believe?

If we believe that everyone is going to be OK in the end — if we embrace universalism, however it is cloaked — then we're free to live our lives however we want, to sit back as easygoing Christians in comfortable churches, because in the end, all of these masses are going to be OK. They're going to be fine.

 

However, if we believe that people around us — billions of people within the United States and around the world who have never even heard the Gospel — if we believe that they are going to an eternal hell without Christ, then we don't have time to play games in the church. We have a mission that demands immediate action.

 

Intellectual universalism (taught by others) is dangerous — thinking that in the end everyone is going to be OK. But functional universalism (practiced by us) is worse — living like in the end everyone is going to be OK. 

Several years ago, I included an article on the minutes of the Men's meeting referencing the story in Numbers chapters 13 & 14 of Moses sending the twelve spies to check out the land of Canaan. I proposed the question "When we look at Pigeon Forge are we the ten or are we Joshua and Caleb?"  I had hoped it would initiate a discussion but I had no expectations. By that time we had shown ourselves to be non-readers. 

Do we believe that in the end the people in Pigeon Forge will be OK? We may not accept intellectual universalism but we practice functional universalism.