{"id":331,"date":"2013-02-08T16:29:42","date_gmt":"2013-02-08T20:29:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/matthewcochran.net\/blog\/?p=331"},"modified":"2019-03-24T07:17:24","modified_gmt":"2019-03-24T11:17:24","slug":"why-we-dont-worship-with-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/matthewcochran.net\/blog\/why-we-dont-worship-with-you\/","title":{"rendered":"Why We Don’t Worship With You"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s not because “those are our rules.”\u00a0 It’s because we believe our <\/strong>religion is actually true.<\/p>\n

That’s the long and the short of it.\u00a0 And as shocking as the concept might be in a postmodern age, the fact that our religion is true makes others false inasmuch as they contradict ours.<\/p>\n

If we are correct, then the consequence is that when Christians stand up and preach, we are not doing the same thing that pagans are doing when they stand up and preach.\u00a0 Pagans might make people feel better.\u00a0 Pagans might offer emotional comfort in times of distress.\u00a0 Pagans might foster a sense of unity in a community in the face of a shared tragedy and help people get a sense of closure and move on with their lives.\u00a0 Christians also might<\/em> do these things when they stand up and preach, but they are only doing these things because<\/strong> they are actually telling people what God has actually spoken.\u00a0 Christians might offer words of comfort to those who are grieving.\u00a0 However, those words are only comforting because<\/strong> they are actually God’s promise of salvation through Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n

Any atheist can tell you that these prayers, homilies, and assurances are hollow if they are not true.\u00a0 The pagans’ are not true.\u00a0 The Jews’ are not true.\u00a0 The Muslims’ are not true.\u00a0 The Christians’ are<\/strong> true.\u00a0 If you want to take issue with that by saying that Christianity is false, then that’s fine.\u00a0 Many of us would be happy to go over the evidence that demonstrates how you’re wrong.\u00a0 But don’t expect us to blithely stand up with pagans and pretend that what we’re doing is the same thing as what they’re doing.\u00a0 It’s not.<\/p>\n

This might rain on your parade.\u00a0 It might stymie your plans to provide emotional comfort and community unity.\u00a0 So be it.\u00a0 God’s promise of grace to all who believe in Christ is more important than community unity.\u00a0 It is more important than a sense of closure.\u00a0 The Gospel we have to offer is the power of God unto salvation.\u00a0 We will not cheapen it by likening it to what the pagans have to offer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s not because “those are our rules.”\u00a0 It’s because we believe our religion is actually true. That’s the long and the short of it.\u00a0 And as shocking as the concept might be in a postmodern age, the fact that our … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhy We Don't Worship With You - The 96th Thesis<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/matthewcochran.net\/blog\/why-we-dont-worship-with-you\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why We Don't Worship With You - The 96th Thesis\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It’s not because “those are our rules.”\u00a0 It’s because we believe our religion is actually true. 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