Whether you are a Christian who thinks Jesus’ Second Coming did not happen, or an agnostic, I was once like you. I grew up in a Dispensationalist, “non-denominational” Christian home. My parents, both of whom were raised Roman Catholic in the Midwest during the 1960s and 70s, “converted” to Protestantism and became career missionaries in their early 20s. They were trained in Baptist and Calvinist leaning schools and churches, and had those beliefs cemented in the 1980s, during the heydays of Billy Graham and Hal Lindsey. In 1975, they committed to a five-year training program with a well-known missionary organization. In 1980, when I was four years old, we moved to Mexico, to spread the Gospel. My father, a few other missionaries, and some local Native Americans eventually built us an adobe home and later a church in a remote Tarahumara village in the Sierra Madre Oxidental, deep in the “Mexican Rockies”.
In many ways it was a great childhood, as I was always surrounded by strong Christians. My parents and their associates protected me from most of the negative influences of the sinful world we live in, and nearly always deferred to Biblical principles in their daily conduct. I asked Jesus into my heart at the age of six, and shortly after, I began to contemplate the big questions. I asked my parents about science, evolution, matter, infinity, God’s plan for the world, and why God would create billions of people, most of whom would reject Him and be damned to hell. I wondered how a loving God, with infinite knowledge, could create sentient beings who He would later allow to be tortured for eternity. My parents tried, but failed to answer these questions. Early on, I knew something was missing from their doctrine, but little did I know, it would become a life-long mission of research and discovery.
My parents, and 99% of American Evangelical Christians of that day, relied too heavily on the heart-knowledge of scripture and, and neglected the other three corners of their faith-house. For that reason, their house was open to the storms of temptations, lies, deceptions. The foundation and one corner were intact, but the rest of the structure was crumbling, propped up by old timbers and covered by tarps. They had Jesus and heart-knowledge, but their house was largely unfinished and held together by bailing wire. Eventually, about 15 years into their walk with Christ, their faith house largely collapsed. They quit the Mission, moved back to the U.S., and divorced. They have both gone through decades of personal struggles since then. It is not my place to speculate on another person’s salvation, but without a doubt, they could have spared themselves a lot of heartache and suffering in this life had their faith-houses been completed.
Some will argue, “Jesus is enough” and to them I ask “what do you mean by that?”. Certainly, Jesus IS enough, in the big picture, but he gives a lot of instructions and warnings. He instructed his followers to prepare, to obey, to forgive, and to follow the commandments. He said “broad is the way and easy is the path that leads to destruction. Narrow is the way and difficult is the path that leads to salvation, and few find it”. He said “In that day (the day of Judgement) many will say to me, Lord Lord, I have prophesied in your name, cast out demons in your name, and I will say to them, depart from me, you who practice lawlessness, I never knew you”. Solomon had some beautiful words concerning knowledge and wisdom, calling them more precious that gold, silver and precious stones, and instructed that we seek them as hidden treasure.
So, maybe it is time you question your pastor’s dispensationalist and faith-alone doctrines. Or maybe it’s time that you give up on being a quitter, which is also known as agnosticism. It’s a difficult journey, but you can do it. You’ll go through some struggles, but you will come out the other side much stronger!