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Who Are The Evangelicals?
This was one of the questions we heard recently on the political scene because one candidate mustered up a bunch of support from them. The new media said that the next state would not have the same group because it was the second least religious state in the nation. The media was questioning about who these evangelicals were, and there seemed to be a little disdain or animosity towards these people. But I suppose that is nothing new. When people who are not a part of something view it, they do so from an outsiders view. Such is the case with the majority of the media. All this prompted me to investigate who these evangelicals were. My investigation turned out to be quite confusing to me. After some consideration, I figured that those who write the definitions of who these people are are people who do not share the same values. That is quite obvious. I asked my phone the definition of "evangelical" and was given several links to investigate.
From Webster's dictionary we read this: "of or relating to a Christian sect or group that stresses the authority of the Bible, the importance of believing that Jesus Christ saved you personally from sin or hell, and the preaching of these beliefs to other people". This really surprises me because statistics tell us that millions of evangelicals live in this country. But when you actually look at those who call themselves evangelicals, you see people who do not respect the authority of scripture. Millions of them hold to doctrines that are foreign to the Bible. There are very few groups or sects which can be said they believe in the authority of scripture and use scripture to establish authority for any teaching or practice. Apparently many of these are of the Catholic faith, in which the Bible is not treated as the word of God. Otherwise, they would not receive edicts and teachings which contradict the Bible. It seems lately, that everytime the pope speaks, he puts doubt upon the authority of scripture because his words sometimes are even opposite of the Bible.
Also from different sites it appears that those who are described as evangelical do not use the term for themselves. They prefer the term Christian instead. Even then, just because one calls themself a Christian does not make them a true New Testament Christian.
One problem we find in this is the fact that those who claim to be evangelical are not consistent in their faith. They speak out against abortion as murder, but do not speak out against the fornication which is mostly responsible for the need for an abortion. They scream that we should keep the words "God bless America", or "In God we trust", yet these same people, use the name of God often in cursing and swearing. They say that all are created equal in the sight of God, but treat different people with hatred and animosity. They might know some things to be wrong, but in many cases it depends upon who is doing it.
Whenever a group tries to impose their values upon others, there is going to be resistance. Some groups get away with forcing their values on others, and other groups are hindered from even expressing their belief.
Even within the ranks of the Lord's church as this author and others of like faith have seen occur, we have inconsistency in our ranks. Members of the church have taken political sides and have shunned brethren in other congregations. Granted in many cases there is a history that plays into this, and that history is not always known. Before long, if you hang around one group, you will begin to learn why you should not fellowship the other group. You might hear similar words if you spent time with that other group. Both groups claim to be conservative, but one group uses a fellowship hall room, and the other teaches error on divorce and remarriage. Any number of groups will find a problem with just about everyone else if they go searching. Sometimes these problems arise in a local congregation which makes life miserable for everyone involved, and you have to wonder what any of them get out of their period of worship.
A bad Christian is all the justification anyone needs to avoid Christianity. Let us not be bad Christians.
By Carey Scott

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