Textbook Beliefs

I recently got back form a Men and Boy's retreat our church had at the camp I normally go to in the summer. During one of the messages that was preached, the pastor kept bringing up the point about how saying some words you don't even remember when you were 5 or 6 doesn't mean you're saved and that being raised in a Christian home and acting Christian doesn't either. This really connected with me because for 8 years I went around saying I was saved until I finally realized that I'd just kinda been following the crowd and saying some preset words when I 'got saved', so that night no July 13th, 2005 I got things set right and was truly saved, thank God.

However, I honestly feel sorry for those of us who have had to grwo up in Christian homes, exposed pretty much exclusively to Christian views and opinions the majority of our younger lives. While it's a very blessed position to be in, it gives us the danger of living out textbook Christianity and acting like Christians--not because we're saved and truly love God for being all that He is, but because it's what's expected out of us and anything less gets us labeled as some horrible sinful person in the eyes of our Christian-raised peers or other churchmembers. There have been times when I, when in a reverie about my future and what may or may not be in store there, have thought that I wouldn't want my children to grow up like I have. I'd want them to have a great life, yes, but having Christianity ingrained into your mind for so long can make you belive that you're saved when you're not, and should the worst happen before you do get things right, then you end up in Hell, and I wouldn't be able to bear the thought of that happening to my child. Even though I'm nowhere near being a parent at this point, it's still hard to even consider. But, on the other hand, I know it's be wrong to keep my children isolated from Christianity and God, and so I'd want to keep them exposed to it so that they would come to see God and love Him and accept him as their Savior. There was a point brought up in a discussion at the retreat by someone who was saved later in their life; they said that those of us who were saved at an earlier age or rasied in Christian homesare often guilty of being less thankful to God for what He's done for us because we haven't seen how bad things can get, and so we don't realize just what we were spared from. I find this to be very true, and it's been evident in my life since when life's all good and normal I feel like I don't need God, but during times when things are going bad I get closer to Him and am so much more thankful for Him being there.

It seems to me like being raised in a Christian home and school, while it does do good in teaching a child about God from an early age, promotes a textbook type of Christianity, where Bible reading and devotions and Christlike behavior are done out of obligation or requirement, and not for the right reasons. This has been most evident to me in my Bible class, where it seems that, due to the way the class works, the Bible is being turned into little more than just anohter one of our textbooks, and thus we're missing the benefits of being able to learn from God's Word in Christian school to trying to make sure we can fill in the correct answer on our tests. Because, no matter how much we've learned spiritually, in the end our grades are what our parents look at to see what we've learned, and the grades are qhat can get us in more trouble in the short run.