Oh Boomer Where Art Thou?
As a young person I think I was overly
impressed with the Biblical teaching that salvation is a free gift of God, and
that there was nothing we could do to earn our salvation. While these are true statements, for the sake
of high-volume evangelism it was not stressed often enough to new converts that
there are conditions which God the Father requires of us if we truly want to be
a part of His Kingdom. The "taking
up your cross" and "dying to self" parts were de-emphasized when
the main pitch was "God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your
life" if you will just pray the sinner's prayer.
Many Christian converts of the "Jesus
Movement" of the late sixties were invited to join the Everlasting Throng with
only a modicum of entry level belief. I remember
the Doobie Brothers singing, "Jesus is just alright with me!" Wow, I
bet Jesus was just thrilled to have been vetted by the Doobie Brothers and
given their approval. But out of the culture war that began 50 years
ago of seeing who can shock others the most by being the most unique, the
"Jesus Freak" was born. The
Jesus Movement itself was actually a Christian response to the "Free-Love Hippy
Movement" of the late sixties.
But the baby boomer generation was
inundated with life-simplifying, quick-fix products and solutions for
everything, and our culture was pushing a very self-centered philosophy of "Free
Love", "If it feels good, do it", and "Life is short, grab
for all the gusto you can!" And Instead of "If you love me, then
keep my commandments, the most popular "If & Then" proposition for
my generation was "If you can't be with the one you love, honey, then
love the one you're with."
Nevertheless, there were many of us who
came through the Jesus Movement days of the 60's and 70's who have gone on to
discover what it is that God truly expects from us who would be His Sons and
Daughters in His Kingdom. Yes, we are
saved by grace through faith, but the complete Torah of the Father teaches us
how we are to obey Him and thereby learn what it is to be in an active, daily
relationship with Him through Yeshua Ha’Mashiach, Jesus the Christ!
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