Show Paid Advertisement A PERSONAL FAITH By Ross Blackstock Pastor St. St Pauls Paul's Episcopal Church There are still many Christians today who are Christians because of tradition of family of patriotism any or all of which would have made them persecutors of Christians in times of Christ For the religion of Christ was not the religion of the family the schools the nation It required a personal personal personal per per- decision If you are a Christian Christian Chris Chris- tian just because your family is you would not have been a Christian Chris Chris- Chris 1 tian in the time of I Christ In those days a man had to leave his family to become a Christian see sec Luke 53 1251 Do Roes no toi-k toi you think that it is enough today just to content yourself with a family heritage or to view everything in m the dimensions of family perspectives In an atmosphere where everyone has faith you never know if someone's faith is genuine It is easy for each person person per per- son to believe because of the faith of his neighbor Such a faith amounts to a ahouse ahouse ahouse house of cards to a building whose foundation rests only on sand True faith is obedience to God rather than to men It Jt is not enough then to obey men or simply to imItate men The only way to believe is through a personal encounter encounter encounter en en- counter with God Christ frees us from the Human traditions of washing pots and cups see Mark 9 7 from the traditions of elders and opens us to the perspectives on the living God Modern faith means going against the grain It is ili a great blessing blessing- greater than that possessed ed by traditional traditional Christians who have never had hada a personal experience of God This is parti particularly sad as the main purpose of ofa ofa ofa a Church is to lead us to a vital encounter encounter encounter en en- counter with the Christ who is visible and liv living through hand and m his Cambers Cm C Y w with lit M e 4 ji tt t IMO 1130 IM Paid I |