Thursday, November 16, 2006

an annual "Spiritual"

Last Sunday was a transitional class period for the Contenders Sunday school class. We had finished studying the book of Titus the week before and we’re going to start studying Galatians this coming Sunday. So to have a little break I decided to have the class do a Spiritual.

We weren’t singing the great and moving songs of the faith that were made famous by African slaves and post-slavery African American singers and songwriters…no, we were taking a look at our spiritual lives in similar fashion as one would go to a doctor for an annual physical exam.

I got this idea from Lynn Wolters, but he got it from a Church Camp preacher/teacher…and he might have gotten it from somewhere else too. The point is that I didn’t come up with this idea myself, but I think that it has a solid enough point and purpose that it will be useful.

What is the point of a Spiritual exam?

Basically, the purpose of this is to facilitate a true introspection of your own Christian walk to see where you need to grow.


”Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you--unless indeed you fail the test?” – 2 Corinthians 13:5


”So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; “ – Philippians 2:12


”These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life. “ – 1 John 5:13


The categories that we looked at were varied to show the far reaching scope of how the life of a believer is to be changed by Christ. The categories that we looked at were these:

  • My overall relationship with Jesus Christ (John 14:15; 15:10; 1 John 5:3)

  • Time in the Word (Psalms 1:2,3; Joshua 1:8)

  • Prayer Life (Matthew 6:8; James 5:16; 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)

  • Sharing the gospel (Matthew 28:19; Romans 10:14,15)

  • Service for God (Matthew 6:24; Galatians 1:10; 1 Timothy 3:1; James 4:4)

  • Church Attendance (Acts 2:42; Hebrews 10:25)

  • Obedience to his Word (Ephesians 2:10; 4:1; Colossians 1:10; 2:6)

  • Service & Servant leadership (Ephesians 5:22-27; James 1:27)

Other than seeing how well we are doing in these areas, one of the main things that I stressed was to find out which direction you are going? Is my life becoming more Christ-like, more holy, or am I staying the same or slipping down and becoming less Christ like.

I put together a web quiz where I tried to ask questions in such a way that tries to expose the trend of your spiritual life as well as what that says about your spiritual status. The results that you get are not the all-in-all truth, but they may help in telling where you’re at. In other words…take it, but take it with a big (mambo) grain of salt.

You can find the quiz by clicking here.

5 comments:

Michael said...

Hey Check this action out... I guess I am not damned after all!

You scored as You are totally on Fire for God!.



Please visit the Contender: an annual "Spiritual" to see why I wrote this test or to ask any questions or give feedback.

You are totally on Fire for God!

60%
Your spiritual life is on an upward path. Keep Going!

45%
You're in a spiritual

40%
You’re most likely not saved – whether you know it or not

10%
Your spiritual life is wavering, you're heading down. Examine yourself.

10%

EJ said...

I said that one would need a rather large "grain" of salt when taking this quiz, and this is no exception.

My quiz is not perfect, but both you and I know that if you were to ask my honest and humble opinion (having interacted with you for more than 25 questions), I would say that you don't truly understand grace. You emanate much anger in many of your comments, and you have confessed to me that you have a fairly serious problem with hate. This is not evidence of a saved life.

hey - God only knows the truth of any man's spiritual life. However, the guides that He has given us in the Bible make me very, very concerned for you because you seem to have a wrong foundational understanding of salvation. I don't want to rehash all of the various arguments that we have had – you know where we disagree, and you know why I say what I say. So, if anything that I have written has given you the hope/peace of mind that you might be going to heaven when you still believe that we are saved or kept saved through the sacraments – the impression that you got was wrong.

Again, I know you and I disagree on the foundational aspects of the Christian faith and this is not a statement for argument’s sake. It is a statement for clarity’s sake – if you hold to the Catholic teaching on salvation, I do not believe you are saved.

I do hope you do find Christ and His free forgiveness.

Michael said...

I am saved... now that your quiz passed judgement on me... whoo hoo!

Anonymous said...

What does you're in a spritual means ?

EJ said...

I don't know why it shows up like that, but it is really a downward spiral. of the 5 different outcomes of that test, it's 2nd worst.

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