[Alec Cross]

I would think that cultural Christians have been a large part of a negative influence on the world and the church through hypocrisy. I grew up in the church and have had seasons where I had done this and saw many people say “I am a Christian” but that was the only way you knew that they were a Christian. Many people self-identify with their words or by going to church, but don’t actually take the teaching of Jesus, all of the Scriptures, and what it means for our lives seriously. This has hurt the witness of the church and who Jesus is many friends I have talked with where they are judged by Christians, they have been deeply hurt and wounded by actions that Christians are called to never participate in, and that Christians will plainly say they are one way, but do the opposite without even struggling or seeking to change.
I think honesty and genuine faith and lack of faith would help eliminate hypocrisy in the church. I see Christians who don’t feel it’s alright to say they are struggling with sin, or struggling to have faith that God will do something, or share that they are still a work in progress. Admitting this to the world, that while Christians are invited to be different and be like Jesus, we are still in the process of doing so and learning how to un-do this draw to sin and harm that we cause ourselves, others, and all of the world. We are all in process, even those who are in Christ.

[Alec Cross]

The implications are that we don’t believe or hope in the resurrection of all people and for the restoration of all things when Christ returns. Without the reality of Christ’s resurrection from the dead our whole Christian faith lacks the power and credibility that God is a God who restores, redeems, and brings dead things back to life. Paul shares that without the resurrection of Christ there is no resurrection spiritually in our own lives but also there is no resurrection hope for our bodies when God makes all things new. This is a core truth of the Christian faith and without it, there is no real reason our faith is different than others.

[Alec Cross]

I have had a hard time doubting the historical accuracy of the Bible honestly. I have grown up with a lot of teaching and resources that have helped me see it as historical and truthful. I would say the hardest part of understanding the Scriptures accuracy and truthfulness is the various perspectives of how we may see literal or figurative interpretation. Growing up I was taught that all of the Bible was literal and was intended to be interpreted as such, but more recently through a deeper understanding of the Jewish Scripture and how that relates to the Christian New Testament I have learned that has not been historically how the Church and the Jewish faith community have interpreted all of Scripture.

[Alec Cross]

Yes, as a young person who grew up in the church, I often wondered if all we did was just blind faith not really based on something deeper. I think as you grow up you begin to have experience that shape your view of God and view of the world, and for me those experiences began to shape a deeper view of God, and a deeper understanding and faith as I saw God move and work in my life and in those around me.

[Alec Cross]

I think the entire history of the Jewish people within and beyond the Old Testament texts are a huge testimony of who God is, why he created the world and humans, and his hope and design for it all. It’s fascinating how much I didn’t hear about this history and even the prophecies in the Torah and Pentateuch growing up in a christian home, but how later on in my young adulthood this history and these stories deeply shaped my belief in God as Lord, and the story of the Gospel more specifically. I think it would be very difficult to ignore the Jewish community as God’s people amidst all they have suffered and been through yet still remaining as a people. Likewise, I think it would be difficult to ignore how the Church has grown out of the Jewish faith and community into all the world over the last 2,000 years. If you follow the history and the people along with it, there is a deep recognition that God is who He says he is and is up to something big in our world today, and will complete that work when He returns and makes all things new.