The Unsaved Christian

The Unsaved Christian: Reaching Cultural Christianity with the Gospel
By: Dean Inserra

“Mainstream Cultural Christians aren’t wrapped up in promoting some kind of gospel message. They are simply trying to be nice to others, pursue their idea of personal happiness, pray when something bad happens, and rest in the belief that they are going to heaven after they die."

Does this sound like you or someone you know?

The Unsaved Christian is a straightforward, practical look into the false faith that our country is soaked in. This book does not condemn; the heart of this book is to help us identify ourselves or those we love who are actually Cultural Christians (as described above) and realize that this is a mission field. A commitment with eternal consequences, avoiding awkward or potentially offensive conversations with those we love is unacceptable.

We are doing no one any favors if we refuse to ask the hard questions- of ourselves and those close to us. This is a book about drawing people into the family of God, not leaving them out by crossing our fingers in hopes that simple kindness unlocks those pearly gates. This is not a book of calling out and shutting out but of encouragement and open doors.

Inserra invokes these statistics: "According to a study of US adults, 80% of those polled believe in God, but only 56% believe in God as described in the Bible. Considering the fact that approximately 70% of the US population still identifies as Christian, we have a large group of people that would be likely overlooked in outreach or missions."

In a country where being a Christian is not a life or death label (though certain forms of persecution are increasing) it is easy to lay claim to this title. After all, we believe in God (you know, the loving, unoffensive God), we go to church (at least on Easter and Christmas), we pray (when we want to win our football game, it's expected of us, or when our health is in jeopardy), we are good people (well, at least better than our coworkers and our neighbors, and all those people from that other political party), we say Merry Christmas instead of Happy Holidays, and God is all about love so he knows we try hard and if he knows what's good for him, he will definitely let us into heaven. Heaven is for pretty much everyone but Nazis and serial killers.

But any deeper probes into this line of reasoning and there are not many convincing answers. How good is good enough? How many more good things than bad must we do to be okay? Are there no consequences for breaking the Ten Commandments? If any good person goes to heaven, then why did Jesus die? What makes us any different than people who aren't Christians? How, specifically, has knowing Jesus changed the way you live?

Inserra gives these disclaimers:
"The gospel is not church attendance.
The gospel is not “be sincere and a good person”
The gospel is not theism.
The gospel is not heritage.
The gospel is not an ethnicity.
The gospel is not making Jesus your copilot or your lucky charm."

I think this is a great book to read alongside Word-Centered Church by Jonathan Leeman, as we take into consideration what kind of Christianity we're "selling" by our daily example and by the ways our churches function. Things you would think are harmless may actually be perpetuating this Cultural Christianity mindset of finding eternal collateral based on traditions, values, rites of passage, or some sort of generic deity that requires no real life transformation or repentance. The gospel message and the authority of the Word is essential in this conversation.

When we aren't sharing the exclusive gospel, we are allowing people to find false security in a shallow, club-minded, politics-driven, or tradition-keeping faith that has not truly wrecked their hearts with the reality of their sin and standing before a holy God, and his necessary and life-changing redemption.

"Jesus wasn’t looking for crowds, but rather a commitment." Scripture is clear that the path to eternal life is narrow and few find it. Many have been done a disservice, their faith validated that as long as they are good people and go to church every once in awhile, the big man upstairs can't turn them away. Because God would not offend anyone by being against anything the culture deems good and our hearts deem pleasurable. And thus God's love has been detrimentally separated from his holiness.

Throughout the book, Inserra addresses several types of Cultural Christians that he labels: The Country Club Christian, Christmas & Easter Christian, God & Country Christian, Liberal Social Justice Christian, Moralistic Therapeutic Deist Christian, Generational Catholic, Mainline Protestant, and Bible Belt Christian.

Are you uncomfortable yet?

I am confident in my salvation and the depth of my faith, but still felt convicted by a lot of the points he made. These mindsets are sneaky and creep in without you realizing. For me, it was his chapter about politics and Christianity. The polarization between Democrats and Republicans feels like it's an irreparable disparity today. And I find myself falling into group identities and allowing politics to often supersede the gospel when I consider other people.

Try this one on for size:
"Partisan politics might be the new religion of American, and the church is getting in step with the times, watch the social media posts of professing Christians and what provokes their most passionate writing, responses, and claims, and you will likely find it to be politics. It is a religion, but its idolatry is masked by Christian language and 'good causes.'" And then, "How many Christians would affirm that they have more in common with a Christian from a different political party than an unbeliever in their own registered party?"

Yikes. This should not be. Granted our faith drives our politics, we have to really hold captive our politics lest it undermine the unity of a gospel-believing church. Does being in a particular political party truly negate their faith and status in God's family?

Lots of relevant and important topics discussed in these pages. He presents the stark reality between Cultural Christianity and authentic faith, offering good examples of each kind of misguided mindset. Though a lot of it seemed a bit repetitive, it may take saying the truth several different ways for us to humbly realize- Oh. That's me. I do think that way...

This is a very practical and helpful book that I would highly recommend reading with an open heart and mind. It is not an open-ended questioning of salvation until any truth is subjective and future is a mystery, but rather a loving challenge to consider the truths of the Bible and a deep internal heart-check for yourself. It's a real 'aha' moment for churches to understand where a mission field is ripe for the harvest.

Each chapter has good discussion questions at the end making this book a Bible Study or small group option. Throughout each chapter he also provides practical tips on conversing with different types of Cultural Christians and offers some helpful questions. In addition to the types of cultural Christians he talks about, he addresses things like church membership, baptism, "perseverance of the saints," altar calls, and sermon content.

This is a hard reality, and reading this book is a step in the right direction of doing the most loving thing we can for people- bringing them into the family of God.

"When it comes to Unsaved Christians, one has to have the emotional discipline to accept the reality that just because someone is your husband or wife, son or daughter, brother or sister, or best friend, and raised in the same religious climate and church, does not mean they are saved… someone might know Christianity, but not Christ."

Some other quotes:

"Self-proclaimed Christians who worship a god that requires no self-sacrifice, no obedience, no submission, and no surrender are not worshiping the God of the Bible, no matter how much they claim they love Jesus. (Jn 14:15, 14:23) Many people want the good-luck-charm Jesus, not the sacrificial Lamb of God whose death requires action."

"Civic religion promotes a god without any definition and a generic faith that demands and asks nothing of its followers… In some areas, civic religion is even proudly theistic and likes the idea of Jesus. Selective words spoken by Jesus in the New Testament will be used and cited when the political cause of the day needs a rally cry...regardless of one’s adherence the authority of Scripture as a whole."

"A troubling reality in much of evangelical life is that convincing someone they are saved seems to take precedence over making sure someone is actually saved. This must change. Somehow questioning another person's salvation became taboo in evangelical culture, when it could possibly be one of the most loving things you can do for another; it could mean the difference between seeds that sprout and bloom and seeds that are snatched away."

"Unbelievers know when their friends who claim to be Christian don’t actually take their faith seriously. It is detrimental to the mission of God in a community when unbelievers see little distinction between themselves and friends who are associated with a church."

"If asked about their faith, [Cultural Christians] wouldn’t be uncomfortable, but would respond with answers about going to church and being good people. Church is a place where basic social expectations are met in the name of morals, family, and tradition… they are not defensive or awkward when it comes to questions about their beliefs. They certainly believe in avid and, as far as they are concerned, they always have and always will. But if the conversation moved to questions about Jesus, salvation, and the gospel. It would be a different story."

"I’ve never been able to figure out why Christmas and Easter would be the “can’t miss” church services for the Cultural Christian. What we acknowledge and celebrate in those days are not conventional or widely acceptable things. We acknowledge that a God-Man was born and then that He was brutally murdered and raised from the dead. These are not normal things! This has to create some sort of disconnect in the mind of a Cultural Christian, unless churches don’t preach to that disconnect."