"Falling Away"

I recently received an email from an old “friend” that I went to school with at Freed-Hardeman University. I hadn’t heard from her in about 5 years, and welcomed the idea of catching up. I opened the e-mail and this is what it said, “Conni- I heard that you fell away from the church, and I want you to know that I am praying for you.” Now, keep in mind that I work at a church, and I received the email at my church email address. I was confused. I have certainly not “fallen away.” After further investigation and clarification, I found out that what she meant was that I had left the teachings of Freed-Hardeman University-, which, in part is true. At first I was livid. But then it dawned on me just how sad the entire thing was.

Here are a few things that I learned at FHU that I have "fallen away from:"
1. We are saved by how much we do for the Kingdom, and how much money we give.
2. Conservative Church of Christ members are the only ones going to Heaven.
3. God is an angry God and He will pour out His wrath on you.
4. You might be saved if you memorize enough verses and achieve A’s in all of your required Bible classes.
5. There is no excuse for sin, and you shall be punished, ridiculed, and belittled if you do it.
6. Evangelism is as important as baptism, if not more so.
7. “Mixed swimming,” dancing, instrumental music, and whether or not to where shorts to class are all matters of salvation, and need to be taken extremely seriously.

I am not going to go on…although I could. My “friend” is right. I did fall away from the things that FHU preached as gospel. When I fell away, I was able to learn to think for myself, and to come to understand more about truly living my life for Christ and for the Kingdom.

Here are a few things that I learned after falling away from FHU:

1. We are saved by the grace of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Nothing less, nothing more.
2. I am not the judge and don’t know who will be in Heaven. But I believe with all of my heart that God knows each and every heart, and I am confident that members of conservative churches of Christ are not the only ones with hearts for Christ.
3. God is a loving, merciful, and forgiving God.
4. Bible classes and memory verses have nothing to do with salvation.
5. We are all human and fall short. Every single one of us. The blood of Christ covers our sin.
6. Spreading the Good News is a good thing, but I don’t believe God is keeping a tally of how many folks we dunk under the water. Where does it say in the Bible that evangelism is the avenue to remission of sin?
7. “Mixed swimming,” dancing, instrumental music, and whether or not to where shorts to class are all matters of choice, and are absolutely not matters of salvation.

The bottom line for me is simple. FHU teaches memorization, and evangelism. There is nothing wrong with either of those things. But if our Christianity is based on just those two things, we are in trouble. In contrast, the Bible calls for us to be kind, compassionate, and loving people, who focus on CHRIST and His life. We are called to live each and everyday with the intention of glorifying our Lord.

We all have God given choice, and for that I am thankful. I am also thankful that I chose to “fall away” from the teachings at FHU, because it allowed me to draw closer to my Savior.