The Inadequacy of "Instant Christianity"

'The American genius for getting things done quickly and easily with little concern for quality or permanence has bred a virus that has infected the whole evangelical church.'

'Instant Christianity came in with the machine age. Men invented machines for two purposes. They wanted to get important work done more quickly and easily than they could do it by hand, and they wanted to get the work over with so they could give their time to pursuits more their liking, such as loafing or enjoying pleasures of the world. Instant Christianity now serves the same purposes in religion. It disposes of the past, guarantees the future and sets the Christian free to follow the more refined lusts of the flesh in all good conscience and with a minimum of restraint.'

'By “instant Christianity” I mean the kind found almost everywhere in gospel circles and which is born of the notion that we may discharge our total obligation to our own souls by one act of faith, or at most by two, and be relieved thereafter or all anxiety about our spiritual condition that we may discharge our total obligation to our own and we are permitted to infer from this that there is no reason to seek to be saints by character. An automatic once-for-all quality is present here that is completely out of mode with the faith of the New Testament.'

'It is true that conversion to Christ may be and often is sudden. When the burden of sin has been heavy the sense of forgiveness is usually clear and joyful. ... The true Christian has met God. But the trouble is that we tend to put our trust in our experiences and as a consequence misread the entire New Testament.'

'There are decisions that can be and should be made once and for all. There are personal matters that can be settled instantaneously by a determined act of will in response to Bible-grounded faith. No one would want to deny this; certainly not I.'

'The question before us is, Just how much can be accomplished in that one act of faith? How much yet remains to be done and how far can a single decision take us?'

'Instant Christianity tends to make the faith act terminal and so smothers the desire for spiritual advance. It fails to understand the true nature of the Christian life, which is not static but dynamic and expanding. It overlooks the fact that a new Christian is a living organism as certainly as a new baby is, and must have nourishment and exercise to assure physical growth.'

'Undue preoccupation with the initial act of believing has created in some a psychology of contentment, or at least non-expectation. To many it has imparted a mood of disappointment with the Christian faith. God seems too far away, the world is too near, and the flesh too powerful to resist. Others are glad to accept the assurance of automatic blessedness. It relieves them of the need to watch and fight and pray, and sets them free to enjoy this world while waiting for the next.'

'Instant Christianity is twentieth-century orthodoxy. I wonder whether the man who wrote Philippians 3:7-16 would recognize it as faith for which he finally died. I am afraid he would not.'

A.W. Tozer - excerpts from "That Incredible Christian"