The Fighting Fundamental Forums

Why do people keep "Score" in their Christian lives? 

I read a financial disclosure of a mega church recently that started out with detailing exactly how many baptisms they've performed since the beginning of the church. 

I know men that have keep exact numbers on how many people have "gotten saved"...."under".... their ministry. 

I was probably concerned at one time about being able to prove "my worth to God".... to others....but not now. I can't tell you how effective I've been in my life with the Gospel. The only thing I know is..... I wish I'd have done more. Only God has the record. I stopped keep track a very long time ago.

You're heard the old saying.......

If just "one"..... is changed... then its all worth it. 

I change that a long time ago too.....

I say.... If its "none"...... then its all worth it. 

Success isn't always the intended result.....

What do you think?

(03-29-2017, 07:13 PM)praise_yeshua Wrote: [ -> ]Why do people keep "Score" in their Christian lives? 

I read a financial disclosure of a mega church recently that started out with detailing exactly how many baptisms they've performed since the beginning of the church. 

I know men that have keep exact numbers on how many people have "gotten saved"...."under".... their ministry. 

I was probably concerned at one time about being able to prove "my worth to God".... to others....but not now. I can't tell you how effective I've been in my life with the Gospel. The only thing I know is..... I wish I'd have done more. Only God has the record. I stopped keep track a very long time ago.

You're heard the old saying.......

If just "one"..... is changed... then its all worth it. 

I change that a long time ago too.....

I say.... If its "none"...... then its all worth it. 

Success isn't always the intended result.....

What do you think?

I agree with you in that some people are obsessed with numbers.  Our job is to plant and water, but the increase belongs to God.  Sure, it is awesome to “see” (be a witness to) fruit in our earthly lifetime, but we need to remember that it is not “our” fruit.  And in reality, we can never be sure if we were the sole planter and the sole waterer, which makes it somewhat foolish to proudly claim any increase in a personal “win column”. 
 
And I agree also with “none”.  But I would also add that just because a person never personally witnesses a soul being added to God’s kingdom, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they didn’t have an influence in the lives of those who ultimately came to Christ.  Perhaps a person is used by God as a planter, and He chose someone else to do the watering.  And it’s within the realm of possibility that there was more than one planter before the seed fell on good ground and more than one waterer before the fruit appeared...
 
I believe that our sole responsibility is to sprinkle seeds liberally and to water liberally, but we are not to boast about the increase.  We won’t honestly know this side of Heaven what was wood/hay/stubble and what was gold/silver/precious jewels.  That is for the Bema seat.

i agree with everything said so far.....  and i would even go a step further to say while it doesn;t bother me as much to hear christians keeping score on what they think are their own christian accomplishments.....( only God knows the truth of the matter )...  ....it does bother me when i hear them try to keep score on everybody else..... and especially when they set themselves up as the judge of who or who isn;t a "successful" christian..... ... .....i recently saw one such person even defend himself when confronted about both that issue and also his misapplications of scripture by saying God had "blessed him with wisdom...and the results were there to prove it".... 

the scriptures tell us in many different places and in many different ways that the way of humility is the proper path for the christian - and in no way does that humility involve keeping score....... not on ourselves or on anybody else either...... ..... . but when i saw that comment the first thing that came to my mind was 1st corinthians 10:22 ...."wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall"

of course the person who made that comment about his wisdom blessed existence loves to slander other christians by the bucket load, while taking on himself to judge the success or failure of their christians lives and efforts.....  yet when confronted about his anti-scriptural actions and arrogant attitudes towards others he actually has the audacity to accuse those calling him out of being scorners..... as if his thoughts and opinions were the very thoughts and opinions of God Himself.... and rejection of such equated to apostasy...... 

i see that kind of attitude as something coming directly from a man worship style of religion which aggressively encourages keeping score..... puts men they see as "successful" christians on pedestals to worship them like gods..... laments christianity will never be the same once those men are gone.... . then erects statues of them in front of the church after they are dead..... .. and i believe both the attitude and the legacy of the particular church which became famous for those things , are the natural result of it..... 

none of us really knows how and when God uses us..... .. what we might think was a great triumph for Christ could in fact turn out to be little or nothing in the eyes of God.... .. and something we might have looked back at as a waste of our time might have in reality been one of the times God used us the most..... ... all we can do is continue on as the writer of ecclesiastes wrote.... fearing God and keeping His commandments.... for that is our whole duty..... ... not keeping score....