What Should a Christian Do When Questioning Their Denomination?

What Should a Christian Do

When Questioning Their Denomination?

How Should a Christian Discern the Right Christian Tradition?

This essay examines a quiet drift.

Modern Christianity, shaped by the prosperity gospel,

and by “Best Life Now” theology,

moving from the Cross

toward comfort.

Drawing on Scripture, on the lives of the saints,

and on the call to run the race with fear and trembling,

it asks believers to discern carefully...

What Should a Christian Do When Questioning Their Denomination?

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What we need most importantly, and what many prosperitarians will not hear, is virtue.

Prosperitarians?

No. I do not mean congregations that sing that lovely song.

I mean those who subscribe to prosperity Christianity.

Those who want to live their “Best Life Now,” in the words of a pastor I truly love, but who is truly wrong.

So let me be clear.

I want to live my best life now, unquestionably.

But it must be tied to helping others live their own best years now.

God and Suffering

God is always on the side of suffering humanity.

It would take a special kind of leaven, the yeast of the Pharisees, to make me believe that those who suffer are less righteous than I am.

And it would take a special kind of hard-heartedness to look at a suffering world, give thanks for my blessings, even boast, eat and sleep and live my “best life now,” while so very many go to bed hungry, sleep on sidewalks, and beg day and night for alms.

Holding on to hope.

Watching the rest of us drive past in our Sunday best, on our way to church, and then drive back home again.

The Question of “Best Life”

I want to live my best life now, unquestionably.

But no one lives their best years with a millstone placed by the enemy around their neck.

My best life, therefore, must be tied to helping others live a better life now.

Our best years must be bound up with liberating others, using whatever charisms we have been graced with.

Our best life, then, is not comfort.

It is storming the gates of hell and setting captives free.

When they are free, then we can talk about the “best life” promised by the prosperitarians.

(Long expository digression.)

So?

What We Need Most Urgently

So what we need most importantly, and what many prosperitarians will not hear, is this:

Virtue.

Virtue.

Virtue.

Virtue.

Virtue Comes First

Any version of Christianity that leads you toward virtue is the right version.

But.

That is only the first step.

It is like being invited to a banquet and wearing the proper wedding garments, so you are not thrown out at the door.

Being at the banquet does not automatically mean you are in relationship with the one who hosted it.

Remember, you were invited because the original guests refused to come.

Beyond Attendance

Relationship requires more than showing up.

It requires intimacy.

It requires knowing Him.

His nature.

What He loves.

What He asks of you.

In the morning.

In the afternoon.

In the evening.

And at night.

And how do you learn this?

By studying the lives of the heroically virtuous.

The saints.

Better still, by studying the religious tradition that formed them that way.

The Stakes

We must never forget the value of our soul, and the divine drama playing out over it.

That eternal drama over who will have it forever.

Who will claim it.

Who will have fellowship with it forever.

Who will listen to its praise and dwell in it eternally.

Or who will hear its wailing and gnashing of teeth,

and revel in it eternally.

For a deeper grounding in this argument on virtue:

👉 https://donkenobi.blogspot.com/2025/11/the-forgotten-doctrine-of-virtue-video.html

Run Your Race

“Run your race with fear and trembling,” the preacher said.

(Philippians 2:12)

He knew exactly what he was talking about.

But wait.

What race?

What race am I running if I am running alongside prosperitarians?

I know you hate that word. I hate it too.

What fear and trembling exists in living our best lives now?

Fear of the loss of comfort?

Fear of picking up the cross and carrying it?

You have no chance of coming after Jesus without these:

(a) Denying yourself

(b) Taking up your cross daily

(c) Following Jesus

Read it yourself:

“If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow Me.”

(Luke 9:23)

He said this to all.

Not to some.

So.

Who has bewitched those who bewitch others with the false gospel of prosperity,

causing them to tolerate that “best life now” doctrine,

a doctrine that despises the Cross?

A Final Word

If you are thinking of switching, switch with fear and trembling.

Not in search of comfort, relevance, or applause from crowds.

But in search of holiness, discipline, and truth that cuts.

Ask not where you feel affirmed, but where you are formed.

Where your soul is trained, corrected, and loved enough for truth.

Choose a tradition that forms saints, not spectators.

One that refuses to flatter you or bargain with the Cross.

One that denies crowns before teaching how to carry wood.

The Cross is not an obstacle to the Christian life.

It is the narrow way into it.

I rest my case.

Don Kenobi