Posted on 05/20/2015 11:52:50 AM PDT by Jan_Sobieski
I recently attended a service that might help solve the riddle of the fantastic decline of American Christianity. It was a different church from the one I normally go to. Let me set the scene, perhaps it will sound familiar:
I walked in and immediately realized that I’d inadvertently stumbled upon a totally relaxed, convenient, comfortable brand of church. The first hint was the choir members dressed in shorts and flip flops. Sweet, bro. So chill.
There were a bunch of acoustic guitars and drums and tambourines and a keyboard. Before the service/concert began, some guy came out to rev up the crowd. Opening acts aren’t usually a part of the liturgical experience, but this is 2015 and we’re, like, so not into solemn silence and prayer anymore.
There must always be noise. Always noise. Sounds. Lights. Never silence, not even for a moment. Finally, church started. The choir, or jam band for Jesus, or whatever it was, played a song that sounded like a cross between a 90′s Disney soundtrack and an easy listening favorite you might hear if you skimmed through your aunt’s second generation iPod. It wasn’t really contemporary, or good, or relevant, but at least it wasn’t traditional. Because YUCK! Tradition is old...!
(Excerpt) Read more at theblaze.com ...
2 Timothy 4:3 For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.
In a consumer driven society the only way to gain market share is to give the consumers what they want. Previous generations would have seen through the facade of the dead, watered down, seeker sensitive sermons that have no power to transform us or our children's lives. However today, Joel Osteen-esque, feel good, sermons are the only ones allowed. We have thrown off the shackles of a God that demands right living and a wholesome life, in favor of a new god, which our fathers did not know, that winks at all sin and condemns only those who dare to judge the morality of the day...
Jeremiah 5:31 The prophets prophesy lies, the priests rule by their own authority, and my people love it this way. But what will you do in the end?
HeLLFiRe and Brimstone futures just jumped thru the roof.
I went to several churches in Seattle for my 28 years as a Christian there. I then moved, 4 years ago, to the bible belt.
Here the message is much simpler and usually involves the “turn or burn’ message - and no small amount of “laughing” at the unsaved, while imploring the members to invite others to church. The preaching is mainly entertainment and short on theology.
But the part that is somewhat annoying is that there is not much room for those that disagree with them, even though they often can not tell you why they believe what they believe. It’s just something a preacher said when they were a kid and that’s good enough for them.
And a Christian can pray, love others, take communion, share the message, etc. ANYWHERE. They don’t need to go to church to do it. it’s why I see church as a place where I can bless others and be blessed by others. And that can mean excitement, good music, prayer, pot lucks, you name it.
We are not muslims. When asked how to live a Christian life, I say start with Ecclesiastes and then go on to the new testament.
Mainstream American Christianity has become little more than a social club with warm fuzzy be a good person and obey the golden rule pablum. There is no sin, to say otherwise makes you a bigot. There is no hell, God is all about love and would never send anybody to hell, so don’t worry if you are gay, an adulter, a thief...hey it’s all good. Pass around that collection plate and refreshments will be served in the lobby!
No wonder people are abandoning religion altogether or switching to beliefs like Islam, where at least they stand for...something, anything...(even if it is lopping off heads in the name of the prophet).
No, it’s because Americans like “Oprah Winfrey moralistic feel-good deism”. The idea of sin offends their spoilt notions of hedonism.
Real faith requires obligation and sacrifice, which have become anathema to many people.
When are these “contemporary” churches going to realize it’s not the 70s anymore? They are playing Grandma’s folk songs from Bill and Hill’s college days,and there is nothing remarkable about those ditties.
At least Gregoian chants aged well for hundreds of years. This stuff is rancid after 30 years.
It has always been boring, but the question is relative. Back before so many distractions were commonplace (Internet, television, video games, online communities, etc.) All of life was boring. Most of life was mundane, and people had to entertain themselves.
Going to Church has always been boring, but it used to be less so relative to the rest of people's lives. It used to have a dominant market share of social interaction, but nowadays people do a lot more social interaction outside of church.
Nowadays people simply have too many other things they would rather do. Things that didn't exist or which were not so common back in the Heyday of church going America.
We are literally amusing ourselves to death.
Christianity isnt dying. They want it to, but its not. Christ is the headof church.
I was raised Episcopalian , was an altar boy, we had a few fired up REvs , mostly from alcohol consumption, I can’t remember any sermon that left my eyebrows singed.. And I usually sat near the Rev when he gave the sermon.
When I joined the Marines, I remember coming home to see the family and my Dad and uncle , a WW2 vet.. And finding out they had a new Rev. A gay female one. He passed a few years later and did get visits from the gay Rev. During his decline.
I have no animosity against the churches as they are today,, yet I am unfortunately not content to grace their presences anytime soon either.
We all have different decoder rings, it seems.
By design? Or choice? is the question.
Do you mean to say people are going to church to be entertained? Wow, I somehow overlooked that concept. I can think of more entertaining places to go, such as the movies, but they don’t offer the promise of eternal life.
Can't be repeated often enough.
The article is not about boring songs from hymnals. It is about this current generation of seeker sensitive churches that are bereft of gospel truth, but jammed packed with new age sound.
Amen!
Gregorian chants? Surely you are kidding. Compared to Protestant Hymns, like “How Great Thous Art” for instance, Gregorian chants sound to my ears like death chants, morgue music.
I always figured that Worship wasn’t about me so I don’t complain.
Profound!
I played bass in the worship band for a local revival. I sat right up front the first night, but the pastor screamed so loud, almost the whole time, that the second night I sat in the back. It literally hurt my ears.
And he seemed to be looking to entertain more than preach any sound doctrine or life changing message. I was looking for meat. ANY meat in the sermon. There was none.
But what was annoying was a chorus of five or six guys that would follow every sentence with “preach it, brother”, “That’s right”, “amen”, etc. And this was even when he said something was very BAD. It’s like saying “I just found out that my wife has Cancer”, and they respond, “Amen. That’s right!”
It was lunacy - in a church.
Very funny! I think that is the point. Keep the people fat, dumb, and happy while contributing to the building fund. Theology be damned!
“There is no hell, “
I’m a lay speaker in a Methodist church and I mentioned Hell in my last message.
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