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.
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.
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.
I always figured that Worship wasn’t about me so I don’t complain.
"not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?"
Good Lord, did Dana Carvey’s little church lady character write this crap?
That may be one reason.
I attend a Lutheran Missouri Synod church. We started a contemporary service about 5 years ago and it’s still going strong. Our late service is traditional. The sermons are the same for both but the music and style of worship are very different. I get the feeling sometimes that they think us traditional types are not getting with the times, but I hate syrupy, contemporary music heavy on drums and electric guitars. I want a hymn written 600 or 800 years ago (or more) with a message that is just as bright and powerful now as it was then. Give me more tradition, not less.
Stat crux dum volvitur orbis - “The Cross is steady while the world is turning.” The central act of history is Christ’s redemption of man on the Cross. While all merely human affairs have their ebbs and flows — the rising and falling of nations and empires, war and peace, triumph and tragedy — the great reality of the Cross remains constant and will root us in eternity. This is what it’s all about. It’s not about pandering to morons by being hip or yielding to the will-o’-the-wisp fads and fallacies of the moment.
Church is boring compared to that big screen TV with surround sound. It’s a matter of what people want in their eyes and ears.