Posted on 08/28/2016 2:41:41 PM PDT by Salvation
I agree with you. Fellowship is a good thing and some people definitely benefit from it.
Whatever happened to the 3rd Commandment?
“Remember to keep holy the Lord’s Day.”
Have you ever tried the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod or Wisconsin synod?
Believe it or not, there are locations in our country where, if a young professional in a demanding field was openly Christian, that person would quickly lose their position and likely have to start over in another field. It’s a fact. So there are very serious decisions of faith before some young professionals these days which would have been unthinkable, really, ones which most still living older people did not have to face. Of course, elsewhere in the world, the decision to be an openly practicing Christian can be in some instances a more weighty matter of actual life or death. But my guess is that most younger professionals just would rather not wind up a target at their workplace, so they keep quiet, don’t go to church, and slowly their faith slowly fades out over time with other things taking its place to some extent. If our way of life currently is good at anything, it’s good at allowing us to not think about or speak about or to take a stand about serious things.
Sounds like the life we had when the children were young and at home.
Nice life.
Gone now.
For many it’s a sanity check. Given what they have to deal with in the rest of their week.
When the pulpit can not afford to be relevant for fear of changing their tax status they fail to realize they have already become irrelevant.
Did you read that Trump might change that?
About 20 years ago George Barna, probably the #1 pollster of Christians and all things religious, did a book called “Revolution.” In it, his polls showed that people were dropping out of church, not because they were LESS religious, but because they thought the churches didn’t go deep enough into Christianity and Christian messages.
This was, of course, the beginning of the “megachurch” and the “community church.” (I notice even the venerable “Far Hills Baptist Church” in Dayton, OH, changed its name to “Far Hills Community Church.”) As a rock and roller, I’m NOT opposed to good music in church. But over the last 20 years the “show” has become more important than the message. Bands play the very latest from Christian radio, which is fine if you’re at a night club, but murder if you want people to sing and worship. People cannot sing what they don’t know. Most of the singers are scruffy faced guys with whiny voices (and the girls are whiny, but not scruffy faced). In fact, this is a terrific (and very accurate) parody of what goes on: https://search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?p=parody+of+new+megachurches&ei=UTF-8&hspart=mozilla&hsimp=yhs-002.
Even Willow Creek, one of the major “megachurches,” found in an internal survey that its own members were deeply disappointed that they weren’t getting more “God” and that the spiritual discussions were superficial and, well, often meaningless.
Barna found that the “Revolutionaries” actually pray more, read the Bible more, but don’t tithe as much and obviously don’t go to church as much.
I don’t think that’s the case with many, perhaps most. It’s certainly not what Barna’s surveys found. People wanted more God, not less.
I go, and I dress appropriately too. You should see what the people at my (Catholic) church wear. Tight capri pants and five inch heels on one woman, scruffy jeans on another...But at least they're there. Friends of mine, a very devout couple who are involved spiritually and socially, have kids who stop attending as soon as they're old enough to work and offer an excuse for skipping mass. Other friends, nearer my age (20s) don't go because of employment or family demands or just the sense that their faith has little relevance in their lives, beyond Christmas and maybe Easter.
It isn't all on them, though. The Church has gone soft, imo. Heavy on tolerance and outreach and relativism. Primary concern: don't offend anyone. Don't even defend Christ if it means stepping on someone's toes. Never condemn even the murder of infants, someone might be made to feel, um, sinful.
What does the Church actually stand for, anymore, that people should stand with it, and kneel in it? Seems like in some churches, if you still have religious beliefs, you're welcome to stay home and keep it between yourself and the Lord.
I still go...but there's so much ritual and so little communion with God, I don't feel as I should when I leave the building.
Episcopal church has to pay people to serve at church? Really? Are you being sarcastic, I sure hope so.
That is what I live by. I've been thinking about this a lot lately.
Perhaps that parable about the Samaritan struck home.
I believe many people do not go, because they are not saved, truly or they are not believing Gods word regarding getting together with other believers and sincerely worshipping our Creator. Also the excuses given for not attending, are always motivated by pleasing self, putting self ahead of the greater good. We go to church to worship, but also to encourage, pray for and disciple each other. Church is so much more than singing and sermon.
Like you, a few of us are in the odd duck category. My own dilemma is similar. Stuck in my case, in a diocese so watered down by now it’s a flooding, and hours and hours of drive time to the nearest old Traditional Mass.
I want more of God, and to strive for more “madness”, as you said, and not accept decline and pedestrian level faith of convenience and donuts.
Thank you, Rooster! You put it so well.
I’m quite sad about the Lutheran’s big push to queue up to the government teat to import “refugees”
You'd never guess that from the Church I go to. People going in T-Shirts and Shorts, they obviously didn't put too much effort in.
There is no good format to do it. Open threads invite inter-confessional rancor, and Catholic Caucus threads don’t allow even comparisons between confessions. So-called “ecumenical” threads are a rarity.
You are welcome to peruse my old threads (see profile) and ask anything you want. I’ll answer if and when I have time.
Without reading the article:
BECAUSE THEY ARE LAZY. Period.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.