Posted on 08/31/2015 7:55:40 AM PDT by TBP
Over the past few years as a minister there has been a growing narrative that, for many reasons, I haven’t been able to escape. It would seem that the statistics and facts all say that “church” is in decline. Don’t take my word for it either… there are plenty of other Huffington Post authors chiming in about this apparent trend too.
Some say that it’s all about the lack of religion in our schools, laws and culture as if the country is devolving. Some say that the “immediacy” of God, also described as an apocalyptic culture, has been lost. You know, the rapture is coming… Jesus is coming… the end is near… and so on. Let’s not forget my favorite (please pick up on my sarcasm there…) the millennials just don’t think church is “cool” or “tech” enough to enjoy anymore.
Well for all those great possible contributing factors there’s always one that’s somehow missing. Couldn’t it possibly, just maybe, have something to do with the fact that what most people of the western world consider “church” happens to be accompanied by an outdated theology?
I’m not saying this because the traditional theology of the western Judaeo-Christian world view is somehow bad or evil and that people shouldn’t continue to believe in those things. By all means, please continue to believe in those ideas if you so choose. The reason I bring it up is because if we are going to talk about “Church” as a thing then we might want to look at all the things we wrap church around. It’s always the theology.
I read articles and statistics and watch videos and debates about this subject and almost NEVER do I hear anyone say, “Maybe it’s because people are not moved by the theology anymore.”
You see, even this silly millennial idea presumes that people don’t want to do churchy things anymore. You know, build community, provide humanitarian support to others, share personal and emotional support structures, care for those who may not have any friends or family to do so, celebrate our accomplishments and develop ways to acknowledge one another when we make powerful changes in our lives or are just simply growing up, etc, etc, etc… the list is genuinely too long to encapsulate.
You noticed that in that whole list there was no mention of a theology right? Good… I knew you would. So when we separate the church from the thing it’s built around, the theology, and just look at what it means to be “churching” we find things most of us still value! In an age when technology separates us from the human touch in so many other areas it would be amazing to have one place carved out to share our humanity with one another. Historically that has always been the church. So what could it be that keeps us from taking or making the time to cultivate that kind of a community? The only thing I can think of anymore is the theology.
This is why I am so proud to be a Religious Science/Science of Mind minister. With out trying to knock anyone’s theology I have a tendency to be unyieldingly passionate about my own. Why? Because for me it has lifted the bonds of the more traditional and doctrinal teachings of the ages. What if we could have all of the things mentioned above with out having to believe in the literal translation of an ancient text? What if we practiced principles rather than followed specific rules? What if the only person who could interpret the unfolding of our relationship with God was ourselves?
Make no mistake, Religious Science accounts for the values and concepts held within those teachings. The difference is that there is no need to have a literal account of how things went down or to have a claim that our teaching is the only way to be safe or saved. Instead, it’s built entirely on the fundamental concepts that all the greatest thinkers of humanity have revealed. Love is the highest power available to us and the only one who can make sure there is always love flowing in our lives is ourselves.
So, while traditional church may be in decline mine is just starting to thrive. If I listen to this narrative that “churching” is going out of style I might hang up my hat and think, “I got to the party too late and now no one wants to dance anymore.” But I don’t. I don’t because as a human being I know that if everyone could have a community that loved and cared for them, their friends and their children they would probably like to be a part of. Human’s are social creatures so why on earth wouldn’t we want a place where we just acknowledge, respect and practice what it means to belong to one another? Call it what you will. I call mine church.
I beg to differ. Just a bunch of New Age nonsense. If all you care about is finding something fun and interesting to dao on Sunday the author might be your guy. If you're interested in your salvation...stay away. guys like this are toxic.
Tells you all you need to know about the author.
Hoo boy is he gonna get panned!
I believe there has been a problem making Christendom weak spiritually in recent years and decades. And the problem, paradoxically, rises out of its success. It has so influenced the world that it has been tempted to think it has made that world “Christian.” And so it is content to ride along with that world rather than rise above it in the power of the Lord.
Well, this state of affairs cannot keep up. A ride-along Christianity becomes unsalty and begins to look (at best) more like a moral noodge than it does a witness of the wonders of God. Even a compromised spirituality looks like it has something more than that.
What’s old is new again. Christianity now has genuine paganness to address.
It seems to be well sourced back to the organization itself. It is not Christian.
If you enjoy a slide into apostasy.
The literal translation of ancient text is the Bible, and it IS a set of principles.
Woo boy, this is deep thought. /sarcasm
It’s not a literal translation, for numerous reasons.
For one thing, the Bible is in Greek and Jesus spoke Aramaic. Much of the story began in Aramaic, including the words of Jesus. Now, many key words in Aramaic have multiple meanings, so the translator is forced to make a choice among the possible meanings of the words. He makes those choices in accord with his already-developed theological biases — we all would. Given the possible meanings, that may or may not be a correct choice.
Now, the same thing happens when the Bible is translated from Greek into other languages. Again, there are editorial choices made about what is meant by a given word.
We have ancient texts from early Christianity that differ in significant ways in numerous places from the texts in the Bible. In some places, there appear to be transcription errors (i.e., a place where the handwriting could have been one of two or more possible letters (such as a small h and a small n (handwritten) in English) and the transcriber had to make a choice of which it is. If he chooses the other, which might make sense in context, the meaning of the passage is different.)
Further, there are sections where passages have either been added to or removed from the early text, thus making a deliberate and conscious change. There have been numerous books detailing this.
We will almost certainly never get to the “original original”, but by textual analysis and other methods we can get much closer. it differs in notable ways from the text that is in the Bible itself.
Then there is the fact that there are contradictory reports. For example, when Jesus is going up Calvary, he is reported in two of the Gospels to have said two different things — and in another, he is reported to have said nothing. These accounts cannot all be true. That is just one example.
So the Bible, for all the wisdom it contains, cannot be said to be a “literal translation”. It needs to be read with all these facts in mind.
Our conservative church opened a 6th campus about a month and a half ago. I just heard this weekend that it is full. 3500 people in the worship center with lots of children.
We are starting a 7th within a few weeks or months.
To Laodicea:
Rev. 3:16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.
To the "religious" plurality:
Mt. 24:12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love of (the) many shall wax cold.
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