Posted on 12/21/2003 3:46:23 PM PST by nickcarraway
Forgive me for playing prophet, but I think this will be the last Christmas of the 20th century. Yes, I know that the 20th century actually ended a few years ago, but I'm thinking of it as an era. This Christmas a certain era will end.
Call it the era of Christianity lite. Much popular religion of the century descended into mere feel-goodism. Gone was all serious reference to sin, repentance, suffering, atonement, evil, anything unpleasant.
God was in heaven and all was rosy. Say your prayers, try not to hurt anybody, never be "judgmental," and everything will come out right. Business will go well. The kids will behave. You'll never get sick. You'll acquire lots of "stuff." The Father in heaven became a Grandfather in heaven.
Christmas was similarly sterilized. When we were given anything beyond Santa Claus, coloured lights and canned carols, we might actually see a baby, a manger or a star. But Herod's massacre of the children in Bethlehem was certainly never mentioned, nor the dire warning to Mary: "A sword will pierce your soul also" (Luke 2:35).
It was rarely acknowledged that all this unrelieved sweetness and light was much at odds with the Christianity of the New Testament or the actual experience of Christians through much of their history or what ordinarily happens to us ordinary people. Business did not always go well, kids did not always behave, people did in fact get sick (and died, too) and along with all the "stuff" came credit card bills that are now, we're told, astronomical. So 20th century people gradually slipped away from the churches on the sufficient grounds that what they were saying seemed utterly unreal. Such was the era of Christianity lite.
There is convincing evidence now, however, that the era is over, and that the 21st century will see some fundamental changes. I don't mean a massive return to the church, but rather a massive turn of the churches away from Christianity lite.
The after-effect of 9-11 has been a general decline in the credibility of what's called "post-modernism," the belief there are no such things as moral truths. You have your moral truths, I have mine and no version whatever can claim to be really true. This means that the people who deliberately murdered 3,000 innocent civilians had just as good a claim to be right as those who thought otherwise. Nobody, apart perhaps from professors of "ethics," can swallow that line any more, and this has thrown the whole post-modern phenomenon into doubt.
The continuing probability of terror, wrought in the name of an Islamic God, will spur more and more thought about who or what God actually is.
A "spiritual" awakening is going on. According to a recent cover story in Time, Canadians are flocking into prayer groups that meet outside of churches, though they're often sponsored by churches. Such a ferment has preceded every major religious revival. They begin as strictly non-institutional, but they rarely remain that way. Genuine "spirituality" makes people want to do things for God. So corporate action follows and some sort of institution becomes necessary. "Spirituality," in other words invariably turns into "religion."
This may sound extreme, but I think it will happen. Mel Gibson's movie, The Passion, will prove to be the most attended Hollywood movie ever made. (This excludes, of course, the Campus Crusade movie Jesus which is already and by far the most attended movie ever made, but it is not usually considered a Hollywood product.)
The Gibson production is emphatically not Christianity Lite. It portrays the crucifixion for what it was, "a bloody, dusty, sweaty and sordid business." That is, it follows the New Testament account. Never has a movie received so much advance attention - an 18-page review in the New Yorker, columns in every major American newspaper, sophisticated Washington crowds openly weeping. It will hit very hard.
So consider this the last Merry Christmas in the age of Christianity lite. The new century will see a new Christianity which in fact is the old one. And a very different Christmas. Less sugary, but far more real. And it's about time.
Still that big hang-up, eh? Your "history" is naught but error, and has been refuted ad nauseaum on the neverending story thread, among other places.
As you perfectly well know, but refuse to acknowledge, Christ gave the Keys of the Kingdom to the Apostle Peter, as head of the Apostles. As you well know, from the Acts of the Apostles, and several of St. Paul's letters, the Apolstles appointed successors, whose successors many generations removed we know as the Priests and Bishops of what are today referred to as the Catholic and Orthodox Churches.
The relative youth of your errors does not make them any less errors. Martin Luther's spirit of rebellion, to which you appear in some manner to subscribe, has nothing to do with Christ in particular, God in general, or anything remotely Holy. It has more to do with the Prince of this World, and I strongly suggest you abandon it for the Gospel.
Your choice. Choose wisely
thanks for a great post!
grace and peace to you...God bless...let's roll!
What about it indeed? You set up two strawmen, then knocked them down. BFD. Perfect? Whoever claimed that any Pope is perfect? The Catholic Church makes no such claim. So Peter wasn't the only original Bishop. BFD. Nobody ever claimed he was.
Again: stuff and nonsense. I shan't reply to any more of it.
I tried Proverb 26:5 with you, I now see that Proverbs 26:4 is more appropriate.
Go in peace.
There's an awfull lot of that going around these days...and at the same time there's so much talk about spiritual warfare...people don't seem to notice that there is only one offensive weapon given to use in that war...and it isn't prayer.
Then again,the fact that..."the Word of God...is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart" makes it easier to understand why most would rather do what the carnal mind would have us believe the "work of God" is.There's plenty of folks in churches that do lots of good stuff,but we had better quickly learn to sit still and do "that needfull thing,which shall not be taken away"
I don't exclude myself in that either.
"the truth shall set you free"..."thy word is truth"
grace and peace to you
God bless
I'm pretty sure it doesn't say anything of the sort. Jesus is my Savior, and He has no "co-mediatrix." I wasn't stating any "true" doctrines; I was stating the historical meaning behind "immaculate conception." You and I have no disagreement, friend.
That said, I am looking forward to seeing this movie! I am looking forward to seeing my faith increase, my love for the One Who lovingly and sacrificially inserted Himself between me and the wrath of God deepen and broaden.
That depends on where you're at and how lucky you are. There are still Biblical churches in the UMC. I attend one, X pastors one, among others.
Times change, but the church shouldn't. I have yet to find a reason that churches should "do" worship differently than they have for hundreds of years. There are still those of us who worship--and prefer to worship--God through hymnody. I prefer leaving the rock ballads and anthems to secular bands, or at most CCM bands that aren't leading a congregation in worship.
I don't recall Revelation mentioning anything about the Evangelical Revival or either of the two Great Awakenings, either. They still happened. As far as Revelation, quite frankly, I see most of it as already being passed.
Jesus and the Apostles didn't worship God "through hymnody." Why should you?
It's a long and re-hashed (and frankly boring) discussion, but let it suffice to say that Scripture supports "worshiping" the Lord through various societally contemporary means, from cymbals to stringed instruments to silence to voice to brass instruments. Not to say that any such instrumentation in the Church is "good," just to say that it is permissible and can facilitate "worship," especially among a congregation made up of younger-minded people.
In the end, we Christians can all agree that "worship" (or reverent interaction/response/resonation/communication/engagement) with the Lord is something that happens in the heart, a place where there is no pipe organ, no guitar, no vocal chord....
Right. What history would that be?
As you perfectly well know, but refuse to acknowledge, Christ gave the Keys of the Kingdom to the Apostle Peter, as head of the Apostles.
Christ said there was no one of the apostles greater than any of the others. That alone strikes down your "claim". It is a claim, not a given. The keys were given to all the apostles, as was the interpretational office of binding and loosing (interpretive, not legislative).
As for a successor - a successor must succeed in spirit, not merely in title. You guys are so caught up on title and your own philosophy that you don't any longer know what they taught - if in fact you ever did. That your churches could have binding and loosing so well misunderstood begs the imagination for any excuse.
The relative youth of your errors does not make them any less errors. Martin Luther's spirit of rebellion, to which you appear in some manner to subscribe, has nothing to do with Christ in particular, God in general, or anything remotely Holy. It has more to do with the Prince of this World, and I strongly suggest you abandon it for the Gospel.
You speak to me as though you have a clue either about Luther or about me. You appear to have neither. I'm not a protestant. And Luther wasn't given to a spirit of rebellion, the church was. Luther caved and didn't have the audacity nor the purpose of spirit to carry through properly with what he started. The errors of the protestants are as much his fault as that of Catholicism.
And finally, I'v followed scripture. And that is what turns so many of you rabidly against the message I preach. You are comfortable in your philosophy and would rather follow it than scripture. Anytime scripture puts a kink in your plans you denounce it as being but one input among many. That may work in philosophy and religianity; but it isn't Christianity and it don't work with God. I've said it before and I'll say it again. I've no horse in the race you choose. My only concern is for souls and truth. I don't sell a church title or beg athority over anyone. I merely present the gospel. A stumbling block to you, but for us, righteousness.
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.