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Posted on 07/11/2005 8:25:05 PM PDT by CyberAnt
[I recently received some literature from a book club I belong to. In this literature was the description of a book, which really stirred me (a book I have not read and do not intend to purchase).
The book title interested me because I have seen this transition of people in my own church – we have people from every denomination – and we’re a very conservative evangelical church. I thought some of you would be interested to know that this is going on – while the ACLU is trying so hard to erase every vestige of Christianity from American life. Right under the noses of the ACLU, people are making the choice of a more conservative church – instead of the liberal type the ACLU wants people to believe is occurring. This is what peaked my interest. I don’t know this author or his credentials – but his statements seemed relevant.]
Why, in this age of moral relativism, liberal churches are dying and conservative ones are booming.
It’s a trend: in this anything-goes age, ever-larger numbers of people are opting for tougher moral standards. Millions are streaming out of churches that preach the Gospel of If It Feels Good, Do It, and are finding homes in houses of worship that preach a more traditional and more demanding religion.
Churches that have ditched Christian doctrine in favor of an unremitting advocacy of the Democrat Party platform, like the Episcopalians and Unitarians, are hemorrhaging members – while conservative churches like the Southern Baptists are gaining members in record numbers.
In “Exodus”, Dave Shiflett explores this encouraging trend. In the process, he shatters numerous myths about the “religious right”, and gives all American conservatives a new source of hope. He tells the story of mainline decline and traditionalist growth through the eyes of individuals on both sides of the divide: interviewing both liberals and conservatives, he goes to the heart of why there are so many refugees from the mainline denominations streaming into conservative Roman Catholic, evangelical, and Orthodox churches.
Of course, ever since the Episcopal Church chose an openly gay bishop, the demise of mainline Protestantism has been a foregone conclusion. It is clear not that in a generation or two conservative Christians will be the only Christians left. But never before has an author gone behind the scenes of this great social transformation the way Shiflett has. He reveals why liberal pastors have cast aside tradition and Christian belief in a vain and ultimately fruitless attempt to remake and “modernize” their churches.
Best of all, Shiflett marshals an impressive array of facts to undermine numerous common stereotypes about conservative believers. Easily led, uneducated yahoos? Hardly! Shiflett shows that conservative Christians are better educated, wealthier, and wiser in the ways of the world than anyone in the media establishments gives them credit for.
Shiflett even reveals that many of those who are currently flocking to conservative churches aren’t fully conservative themselves; some even don’t agree with all of their new churches’ teachings on conservative hot-button issues like abortion and divorce. Others don’t believe that every word of the bible is literally true.
But Shiflett demonstrates that whether conservative or more left-of-center, the new members of conservative churches have one thing in common: they’re tired of being told by their religious leaders that anything goes. They’re longing for the traditional Christian message of hope. In “Exodus”, Shiflett renews that hope in the soul of every true Christian.
Inside the Christian conservative revolution:
> One conservative Christian’s assessment - “mainstream [liberal] Protestantism, in any culture transforming sense, is finished in America”
> Why the undemanding GOD preached in liberal churches was initially popular, but has proved increasingly unsatisfying to a growing number of members and former members of those churches
> How secularism creates a spiritual vacuum that a dynamic faith will eventually fill – and how, in Europe, that faith increasingly is Islam
> A liberal Episcopalian priest explains the mechanism by which his church neutralizes Scriptural admonitions it finds inconvenient and inconsistent with modern PC sensibilities
> The latest Episcopal Church controversies over homosexuality; not the first blow to traditional faith, but the last straw in a thirty-year assault on traditional Christianity
> How the Episcopal Church’s sustained attack on traditionalism has sapped the church’s energy – and created multitudes of new Catholics, Orthodox, and evangelicals
> Liberal Christianity: how it broke its final ties with Biblical authority as long ago as the 1950’s
> How all the historically Baptist universities in the United States have been lost to unbiblical liberalism
> The trivialization of solemn rites by mainline churches – including Ash Wednesday observed with ashes made of human blood
> “We are winning the abortion issue”: one conservative Christian leader’s confident assessment of today’s political situation
> Same-sex marriage: how this issue has become a flashpoint and key difference between liberal and conservative churches in America
> How the Catholic Church is moving in a conservative direction today after suffering for a generation the negative effects of a wave of liberalism
> A Southern Baptist leader who agrees with and energetically preaches – the Catholic Church’s traditional teaching on abortion and contraception
> Why religious denominations have proved no different from political groups
"Democrats ... Standing for what they do, it is impossible for me to see them as 'born again', or even believers in Christ."
I agree .. I have the very same problem.
Crossings
I'm sure we all know the answer.
I have been through 2 church breakups in 3 years.
We have a core group of 80 now and are rebuilding.
Soon to be breaking ground for our new building.
Happy and Proud Baptist.
Joel Osteen.
His dad started that church. Both Joel's parents have passed on. Joel's "interview" on Larry King (as I recall) was also with the guy who wrote "Purpose Filled Life".
Joel is on TV - and I love to hear him preach.
And .. you need to listen more .. because I've known of the family a long time and I would consider them very conservative.
That is great news!
Both Joel's parent have passed on.
His mom is still alive - sits next to his wife - front row of his church
Ping!
**> How the Episcopal Church’s sustained attack on traditionalism has sapped the church’s energy – and created multitudes of new Catholics, Orthodox, and evangelicals**
True!
**> How the Catholic Church is moving in a conservative direction today after suffering for a generation the negative effects of a wave of liberalism**
Again, true!
It's happening all over the world. Most of those hardline liberals are leaving faith altogether...
http://www.realwomenca.com/newsletter/2004_july_aug/article_9.html It stretches beyond the American borders...
Yes, I agree.
Are you serious .. I thought she died of cancer ..??
Click:
Thank you for this post this on my list of reads....this is why I left the Presbyterian church to join the Fellowship Church
Thanks for posting a picture of the book.
"That depends. If they have a 501(c)3 as required by the IRS, then gifts are tax deductible. If they do not have a 501(c)3 then giving to that organization is NOT tax deductible."
Not true. The language of 501(c) itself provides for exemptions from the requirement of becoming a 501(c) corporation to have tax deductible status.
http://proliberty.com/observer/20040518.htm
I belonged to the Conservative book club and am going to rejoin. That Compass club is just another part of the leftist Book of the Month Club.
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