They almost get the title right for the completely wrong reasons. It's not the Evangelical churches that call bullshit on critical race theory that are dying. Those are growing, mostly from the influx of people fleeing their old churches after the Marxists took over. The dying churches have gone woke in an attempt to appeal to people who've already left because their new religion considers Christians Untermenschen.
Part of the reason churches are dying is that churches did a shit job of justifying their existence and role in society.
I was raised in a fairly conservative church and attended that church's schools, which had prohibitions against dancing and women in leadership positions. However they were unable to provide any sort of justification for these positions and usually would just answer questions as to why these things weren't allowed as "well our older congregants are more conservative and control the purse strings, so..."
It wasn't until I read C.S. Lewis and much later started listening to Jordan Peterson that I heard anything resembling a cogent defense of Christianity's role in Western society and its traditions. But by then the damage had been done.
When the people who are supposed to be passing your values onto the next generation are unable to cogently defend those values (and even go so far as to lightly counter-signal that those values aren't worth defending), is it any surprise that people leave?
Like it or not, Woke Christianity is defending its values, it's just that they're bad values. They give people a reason to attend, and they win by default because the other side doesn't even show up.
could also be because no one remembers why there was prohibitions in the first place and when it was first in place it was common knowledge but over generations people forget why they did it in the first place.
I'm sure that's the case, but that just means that the problem has existed for much longer and that the generation tasked with teaching mine was similarly failed by the generation responsible for teaching them.
It's a church, so all of their positions should be Biblically based. Between the Bible itself and the various creeds, catechisms, confessions, and canons that arose to clarify things, I'd think they should be able to defend their position if they looked into it.
It wasn't until I read C.S. Lewis and much later started listening to Jordan Peterson that I heard anything resembling a cogent defense of Christianity's role in Western society and its traditions. But by then the damage had been done.
C.S. Lewis -- Mere Christianity or something else? I've had that on my to-read list for like a decade and haven't read it yet...
There was a time once when Methodists were absolutely despised as warmongers. During the American Civil War, the Methodist and Lutheran churches recruited and trained hundreds of Union Army Chaplains.
Their preaching was tailored to the circumstances at hand, and they were very effective. Ultimately the Civil War had a spiritual element to it. In particular it destroyed the Quakers. Pretty much every Quaker man who enlisted knew he was breaking the peace testimony, and the Methodists were very eager to convert them over to their more belligerent interpretation.
The churches that exist today lack the conviction, and frankly, the chutzpah, to try something like that.
Man seeks answers and comfort when times become tough.
Some at the bottom of a bottle or the end of a needle, but others through religion.
We will experience a resurgence in the church as secularism proves to provide only debauchery and destruction.
I can't say it's the right answer, however don't be surprised if you see a more emboldened class of worshipers -- a more emboldened clergy -- that runs counter to the establishment as the later clamps down harder.
I might even have to join a good church, if only to shout out authoritarians
who dare to challenge their worship.
don't be surprised if you see a more emboldened class of worshipers
Yeah.
Muslims.
If Christianity is going to be salvaged there is going to have to be another Luther-like figure, this time to reconcile the excess of unconditional compassion and inaction. Another Cromwell, if you will.
tl;dr: churches need to become another far-left institution because I say so
They tried that in Germany. One of the major churches is literally running a migrant ferry in the Mediterranean. They're also hosting anti-right and anti-islamophobia workshops. They're basically far-left political activists at this point. Doesn't keep their membership from shrinking.
"Jesus had to flee to a foreign country..." I'm going to stop you right there. Judea and Egypt were different provinces in the same country, they were both part of the Roman Empire. And also the only reason Jesus was born in Bethlehem was because the Romans ordered a census to be conducted and Joseph was from Bethlehem.
Same with Alexander Hamilton. In the popular musical he is explicitly referred to as an immigrant (for obvious propaganda reasons), but like Jesus he was an internal migrant. His father was from Scotland and he was born in the British West Indies and moved to the British colony of New York. Also same with Lafayette but for different reasons; he did not permanently settle in the British colonies or America and returned to France after the war.
Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience as also saith the law.
According to leftists, Christianity is guilty of theocide because they converted the native people of the Americas to Christianity. This is directly opposed to Jesus' instructions: "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you." (Mat. 28:19-20 ). As it says earlier in Matthew, you can't serve two masters. So choose: Christianity or leftist?
I might be one of these people really. I've studied and read the bible quite a bit, and I hold it in high regard as a good guideline to be a better person.
What I run into amongst Christianity is really one of two things. Primarily, the Church of Love and Acceptance. This is really only a church because they say God and Jesus a lot. They pick happy things out of the bible and ignore the rest. Second, the Church of Rules and Regulations. These feel the constant need to save you from yourself. They have fully interpreted the bible for you, do as you're told. These are the rules, if you question the rules you must come to the same conclusion exactly how we always have because that is the right way. I don't think these people mean harm, but they are similar to politicians in that they are quick to place rules and cast judgement, but fail to look at themselves to see how hypocritical they are being with their own rules.
I've always thought that the bible (particularly the new testament) deferred a lot to personal responsibility and critical thinking, and, well, we all know how little those two things work out today.
They almost get the title right for the completely wrong reasons. It's not the Evangelical churches that call bullshit on critical race theory that are dying. Those are growing, mostly from the influx of people fleeing their old churches after the Marxists took over. The dying churches have gone woke in an attempt to appeal to people who've already left because their new religion considers Christians Untermenschen.
Even if people were leaving, it's not like the Bible doesn't straight out say that most people will reject Christ.
Oh look, a Satanist preacher running the faithful out of the churches.
Part of the reason churches are dying is that churches did a shit job of justifying their existence and role in society.
I was raised in a fairly conservative church and attended that church's schools, which had prohibitions against dancing and women in leadership positions. However they were unable to provide any sort of justification for these positions and usually would just answer questions as to why these things weren't allowed as "well our older congregants are more conservative and control the purse strings, so..."
It wasn't until I read C.S. Lewis and much later started listening to Jordan Peterson that I heard anything resembling a cogent defense of Christianity's role in Western society and its traditions. But by then the damage had been done.
When the people who are supposed to be passing your values onto the next generation are unable to cogently defend those values (and even go so far as to lightly counter-signal that those values aren't worth defending), is it any surprise that people leave?
Like it or not, Woke Christianity is defending its values, it's just that they're bad values. They give people a reason to attend, and they win by default because the other side doesn't even show up.
could also be because no one remembers why there was prohibitions in the first place and when it was first in place it was common knowledge but over generations people forget why they did it in the first place.
I'm sure that's the case, but that just means that the problem has existed for much longer and that the generation tasked with teaching mine was similarly failed by the generation responsible for teaching them.
It's a church, so all of their positions should be Biblically based. Between the Bible itself and the various creeds, catechisms, confessions, and canons that arose to clarify things, I'd think they should be able to defend their position if they looked into it.
C.S. Lewis -- Mere Christianity or something else? I've had that on my to-read list for like a decade and haven't read it yet...
Mere Christianity and I think God In the Dock. I remember liking them, but that was probably 15 years ago when I read them.
Jesus's parents didn't flee to a foreign country. They fled to another part of the same country.
Yes.
There was a time once when Methodists were absolutely despised as warmongers. During the American Civil War, the Methodist and Lutheran churches recruited and trained hundreds of Union Army Chaplains.
Their preaching was tailored to the circumstances at hand, and they were very effective. Ultimately the Civil War had a spiritual element to it. In particular it destroyed the Quakers. Pretty much every Quaker man who enlisted knew he was breaking the peace testimony, and the Methodists were very eager to convert them over to their more belligerent interpretation.
The churches that exist today lack the conviction, and frankly, the chutzpah, to try something like that.
Man seeks answers and comfort when times become tough.
Some at the bottom of a bottle or the end of a needle, but others through religion.
We will experience a resurgence in the church as secularism proves to provide only debauchery and destruction.
I can't say it's the right answer, however don't be surprised if you see a more emboldened class of worshipers -- a more emboldened clergy -- that runs counter to the establishment as the later clamps down harder.
I might even have to join a good church, if only to shout out authoritarians who dare to challenge their worship.
Yeah.
Muslims.
If Christianity is going to be salvaged there is going to have to be another Luther-like figure, this time to reconcile the excess of unconditional compassion and inaction. Another Cromwell, if you will.
I've been looking for such a figure for a while.
As someone in the same boat, if you find one, I'd love to hear about it.
tl;dr: churches need to become another far-left institution because I say so
They tried that in Germany. One of the major churches is literally running a migrant ferry in the Mediterranean. They're also hosting anti-right and anti-islamophobia workshops. They're basically far-left political activists at this point. Doesn't keep their membership from shrinking.
"Jesus had to flee to a foreign country..." I'm going to stop you right there. Judea and Egypt were different provinces in the same country, they were both part of the Roman Empire. And also the only reason Jesus was born in Bethlehem was because the Romans ordered a census to be conducted and Joseph was from Bethlehem.
Same with Alexander Hamilton. In the popular musical he is explicitly referred to as an immigrant (for obvious propaganda reasons), but like Jesus he was an internal migrant. His father was from Scotland and he was born in the British West Indies and moved to the British colony of New York. Also same with Lafayette but for different reasons; he did not permanently settle in the British colonies or America and returned to France after the war.
Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience as also saith the law.
According to leftists, Christianity is guilty of theocide because they converted the native people of the Americas to Christianity. This is directly opposed to Jesus' instructions: "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you." (Mat. 28:19-20 ). As it says earlier in Matthew, you can't serve two masters. So choose: Christianity or leftist?
The headline isn't wrong. The article is rubbish.
I might be one of these people really. I've studied and read the bible quite a bit, and I hold it in high regard as a good guideline to be a better person.
What I run into amongst Christianity is really one of two things. Primarily, the Church of Love and Acceptance. This is really only a church because they say God and Jesus a lot. They pick happy things out of the bible and ignore the rest. Second, the Church of Rules and Regulations. These feel the constant need to save you from yourself. They have fully interpreted the bible for you, do as you're told. These are the rules, if you question the rules you must come to the same conclusion exactly how we always have because that is the right way. I don't think these people mean harm, but they are similar to politicians in that they are quick to place rules and cast judgement, but fail to look at themselves to see how hypocritical they are being with their own rules.
I've always thought that the bible (particularly the new testament) deferred a lot to personal responsibility and critical thinking, and, well, we all know how little those two things work out today.