Thoughts from the Christian perspective: discernment issues as they relate to the current state of the church and society.
Friday, May 30, 2014
A World-Mirroring Church?
"I think that the church in America today is so obsessed with being practical, relevant, helpful, successful, and perhaps even well-liked that it nearly mirrors the world itself. Aside from the packaging, there is nothing that cannot be found in most churches today that could not be satisfied by any number of secular programs and self-help groups."
Michael Horton, Christless Christianity: the Alternative Gospel of the American Church, p.16-17
4 comments:
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So whereto shall the sinner wanting redemption run to? The church is no longer a beacon of light; it has become the darkness itself. What a shame and insult to our Heavenly Father.
ReplyDeleteCanada
Thanks to the market philosophy in the churches, I now detest the word "relevant". Somehow the church growth movement crowd think worldliness makes God's Word more "relevant"... when the worldliness itself is IRrelevant, and frankly in many cases also irreverent.
ReplyDeleteThe pure Word of God alone is ALWAYS relevant to any people group, in any generation, anywhere in the world. Always has been, always will be.
-Carolyn
Amen to Mr. Horton's comment. There is one area within the church that has concerned me for quite some time as I never witnessed this growing up in my small church environment, and that is this: we now have psychologists and psychiatrists visiting our churches on a regular basis (for pay; and their hourly rates are NOT cheap) to listen and advise people with their problems of living.
ReplyDeleteBack in my youth, I saw people confessing their sins to one another for forgivness and the redemption offered freely through Jesus Christ; I saw people bearing and sharing one anothers' burdens so the body of believers "had your back" so to speak; and I witnessed true love through Jesus Christ and Him alone.
Have the commands of our Holy Scriptures been thrown under the bus for so called professionals and money?
Now the average, Spirit filled believer is reduced to a mindless, spineless, pew sitter with the clergy and leadership lording over, professionally of course, all the while we are supposed to just sit there and nod our heads, shout out amens, and fill the coffers so we can have a fancier church sign, elaborate landscaping, air conditioning, and more donuts for an already overweight congregation. (And leadership really makes a big deal out of the coffee and donut thing....as if this is a gospel.)
And Jesus loves it so? Really?
Kathy,
ReplyDeleteYou've hit on something big - the CHURCH has accepted the worldview of the psych industry - an industry in total opposition to the name of Christ and all that Christ stands for. This worldview is undermining the Church.