I created a killer playlist for my run this morning, selecting some of my favorite bands covering their favorite songs. There’s nothing like listening to Dream Theater sing Iron Maiden’s “To Tame A Land”, or Killswitch Engage play Dio’s “Holy Diver” or The Showdown jam to Kansas’ “Carry On My Wayward Son”!
As I hit mile 2 on my run, Tesla’s cover of the classic Temptation song “A Ball of Confusion” started playing and really caught my attention.
“Fear in the air, tension everywhere” – what an accurate description of our society today! As I pondered the words, I was actually comforted to know that today’s problems were basically the same 35 years ago, which were basically the same problems as 100 years ago, and on and on. There truly is nothing new under the sun. God was there for past generations and is here for me today.
The Christian Science Monitor had a great opinion piece on their website today, written by Michael Spencer. The article puts words to feelings I’ve had for quite a while now. I want to read through it and bring my thoughts to the table.
We are on the verge – within 10 years – of a major collapse of evangelical Christianity. This breakdown will follow the deterioration of the mainline Protestant world and it will fundamentally alter the religious and cultural environment in the West.
I’m not sure I like the wording. I would clarify that “evangelical Christianity” is not the same as “authentic Christianity“. I would substitute “evangelical Christianity” for American, western churchianity. This is what will collapse – the overblown, bubble world in which Christians only interact with themselves and not the real world. I pray this folds, and folds soon!!
Spencer gives seven reason for his thesis.
1. Evangelicals have identified their movement with the culture war and with political conservatism. This will prove to be a very costly mistake. Evangelicals will increasingly be seen as a threat to cultural progress. Public leaders will consider us bad for America, bad for education, bad for children, and bad for society.
I’m in absolute total agreement with him on this one. In America, one Christian = one Republican vote. Or so it was in the past. While I am concerned with the ramifications of same-sex marriage and abortion, those two topics are not the only two we have to be concerned with.
2. We Evangelicals have failed to pass on to our young people an orthodox form of faith that can take root and survive the secular onslaught. Ironically, the billions of dollars we’ve spent on youth ministers, Christian music, publishing, and media has produced a culture of young Christians who know next to nothing about their own faith except how they feel about it.
Ouch. This one really, really hurts. I’m a parent of a teen ager, an almost teen ager, and not quite a teen. I feel the sting of this reprimand. Do I expect the local Christian school and local youth group to do my job and disciple my children for me? If I sequester my children from everything that isn’t “christian“, won’t that turn them into more devoted followers of Jesus? Do I really have to make my kid watch Bible Man (follow the link if you think I’m joking) instead of Spider Man? Ugh….I am not advocating that we stop parenting responsibly. I need to live my faith in a real world way which my children can see so they can emulate it and make that same faith their own. And no offense to Youth Pastors! You all know who you are! I admire the work and time you give to my kids!!
3. There are three kinds of evangelical churches today: consumer-driven megachurches, dying churches, and new churches whose future is fragile.
I don’t believe there is anything more to say about this point! I do have to point out that there is a flourishing movement that tries its best to be an authentic gathering place for Christians and non-Christians alike. Be it home churches, churches in parking lots, churches in coffe shops, churches just about anywhere. Many Christians are finally waking up and realizing that they ARE the Church and can be that Church anywhere they go. (Check out The God Journey website and podcast! Brad Cummings and Wayne Jacobsen will make you think deeply as you laugh your head off!)
4. Despite some very successful developments in the past 25 years, Christian education has not produced a product that can withstand the rising tide of secularism.
We had our children in a Christian school for about 3 years and were shocked to find they were behind academically when we moved them to a public school! Points 2 and 4 are tied directly to parental involvement. We can not drop our children off at a Christian youth group or a Christian school and expect them to become Christian. Our faith has to permeate everything we do and everything we are for it to rub off on our kids!
5. The confrontation between cultural secularism and the faith at the core of evangelical efforts to “do good” is rapidly approaching. We will soon see that the good Evangelicals want to do will be viewed as bad by so many, and much of that work will not be done. Look for ministries to take on a less and less distinctively Christian face in order to survive.
Should we care how the world views us? Isn’t the Truth offensive? Is taking on a “less and less distinctively Christian face in order to survive” compromising the faith? Good questions to ask, but the answers I hear from fellow believers (even in my own congregation!) scare me! Jesus wasn’t offensive to anybody but the religious establishment. The poor and oppressed and drunkards and whores loved Him and wanted to be with Him. What do those people look like today? The poor and oppresed and trans-gendered and abortion-promoting and evolutionist? Why do we pick fights along this line? Do we water down Jesus warnings about the power and consequences of sin? Absolutley not. Can I love a trans-gendered abortion-promoting evolutionist and have dinner with ‘em and be part of their life? Absolutely! That’s what Jesus would do.
6. Even in areas where Evangelicals imagine themselves strong (like the Bible Belt), we will find a great inability to pass on to our children a vital evangelical confidence in the Bible and the importance of the faith.
This is a restatement of number 2, so see my comments there.
7. The money will dry up.
Again, ouch. Talk about being hit where it hurts. Here is where I insert my tirade against ministry monetary mis-managment. What does happen if the money dries up? I have be careful here, as I do have close friends who do earn a living from ministry work. I believe in what they do with my whole heart.
Imagine with me though, if, the money people gave to their local congregation was spent entirely on helping the poor and down-trodden. How would the pastor get paid? What about the secretary and youth pastor and janitor? Obviously these titles would have to be redefined. The entire organizational structure of “church” would need to be redfined. I don’t want to talk about that here; I’ll save that for another blog post.
This post is getting rather long, so I’ll wrap it up. Please leave comments and tell me what you think!!
Stop what you are doing and take a minute to listen to the song below. As you listen, scroll down and read the lyrics that go with the music. Even if you don’t like metal, listen to the song!
Metallica - Broken, Beat & Scarred lyrics
You rise, you fall, you're down then you rise again
What don't kill ya make ya more strong
You rise, you fall, you're down then you rise again
What don't kill ya make ya more strong
Rise, fall, down, rise again
What don't kill ya make ya more strong
Rise, fall, down, rise again
What don't kill ya make ya more strong
Through black days, through black nights
Through pitch black insides
Breaking your teeth on the hard life coming
(Show your scars)
Cutting your feet on the hard earth running
(Show your scars)
Breaking your life, broken, beat and scarred
But we die hard
The dawn, the death, the fight to the final breath
What don't kill ya make ya more strong
The dawn, the death, the fight to the final breath
What don't kill ya make ya more strong
Dawn, death, fight, final breath
What don't kill ya make ya more strong
Dawn, death, fight, final breath
What don't kill ya make ya more strong
They scratch me, they scrape me
They cut and rape me
Breaking your teeth on the hard life coming
(Show your scars)
Cutting your feet on the hard earth running
(Show your scars)
Breaking your life, broken, beat and scarred
But we die hard
Breaking your teeth on the hard life coming
(Show your scars)
Cutting your feet on the hard earth running
(Show your scars)
Bleeding your soul in a hard luck story
(Show your scars)
Spilling your blood in the hot sun's glory
(Show your scars)
Breaking your life, broken, beat and scarred
We die hard
We die hard
We die hard
Lyrics | Metallica - Broken, Beat & Scarred lyrics
If nothing else, you have to give James Hetfield credit for the poetic force of his lyrics. This is one strong song and the music that is delivered behind the lyrics pushes the song into metal legend. It energizes the listener and makes him just want to lift something heavy or do some feat of greatness!
But beyond that, believe it or not, this song actually reminds me of some words written by the Apostle Paul, the guy that wrote two thirds of the New Testament (bet you weren’t expecting that, eh?)
In the book of Second Corinthians, chapter 6 Paul says this:
3 We live in such a way that no one will stumble because of us, and no one will find fault with our ministry. 4 In everything we do, we show that we are true ministers of God. We patiently endure troubles and hardships and calamities of every kind. 5 We have been beaten, been put in prison, faced angry mobs, worked to exhaustion, endured sleepless nights, and gone without food.6 We prove ourselves by our purity, our understanding, our patience, our kindness, by the Holy Spirit within us, and by our sincere love. 7 We faithfully preach the truth. God’s power is working in us. We use the weapons of righteousness in the right hand for attack and the left hand for defense. 8 We serve God whether people honor us or despise us, whether they slander us or praise us. We are honest, but they call us impostors. 9 We are ignored, even though we are well known. We live close to death, but we are still alive. We have been beaten, but we have not been killed. 10 Our hearts ache, but we always have joy. We are poor, but we give spiritual riches to others. We own nothing, and yet we have everything.
One might wonder how in all that is good and holy could I connect a Metallica song with the Sacred Scripture? Well, I have come to finally understand that all truth is God’s truth and I can take the poetic lyric of Metallica and yes, it can help me ruminate and meditate on what God has done for me! Crazy, eh?
Even though we might go some through some crazy stuff in this life, it makes us stronger and
can actually bring us into a closer relationship with our Creator.
Is there a bigger point to this blog? Not really. Just a very cool secular song reminded of
some very cool sacred writings!
13 It was nearly time for the Jewish Passover celebration, so Jesus went to Jerusalem. 14 In the Temple area he saw merchants selling cattle, sheep, and doves for sacrifices; he also saw dealers at tables exchanging foreign money. 15 Jesus made a whip from some ropes and chased them all out of the Temple. He drove out the sheep and cattle, scattered the money changers’ coins over the floor, and turned over their tables. 16 Then, going over to the people who sold doves, he told them, “Get these things out of here. Stop turning my Father’s house into a marketplace!”
17 Then his disciples remembered this prophecy from the Scriptures: “Passion for God’s house will consume me.” Chapter 2 of John’s Gospel
The picture of Jesus frolicking in the flowers with a lamb over his shoulder is smashed after reading these verses. Jesus-whip-angry-throwing tables-chasing people; those words are not normally found in the same chapter, let alone in the same paragraph.
He was outraged at the commercialism of Judiasm. These money changers charged exorbitant prices for their services. They were making huge profits at the expense of the very heart of Judiasm. Jesus was ticked, and rightly so!
So, how do I make the transition from Jesus whipping and chasing out the money changers in the Temple to one of the biggest events for Christian Bookstores in America? Unfortunately, it is very easy.
The world around us is changing rapidly…from the way we communicate to the way we work and so much more. The world of retail is no different. Consider the technology challenges and increased competition seeming to come from everywhere. However, there is hope! We serve a big God, and we have a mission that is not of this world. You need to attend the International Christian Retail Show to work on how to achieve your mission and reach the fullest potential of what God has planned for your store in this New Day for Christian Retail.
Blogger and author Ed Stetzer is there and reporting on all of the ridiculous items that are peddled. He has posted some pictures at his twitterpic site.
I’ve been wanting to write on this crass church commercialism for a while now. Watch the video below to see some of the crap that is being sold in the name of Christ.
So, we just slap a Jesus sticker on anything and that makes it Christian, eh? I couldn’t believe the “Christian Poker Chips”! But sure enough, they are a real product for sale! That is just unbelievable! And the “Christian” tape measure and “Christian” flip-flops? wow…
All In for Jesus! Sure Bet Jesus! Don’t Gamble With Eternity! OY!!
And if “Christian” Poker Chips aren’t your thing, how about a Jesus action figure that is a bull rider or rides a Harley? Honestly, you have to click on that link to check it out! I personally want to order the Jesus in camo fatigues holding a dove or the Jesus Rock Climber.
There is so much Jesus Junk out there that I could fill up way too many blogs writing about it.
Could you see Jesus with a whip at one of these conventions? I think I could.
What would happen if all of the Christians who bought this junk actually gave that money away to help people who really needed it?
Please don’t get the impression that I am some sort of monastic stuff hater. I sure have accumulated my share of junk. And I’m not against poker playing or art. I’m just saying, if you need some poker chips, then buy some poker chips! Let’s just not justify our love of junk by emblazoning Christ’s name on it!
Leave some comments and let me know what you think.
Wow! It has been a while since I’ve posted anything! Life gets crazy and time just flies away!
I came across an article the other day and thought it’d be a good way to get back in the blogging mentality. You can read the story here or just read below.
Christianity ‘could die out within a century’
By Laura Clout
Last Updated: 2:40PM BST 20/06/2008
More than half of Britons think Christianity is likely to have disappeared from the country within a century, according to a survey.
Research by the Orthodox Jewish organisation Aish found that just over a third of people thought religions like Christianity and Judaism would still be practiced in Britain in 100 years’ time.
Although four in 10 people said they would choose to be a member of the Christian religion, almost the same number said they would rather practice no religion at all.
Buddhism however, proved more attractive than both Islam and Judaism, and was chosen by nine per cent of those questioned.
Aish UK’s executive director Rabbi Naftali Schiff said the results of the YouGov poll of 2,000 people were alarming.
“It clearly demonstrates that religion, including Judaism, is becoming unattractive to the British public.
“At Aish we know that Judaism provides real meaning and enrichment to one’s life. Whilst we have attracted many disinterested Jews back to Jewish identity it is clear there is much work to be done.”
Research published earlier this year suggested that church attendance is declining so fast that the number of regular churchgoers will be fewer than those attending mosques within a generation.
According to Religious Trends, an analysis of religious practice in Britain, the huge drop off in attendance means that the Church of England, Catholicism and other denominations will become financially unviable.
In contrast, the number of actively religious Muslims is predicted to increase from about one million today to 1.96 million in 2035.
Articles like this always have to be read with a little skepticism. After 2000+ years, is Christianity really in danger of extinction? Here’s an answer you might not expect from me….yeah, I think so.
Christianity dead in a 100 years? Could it be true?
This hodgepodge-pick-and-choose-which-scripture-you-like-God-bless-me-with-money-and-health-and-make-sure-no-evil-touches-me-good-ol-boys-club-genie-in-a-bottle caricature of what Christianity has become (mostly in America and the West) will hopefully be dead much sooner than that. But the true Christianity of the New Testament, the Gospel of Peace and Salvation through a God-Become-Human, no, that will never go away.
This would be the usual spot where I’d bring out all the apologetic guns and review all the historical, archaeological, and manuscriptural (is that even a word) evidence that is overwhelming in favor of Christianity. I’m not gonna do that today. I looked at the evidence for and against Christianity and the evidence speaks for itself; thus I’ve become a Christian.
I honestly think people are tired of fakeness regardless of which religion it is. There are some fantastic people and organizations working hard to bring authenticity back to western Churchianity.
Dan Kimball of Vintage Faith fame has written an excellent book entitled, “They Like Jesus But Not The Church“. Kimball gives an “overview of the six most common objections emerging generations have with church and Christianity along with the biblical answers to these objections and examples of how churches are facing this challenge”. Again, the main point is being an authentic person of faith.
I just recently ran across this website about a movie called “Lord, Save Us From Your Followers“. It looks really good! It is in the same vein as Kimball’s book mentioned above. I hope to order the DVD soon.
I know there are many, many good folks across America and the world who love Jesus and are serving Him passionately and authentically. That kind of Christianity will never go away.
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