Posted on 11/22/2005 5:50:12 AM PST by kindred
Thanksgiving: Thanking God for That Dead, Liberal Church
By Matt Friedeman November 21, 2005
(AgapePress) - I thank God for that dead, liberal church.
It was theologically and spiritually frustrating then, it is theologically and spiritually frustrating now, and in all likelihood it will be theologically and spiritually frustrating in the future.
But that dead, liberal church, with pastor after pastor who was theologically and spiritually disappointing, did this for me: provided a Sunday school class that helped save my dad (and thereafter, my mother); taught me the Apostle's Creed; familiarized me with the awesome hymns of the faith; exposed me to the orthodox concepts of Christianity (although the pastors themselves didn't always believe in them); and showed me saint after saint who attended week in and week out and who loved me, loved God, and loved the opportunity to get the "me" and the "God" of that equation together.
Yep -- the local church of my youngest years is mainline, dead, and liberal, but there is not a chance in a hundred that I would be an evangelical pastor and professor today if it weren't for the faith that -- miracle of miracles -- was contained within that seemingly dead and going-nowhere assemblage in mid-America.
Don't mistake my intention, here. I really wish that the local church of my childhood had had Bible-thumping preachers who believed with all their heart the orthodox faith and believed that, as a sinner, I needed to hear the message of salvation by grace through faith or it was hell for me. I really wish that the pastors and the congregation as a holy unit had not just sung those great hymns but lived by them. I really wish that those saints who so loved me and God had found it in themselves to rise up and tell the district superintendents and bishops that we weren't going to accept just any preacher willing to take the job, for too much was at stake.
But my "really wishing" aside, I am grateful. In my teenage years I left that church, with my parent's blessing (incredibly enough), to attend a house church. I found Jesus there and a life trajectory that has sent me on a wonderful adventure in priestly service. As I look back at my life in that disappointing church, I am forever grateful for the conversion of my parents and their faithfulness to return to that place week after week. That alone was enough to change my life. But the teachings of Scripture and the church universal that seeped into my psyche from the liturgical habits of that local entity are also worth bending the knee in quiet reverence and uttering a prayer of praise to the Lord. If nothing else happened, those holy moments of righteousness and the sweet community that I shared them with helped seal me for God.
Mainline. Dead. Liberal. Thanks.
I attend a mainline Presbyterian church. Thing is, it's down south and still conservative. So nice to have traditional liturgy intermingled with a traditional message.
I think sometimes it amuses God to use scoundrels to accomplish His purpose...
Excellent post. Thanks very much.
I read this twice... some parts 3 times.
It makes no sense to me at all. Could some kind soul synopsize this mental wander in the woods?
And take away the author's keyboard...
I'm not trying to start a fight here -- but I've been to liberal churches and "bible-based" and there is good and bad in both.
When I went to a Baptist Church it was a constant struggle for many of the constant "back sliders" who were saved and would then back slide, straight out, back slide, come back to the Lord and then repeat the process again.
My point is that some people liberal and conservative are stuck on stupid and I think you can find a perfect group of Christians.
This guy has a radio talk show here on the coast of MS (maybe statewide, I dont know) and it is pretty good. It's a political show, really, but it is always mixed with a Christian message....good stuff, really good stuff.
I a ttended "conservative" Presbyterian churches for a while and after discussing with a Pastor why they didn't break off from the main Presbytery, was told that "we would have to give up our property and I would lose my pension." I came to the conclusion that that was faulty reasoning (considering it was all about money) and finally left.
I am happy to report that I now attend a Bible preaching and believing congregation that is growing by leaps and bounds and is filled with people just like me - starved for the Truth of the Gospel.
As I drive by no less than three Presbyterian (and numerous other mainline churches) on the way to my new church, I see smaller and smaller crowds, mostly all elderly who cling to the past and insist on hearing those same "Feel Good - Do Good" messages that leave out the only true message nessary for their salvation.
[I'm not trying to start a fight here -- but I've been to liberal churches and "bible-based" and there is good and bad in both.]
A liberal church follows the world, a bible church believes the bible God wrote, the testimony of the His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
[When I went to a Baptist Church it was a constant struggle for many of the constant "back sliders" who were saved and would then back slide, straight out, back slide, come back to the Lord and then repeat the process again.]
Saved sinners are still sinners who are indwelled by the Holy Spirit of God (Christ IN you) and are being sactified by the Word of God.
[My point is that some people liberal and conservative are stuck on stupid and I think you can find a perfect group of Christians.]
Saved.Sanctified.Glorified. The three step process God uses with Christians. Man created religion, God created Christianity and will finish the Work He started by Christ Jesus.
The author is saying that he grew up in a church that had the outward signs of orthodoxy, but which was pastored by men who no longer, in most cases, held orthodox views. The author is thankful for his exposure to such great odes to faith as the Apostle's Creed and hymns written by men and women for whom God was vibrant and real. He wishes the pastors and all the people in the church had been as passionate about God as the hymn writers, etc, but he nevertheless acknowledges that his faith got his start in what, for all intents and purposes, was a dead liberal church.
I think this is what we need to remember that all of our churches are imperfect. You make some great points. Thanks!!
Thanks for the tip, and I'm glad you survived Katrina!
Thanks, me too : )
Amen. Why would anyone be thankful for a dead liberal church? I wouldn’t.
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