Posted on 02/08/2008 1:32:50 PM PST by fgoodwin
The Future Lies in the Past -- Why evangelicals are connecting with the early church as they move into the 21st century.
Many 20- and 30-something evangelicals are uneasy and alienated in mall-like church environments; high-energy, entertainment-oriented worship; and boomer-era ministry strategies and structures modeled on the business world. Increasingly, they are asking just how these culturally camouflaged churches can help them rise above the values of the consumerist world around them.
For younger evangelicals, traditional churches are too centered on words and propositions. And pragmatic churches are compromising authentic Christianity by tailoring their ministries to the marketplace and pop culture. The younger evangelicals seek a renewed encounter with a God beyond both doctrinal definitions and super-successful ministry programs.
So what to do? Easy, says this youth movement: Stop endlessly debating and advertising Christianity, and just embody it. Live it faithfully in community with others--especially others beyond the white suburban world of many megachurch ministries. Embrace symbols and sacraments. Dialogue with the "other two" historic confessions: Catholicism and Orthodoxy. Recognize that "the road to the church's future is through its past." And break out the candles and incense. Pray using the lectio divina. Tap all the riches of Christian tradition you can find.
This is the road to maturity. That more and more evangelicals have set out upon it is reason for hope for the future of gospel Christianity. That they are receiving good guidance on this road from wise teachers is reason to believe that Christ is guiding the process. And that they are meeting and learning from fellow Christians in the other two great confessions, Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox, is reason to rejoice in the power of love.
(Excerpt) Read more at christianitytoday.com ...
You’re dead on right. Contemplative spirituality is another name for it, and it is new agey, centering, empty the mind kind of meditation rather than actually meditating on God’s word. Things like choose a word, like Jesus, and repeat it over and over and over again until your mind is empty. That is occult.
The Purpose Driven movement has done hideous damage to the church and Rick Warren never met a Bible verse he couldn’t or wouldn’t take out of context. A favorite example was in one of his newsletters to pastors (which I get in my email box just to keep an eye on what the man is doing) is his use of Psalm 2 “God Laughs” in the context that Pastors just need to relax and have a good time because God does. Look up Psalm 2 and see if that is the message of that passage.
The Course in Miracles, I think, was done at Schuellers church once upon a time. And again, you are correct, it is bad news.
How about the road to apostacy?
Check these out:
http://www.reinventingjesuschrist.com
http://www.understandthetimes.org
http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com
And that’s just for starters. :-)
Having no tradition isn’t really much of a tradition, but it’s all that some have.
It’s a wonderful thing that some young people have realized there’s just more to it.
I am not a Southern Evangelical, I am a Southern Catholic for the record, but I find your statement interesting. In what way did 1/3 of Southern Evangelicals rediscover bigotry on Super Tuesday. Would you care to elaborate?
Regards
My guess is that II is assuming they (southern Evangelicals) didn’t vote for Obama.
However, the real vote against Obama came from the North East.
Since II was being obscure...I’m only thinking out loud.
Then in the 90's more and more churches sang contemporary music. And soon pretty much every church was singing contemporary music (CC music). About the only churches that did not do this were liberal churches that were basically dead churches with lots of empty seats.
This caused the christian who holds conservative interpretations of the Bible a choice between conservative churches that sing CC music and liberal/moderate churches singing traditional music. The pendulum was swung so far in the other direction towards the CC music (and lets face it some of it is bad i.e., Shine Jesus Shine) that it was only a matter of time before there would be some movement back to singing traditional songs. Some CC music services have decided to sing the traditional songs with a slight CC variation which I love. I love some of the CC versions of songs like It Is Well With My Soul.
Well, I thought it was the Mormon Issue you were referring to as most Southern Envangelicals would tend to vote in the Republican primary, as oppose to the Democrat primary. I think it is safe to say that most of the evangelical Protestants went with Huckabee first, then some McCain, and Romney got the least. I would conjecture that Romney’s Mormonism had something to do with him not getting much support in the South. But, it seems he had trouble outside the South as well. Evangelical Protestants will have little to do in the Dems Primary’s in the South. Louisiana, where I am from, votes today, and it will be interesting to see where the White Democratic vote goes with respect to Hillary and Obama. I, as a Catholic, will be voting in the Republican primary, so I can’t influence it all, although some of my “yellow dawg” relatives will do so.
Regards
Sure. They joined with Huck composing the anti-mormon vote.
Well, if you look in California, McCain got 2 out of every 3 Republican primary voters who were Catholic. So, I think it is a little unfair to say that it is only Evangelical Protestants who did not support Romney. I voted for McCain today and would have had a hard time choosing between Huckabee, who at times has been affliliated with some of the more anti-Catholic Protestant types, although he himself has never stated things similar to Bob Jones, Hagee, etc so I would not label Huckabee as someone who is anti-Catholic, and Romney, whose Mormonism does raise concerns for me, and again I am Catholic.
Another way to study the Word of Elohim is Pardes (Jewish exegesis)shalom b'SHEM Yah'shuaAs Yah'shua would have.
It seems like according to exit polls in GA that Romney won with “evangelicals” in Atlanta but Huckabbe won with “evangelicals” outside of Atlanta. I wonder if that might be a common pattern in alot of these primaries where Romney won the evangelical vote in the city or big city suberbs but Huckabee won the evangelical vote once one got outside of the big city.
I know that this is not a political thread, but it kind of crossed over into religion. Anyway, thanks for that data. From Georgia at least, it seems the split is between rural evangelicals, perhaps with more of a fundamentalist theological leaning, vs. urban/suburban evangelicals associated more with the mega Church evangelical movement, at least that is my take on it.
Again, I think Catholic Republicans should not have any problem with McCain. He has a 0% rating from NARAL, and has consistently supported constructionist judges, including Bork, and John Roberts and S. Alito, both constructionist judges, with a strong belief in natural law.
Funny, I hadn’t even thought about the Mormon issue (and I guess I’m the only one). After Fred, Mitt was my man, now he’s gone...but as I have stated before on FR, there is no way I’ll vote for a Southern Baptist...the last two were disasters.
BTW, I’m Evangelical, with a Southern Baptist son-in-law who liked Mitt, and a daughter (Evangelical, but definitely not SBC) who didn’t, specifically because he was Mormon...so you may have half a point!!:>)
Yes, they're called the "emergent church" and 'mysticism' and 'contemplative spirituality' - they are merely exchanging one lie for another. This is the colossian heresy.
Yup they probably are. And it's one of the reasons why we left our previous church. The heresy addressed in Colossians.
Redefinition of terms is the classic liberal method for confusing an issue, and eventual redefinition of doctrine.
It eventually ends in God being created in man's image.
i believe that it was the Protestant counter cult apologist, the Late Dr. Walter Martin who once said "Similar does not mean 'same'".
Just because these groups have borrowed traditional Catholic terms don't assume that they have retained Catholic meaning, or any meaning within Christendom.
We Protestants have been fighting the cultists on this ground for decades. While i'm certainly not one for ecumenism, (and i believe that the Present Pope shares such disdain for ecumenism, thankfully), this is probably an area where Catholics can learn how to fight this fight by studying what the Protestants have done...including and especially where we've made mistakes.
One local church was actively advertising a “Traditional” service on Sunday mornings, to attract the many who have been ignored in recent years. When it started drawing larger congregations than the Contemporary service, it was discontinued and the pastor declared “We cannot define Traditional”.
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