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To: WestwardHo

If fast food didn’t have flavor, no one would eat it. It may not be flavor that you like, but that doesn’t make it flavorless.


7 posted on 03/25/2012 8:04:19 AM PDT by Bryanw92 (Sic semper tyrannis)
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To: Bryanw92

I’m old. I’ve watched this evangelical thing unfold for a long time.
I am not a theologian so my response will be kind rough and abbreviated.
In brief, the evangelical movement began in the mid-1800’s in reaction to a “dead” Presbyterianism. (Too much form, and not enough heart.)
Tragically, in the desire to separate, they “threw out the baby with the bath water.” They threw out creed and systematic doctrine.
I grew up in an evangelical church (I’m 64), that was at the tipping point between holding onto the old paths, and moving into new evangelicalism.
The rally cry was, “Defending the essentials, and not argueing the unessentials.” (Can’t we all get along?)
It doesn’t sound like a bad idea does it? Well, who decides what is essential, or not essential? What does the Bible say about “every jott and tiddle”? Does not the Bible define every detail of faith and practice? (What can the righteous do when the foundations are destroyed?)
Believe me, I was no whiz bang, wise beyond my years teenager. Being in our church was like being in a family about to divorce, there was a level of confusion, chaos, and lawlessness. (Every man doing what was right in his own eyes.)
Their God was not big enough for my problems. They were all giddy and joyful. It wasn’t working for me.
I left home and church with several thoughts:
1. God, if you don’t want me, leave me alone.
2. I would love to hear God’s Word for the first time, to know what I believed for myself, and not just something I absorbed from the walls.
3. I wanted God to be worthy of my worship, and not this silly God who cheered for the local football team.
God answered my prayers in His own time and way.
I was in my ‘50s before I was in a church that taught systematic doctrine, and all of a sudden all the disjointed bits and pieces I had learned along the way came together, and opened God’s Word, and my relationship with Him that changed everything.

I’m telling you this because of this quote from the article:

“Back in 1980, I met with the retired Episcopal Bishop of Atlanta, who had been Bishop during those tumultuous times. It was soon before his death, and he told me, “If I had known all this would happen, I would not have been quick to give in.” He went to his grave in regret.”

The broad evangelical umbrella is a skeleton of what the church use to be under creed and systematic doctrine.
That’s ultimately why this Bishop went to his grave with regret. So tragic for him, and tragic for his congregation.

Ordinary people like me see the sickness, see the remedy, and pray that we will see God work a new reformation in individuals, families, churches, the world. “Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.”
My original comment was out of frustration, and I should have deleted it.


8 posted on 03/25/2012 11:42:01 AM PDT by WestwardHo
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