Great, but disturbing article.
Posted on 06/11/2012 1:56:42 PM PDT by Gamecock
The house lights go down. Spinning, multicolored lights sweep the auditorium. A rock band launches into a rousing opening song. "Ignore everyone else, this time is just about you and Jesus," proclaims the lead singer. The music changes to a slow dance tune, and the people sing about falling in love with Jesus. A guitarist sporting skinny jeans and a soul patch closes the worship set with a prayer, beginning, "Hey God …" The spotlight then falls on the speaker, who tells entertaining stories, cracks a few jokes, and assures everyone that "God is not mad at you. He loves you unconditionally."
After worship, some members of the church sign up for the next mission trip, while others decide to join a small group where they can receive support on their faith journey. If you ask the people here why they go to church or what they value about their faith, they'll say something like, "Having faith helps me deal with my problems."
(Excerpt) Read more at christianitytoday.com ...
Great, but disturbing article.
![](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v14/gamecock/purposedriven2.jpg?t=1291159509")
Lot's of megachurch issues buried deeper int this article.
Catholic Church starting at page 4 or 5, maybe 6.
interesting article. however, i think the juvenilization of a lot of evangelical christian worship mirrors the juvenilization (infantilization?) of north american society as a whole.
for example, look at the casual clothing middle aged and elderly adults wear now.
they dress like children...
My grandfather was born in 1896. I was born in 1962. He lived in a world of hardship where men had to be men 24/7. He never wore a pair of sneakers in his entire life or put a pair of short pants on after he was 12 years old. He wore a fedora any time he left the house. He wore a coat to plow his field and rarely rolled his sleeves up.
Before we complain about the juvenilization of Christianity, lets look at our culture. Men wear short pants and ball caps with our brightly colored polo shirts. We can relax in ways that my grandfather never did. His music was not rock and roll, but my 70 year old mother has listened to rock for her entire life.
When the Wesleys were writing most of the Methodist Hymnal, they were attacked for writing “popular music”. I see no problem with a “juvenile” church as long as the scripture is being taught. I can connect to God better with Casting Crowns than I can through Gregorian chants.
With that said, many “hipster” churches do go too far. They push out scripture in favor of “interpretation” because “no one reads anyway.” They take the universalist view of God and Christ and essentially remove the Trinity from the salvation equation. And they get too involved with creating a good “show” that has very little worship.
There is a line between creating a culture in church that is familiar and easy to connect with and with throwing out God to have more room for the music. Some churches do a great job of the former, while others are purely the latter and not worth anyone’s time or money (unless you just want to listen to the music).
What exactly would you like those of us older folks wear?
>>What exactly would you like those of us older folks wear?
See the first paragraph of post #7.
Veggie Tales. jk
I think you're correct. I also think that juvenilization is not the only factor, that feminization plays a role too. I was saved in a juvenile/feminine seeker/finder church but left soon after when their weekly serving of mother's milk didn't satisfy my craving for all the mysteries of God. I was also put off by the hipster older pastors. A sixty-five year old man trying to look and behave like a twenty-five year old is just plain creepy, and I see it a lot in the seeker/finders.
Fedoras aren’t my thing. I live in a hot climate. I wear shorts in the summer. I roll up my sleeves. I’m pushing 60.
Deal with it.
>>Deal with it.
You obviously missed my point. I was saying that dressing like that is something men did 50 years ago and wearing comfortable clothing today does not make us juvenile. I used clothing style changes as an analogy for worship, pointing out that insisting that church be like it was a century ago is not going to be comfortable for modern people. People should be as happy and comfortable in their church as they are in their clothing.
While I must first “defend” myself for my reply to you by saying I did not, in the slightest, glean this point from your post.....I do completely agree, now that you have clarified.
I just woke up from a dream that I was on the bank of a beautiful river. The trees were so green and the river a sparkling blue. I was fishing with my feet dangling in the water. Everything was so perfect. Then someone came over and sat down besides me. He asked me if I caught anything and I said that I really hope not because I don't like to clean fish. Then he asked me if I thought God was wrathful. I thought for a moment and said how God was perfect love and perfection. How God created this perfect setting and loved everything in it. The wrath of God was only to reinforce this love, beauty and perfection. So the fear of God is actually fear of doing something that would go against this love of creation and earn God's displeasure.
God loves Christians unconditionally because of our Lord Jesus. But do we fear that what we do might be displeasing to Him?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
