Posted on 01/22/2014 9:57:35 AM PST by HarleyD
It should be clear that modern church marketers cannot look to the apostle Paul for approval of their methodology or claim him as the father of their philosophy. Although he ministered to the vilest pagans throughout the Roman world, Paul never adapted the church to secular societys tastes. He would not think of altering either the message or the nature of the church. Each of the churches he founded had its own unique personality and set of problems, but Pauls teaching, his strategy, and above all his message remained the same throughout his ministry. His means of ministry was always preachingthe straightforward proclamation of biblical truth.
By contrast, the contextualization of the gospel today has infected the church with the spirit of the age. It has opened the churchs doors wide for worldliness, shallowness, and in some cases a crass, party atmosphere. The world now sets the agenda for the church.
This is demonstrated clearly in a book by James Davison Hunter, a sociology professor at the University of Virginia. Hunter surveyed students in evangelical colleges and seminaries, and concluded that evangelical Christianity has changed dramatically in the past three decades. He found that young evangelicals have become significantly more tolerant of activities once viewed as worldly or immoralincluding smoking, using marijuana, attending R-rated movies, and premarital sex. Hunter wrote,
The symbolic boundaries which previously defined moral propriety for conservative Protestantism have lost a measure of clarity. Many of the distinctions separating Christian conduct from worldly conduct have been challenged if not altogether undermined. Even the words worldly and worldliness have, within a generation, lost most of their traditional meaning. The traditional meaning of worldliness has indeed lost its relevance for the coming generation of Evangelicals. (Hunter, Evangelicalism: The Coming Generation, 63)
What Hunter noted among evangelical students is a reflection of what has happened to the entire evangelical church. Many professing Christians appear to care far more about the worlds opinion than about Gods. Churches are so engrossed in trying to please non-Christians that many have forgotten their first duty is to please God (2 Cor. 5:9). The church has been so over-contextualized that it has become corrupted by the world.
For the Jews I Became Jewish, Part 1
For the Jews I Became Jewish, Part 2
By trying to be relevant, modern-day religion has rendered itself irrelevant.
I’ve been a homeless Christian for a long time now.
If you can't make it to church for disability reasons, there are lots of good, solid resources out their. John MacArthur at this site has a lot of very good sermons I've listen to. You might also try Monergism.com which has a lot of wonderful sermons to listen to.
If you still do not feel compel to do any of this, you might want to ask yourself why? David said, "I was glad when they said to me, 'Let us go to the house of the LORD!'" Our hearts are deceitful things and they will tear us away from God. Please remember that it is God who really wants to have fellowship with us. When we are not studying His word or participating in worship, we are rejecting Him.
Tit 2:7-8 Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity, and sound speech that cannot be condemned, so that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us.
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