Posted on 09/07/2020 9:32:54 PM PDT by ReformationFan
I remember when Christians used to actually believe in Christianity. Those were the days. (Some still do, but their numbers are shrinking.)
Back then, you could still visit an average (Protestant) church and hear a pastor actually teach real doctrine and share authentic insights. You could hear his thoughts on how to live an upright Christian life, or on why bad things might happen to good people, or how Christian marriages might be improved. And you could hear it all supported by actual Bible passages.
After the sermon, you could hear the congregation sing hymns affirming the importance of obedience, humility, faith, courage, or some other Christian virtue. They were something, the old hymns: bold, clear, impactful, sometimes even militant, like "Onward, Christian Soldiers" or "God of Our Fathers, Whose Almighty Hand", or particularly thoughtful, like "How Great Thou Art".
Things are different now. Wander into a typical Christian church these days, and, far from hearing a sermon challenging you to live an upright life, you're more likely to hear an unsuccessful attempt at a Jeff Foxworthy-style stand-up comedy routine, Hallmark-style stories of dubious veracity, and utterly vacuous "praise songs" which all sound like U2 album rejects from 1986. (They even feature the thumping eighth-note bass parts, echo-drenched guitar, and melodramatic vocal performances.)
(Excerpt) Read more at steynonline.com ...
Christians do not a religion make.
My wife always scolds me because I loathe the “Christian” music channel that showcases tatted up artists with crazy hair and idiotic lyrics.
Can’t say I ever cared for the genre to be honest.
I’ll stick with the old hymns.
Andy Stanley is a narcissist. His parents had issues which finally led to a divorce. Who knows what went on in that house hold. Andy has always had a worldly view of the church and I don’t if his father had ever challenged him on that.
I know some here in Indiana that do, if you are interested.
You don’t want to take back those pulpits. Leave and find a pulpit where a man of God is preaching/teaching the Word of God (and nothing else) and all God’s people sitting there say “Amen”.
“....and utterly vacuous “praise songs”...”
I called that the Yanni hymnal. Wife hated me saying that, but I could’ve hummed one note and been entirely in tune for every song.
Andy had issues with his dad, especially after the divorce. He says he has since forgiven him.
As for Andy’s ‘church’, it never belonged to his dad. They’re independent from his dad’s church.
When Andy started going off on the Old Testament, saying that modern Christians needed to ‘decouple’ from the OT, I knew there was something really wrong.
Back in December, my family started attending a Torah-Observant Christian congregation. The pastor preaches nothing but truth, not watered-down psycho-babble. He encourages us to dig into the Scriptures on our own. His wife is there, but she never preaches. I’ve never seen anyone show up in inappropriate attire. And our praise team doesn’t really do the old hymns, but the stuff they do sing is completely Biblical and they do NOT ‘put on a show’. Yeah...it’s still a little weird to go to service on Saturdays, and I miss bacon, sausage, and pork chops (try beef bacon...it’s yummy!), but I believe our pastor speaks the truth of G-d and Yeshua at our congregation.
This Tal Bachman?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tal_Bachman
He seems to have all the resources at his disposal...has he devoted any of his songwriting talent to improving the music of the Christian Church?
It may be a different guy, but it’s not a common name.
My mother attends Charles Stanley’s church, and Andy is still a regular speaker there.
I don’t understand how they still let the little heretic in after all the damage he does at his own church(es).
We have some friends who profess to be Christians. Thy were raving about how wonderful their pastor was. I was intrigued and listening in via the church’s website.
After the “sermon” I knew more about the pastor than I learned about Jesus. It was all about the pastor.
And drum cage
You are correct, it doesn't!
I’m afraid I don’t get down to Tennessee very much, but I appreciate the offer!
I will never there is a church “good enough for me,” but this area of the state, in and around Howard County, is very liberal. Not many choices.
I live north of Howard County, near Grissom Air Plane Patch. If you know of anything up this way I’m all ears.
Yup. That too.
We had a guy like that many decades ago. In fact, the Holy Spirit gave me a clear warning of what this guy was about to do. Had I warned the senior pastor of what Word of Knowledge was given to me, he (good pastor that he was) might not have believed it.
Years later we were discussing things in his study. I told him some things. He said he would tell me something that had occurred that I didn’t know about.
The Word of Knowledge that was given to me that day (I remember that moment clearly) came exactly true. It happened 1-2-3 years later. I don’t remember the exact time frame.
Certainly not to defend the “too modern” music. (There used to be one song on Daystar I really liked - but I’m talking 30 years ago and don’t remember the title).
That church organization had all their own “modern music”. I too, prefer the old hymnals, most of the time.
However, with drums, it’s possibly not a bad thing to have the Plexiglas enclosure. The thunder can roll just too far.
We used to jam in my bosses basement on the weekends when I was in college. My guitar was never a problem. But the drum thunder would roll out of the basement, or should I say through the basement walls (lol) across a small ravine, through the trees and keep people awake late at night.
My boss eventually agreed to stop playing after 9 p.m. So we started shutting down at 9.
It wasn’t my singing or my guitar playing (LOL). It was the drums.
Certainly not to defend the “too modern” music. (There used to be one song on Daystar I really liked - but I’m talking 30 years ago and don’t remember the title).
That church organization had all their own “modern music”. I too, prefer the old hymnals, most of the time.
However, with drums, it’s possibly not a bad thing to have the Plexiglas enclosure. The thunder can roll just too far.
We used to jam in my bosses basement on the weekends when I was in college. My guitar was never a problem. But the drum thunder would roll out of the basement, or should I say through the basement walls (lol) across a small ravine, through the trees and keep people awake late at night.
My boss eventually agreed to stop playing after 9 p.m. So we started shutting down at 9.
It wasn’t my singing or my guitar playing (LOL). It was the drums.
Surely there are enough disgruntled FReeper Hoosiers than dislike the new way of trying to reach the unchurched that they can find each other and start a new church just like the old one they used to attend: with hymns, a dress code and even Wednesday night services; too!
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