Friends, the decline of church attendance in America continues apace, and in fact that pace has quickened of late. Now just 30% of your countrymen attend services "every week" or "almost every week"...and even fewer youngsters, needless to say. Of course, attending church, and being a person of faith, aren't the same thing. From one perspective, all those empty pews could even be a good sign. I shall explain. By and large, Americans go to church to experience fellowship (no big downside there), and to listen to their preachers preach (potentially big downsides here). In that vein, there is evidence that, especially in mainline Protestant churches, clergy may be significantly more leftist than their congregants. I know that, in my denomination -- the Episcopal Church -- you aren't likely to hear anything even vaguely conservative emanating from the mouth of your rector. Ergo, one could see some of the decline in church attendance as Christians (along with everyone else) spurning sociality itself, as well as the tiresome woke pontifications of pastors. Maybe this explains some of the decline in church attendance, but there is more going on, surely. The sad truth is that religious faith more broadly is waning, according to every objective measure. If you're a believer, that has to trouble you. Even if you're not, you might wonder what force of social and cultural and moral cohesion could possibly replace traditional Christianity. If anyone has an answer, I'd love to hear it!
RAY TO DR. WADDY
ReplyDeleteYou need to flee the Episcopal Church. Regrettably, most U.S. Christian denominations (and there are a great many of them) are becoming more secular as every year passes. Go in many congregations, and most of the service in focused on christian contemporary music (CCM)
which is basically rock with religious words. So many people, just come to the correct conclusion that church is not much different than the secular world. Basically, the preaching is "Jesus Light/Lite".
At the end of the day (Sunday) people who stay in churches get their weekly dose of whatever they think they need in whatever "Jesus Factory" they attend. For the most part, The Bible if not taught, and Jesus is reduced to being a nice Rabbi back in old Jerusalem and environs.
If you are are looking for hard Christian preaching try Steven Anderson who is one of the "leading lights" in the New Baptist Fundamentalist Movement. You can go to his blog and church at "Steven Anderson All The Preaching" and find out for yourself.
He has also produced some interesting films. He has also been deported from a few countries for being anti-LGBTQ and antisemitic, is also on the lists of more than a few Leftist organizations. Go to his site and check him out for yourself. His church is Faithful Word Baptist in Phoenix, Arizona. Another like church is Verity Baptist Church in Sacramento, CA.
According to Anderson LGBTQ stands for "Let God Burn Them Quickly". The general trend among most Christian churches is "Sin Is Okay", and our church has plenty of parking, and a great coffee bar.
RAY TO DR. WADDY (ALSO KNOWN AS NICK)
ReplyDeleteBriefly, your particular church was reamed, steamed and dry cleaned a long time ago by Bishop John Shelby Spong. Check him out. This is the guy who thought/suggested that The Apostle Paul might have been gay. I'm serious.
In the Catholic Church the current Pope (a Leftist from Argentina) says priests can now bless gay couples. Hey! What can I say? Read up on his other B S pronouncements when you get time.
Then, in not just a few Protestant megachurches, the pastors are raking in the coins with all sorts of different versions of whatever tickles the ears of their congregants sitting in those plush chairs. Go figure.
RAY TO DR. WADDY
ReplyDeleteAll extremism aside (whatever that is) my personal preference for Christian Pastors is John MacArthur at Grace Community Church. Yes, it's a megachurch, but from what I have read in his defense, MacArthur is not corrupt. He is my go-to, and online for now, pastor for the future, and actually has been for some time.
RAY TO DR. WADDY
ReplyDeleteDid you know that most Bibles (and I mean most) are printed in The People's Republic of China. Don't take my word for it. Check that FACT out for yourself. Take a look at some of the reasons that should not be so. Really! The PRC. Apparently doesn't bother "Christians" to send their Bible needs to the biggest atheist country in the world. Many are also printed in India, the biggest pagan country in the world with its "Go take a bath in the Ganges" and other gods and goddesses, and don't forget the best sex manual in the world "The Kama Sutra".
RAY TO DR. WADDY
ReplyDeleteOne of my favorite Pastor Steven Anderson films is "Marxist Lucifer King" which must piss a lot of people off. Mormons are referred to as "Latter-day Satans". Now that's what I call imagination.
Another reason people leave churches is they get fed up with certain practices of churches. I call them mine field barriers to Christianity. For example, Free Will Baptists believe in the washing of the saints feet". Maybe people got fed up with people's stinky feet after a while. Pentecostals demand that you speak in tongues. You are not a real Christian until you speak tongues. Make your own list of what might make you hesitant to join up with churches that practice this, and there are many. For the most part, churches are religious social clubs with dues and a pecking order. It's people, personalities, politics, and power plays. Mostly rock concerts, with pep talks about Jesus as a byproduct.
ReplyDeleteSeeing the website for Rhema Bible Church ( a BIG Church) looks like a religious brain washing academy. A real emotional experience, totally excluding "Be STILL and know that I am God." Instead, constant noise from people banging on drums, strumming guitars, and pounding on key boards while prancing around on a stage. "No business like show business" is there?
ReplyDeleteRAY TO DR. WADDY
ReplyDeleteThose two anonymous posts are mine. Looks like if you want to, you can start your own church if you have some fun ideas people might like. However, do not preach from The Bible, or mention Jesus at all if you can help it.
RAY TO DR. WADDY
ReplyDeleteI think my favorite member of the clergy will always be Father Guido Sarducci.
RAY TO DR. WADDY
ReplyDeleteIf for no other reason, many people leave churches because most churches nag the hell (no pun intended) out of people for money for all sorts of projects. Probably first on the list is adding additions to the church building itself based on real or imagined church growth.
Another factor is sexual abuse which is probably more widespread than people realize, with lots of cover up.
Church factions are another. If you are not in one of the "Captain Midnight" clubs you are an outsider, until you join one and kiss the leader's ass in the bargain.
Lots of stuff about this online.
RAY TO DR. WADDY
ReplyDeleteFinally, because I have said way too much already, there is the "doctrine" of The Rapture taught by a great many churches. You can read up on it for yourself, or watch/read the "Left Behind" series of movies and books. If you don't believe it you are looked down upon, to say the least. The church fathers never taught it, and it was invented by John Nelson Darby in the 19th Century, to feed his ego, in my opinion.
RAY TO DR. WADDY
ReplyDeleteHowever, a lot of really nice, decent, and basically good people still attend churches.
RAY TO DR. WADDY
ReplyDeleteMy choice for a church would probably be Calvary Chapel, and especially the one in Ontario, Oregon. ALL Calvary Chapels across the nation ALWAYS preach from every book of the Bible all of the time. If you want to know what The Bible says, check them out.
RAY TO DR. WADDY
ReplyDeletePart of the "bottom line" on declining church attendance is bad experiences have in churches they have attended for a long time. Also, people change churches, or move around from church to church to find the "perfect" church, which of course does not exist. In addition, more than a few churches will irritate people by changing music styles, or an old, well pastor leaves and is replaced by another less popular and so on and so on.
Dr. Waddy from Jack: I think history provides us some guidance in thinking about the existential question you have raised. The Catholic Church (still, I'd say, the mother church) has endured much travail, from within and without, for a VERY long time. A minister I know said his faith was much strengthened by the church's survival of its tumultuous early history. It's medieval history as a temporal power , included schism, war , internal political division, a reformation which generated perhaps the worst war in history (the Thirty Years'War) until the 20th century but above all, its continued central role in Western Civilization. I recently learned that Hitler purposed the eventual extirpation of the church; at one point Pope Pius was convinced that a Nazi invasion of the Vatican and his execution were imminent. And of course marxism's onslaught on religious faith suppressed its expression in those countries cursed by that inhuman doctrine. But its glorious resurgence , inspired by a living Saint of monumental intellect, grand faith and sublime historical greatness, confirmed the church's unparalleled resilience and is itself productive of conviction that its doctrine provides a solid framework for good living. A chaplain in a prison I worked in said "what these people need is the fear of God!" How right he is and our country's execrable moral degradation, concurrent with the decline in religious belief,demonstrates it with great power. We can plainly see in our present culture the fell effect of insouciant disregard for the ideal that an omniscient , pervasive intelligence bids us denounce our worser angels and warns of incalculable personal misfortune for failure. So in my opinion, the answer to your question is that there is nothing that can replace the vital spiritual and moral structure provided in the West by our redeeming Judaeo- Christian experience.
ReplyDeleteRay, I agree that much modern Christianity is basically secular humanism warmed over, with a neo-Marxist twist and a garnish of psychobabble. And, yes, most people shop around for the church or the belief system that tells them what they want to hear. There's something redeeming (if I may use that term loosely) about growing up in a religious tradition -- whatever tradition it may be -- and learning the discipline that it imparts. No one likes to be disciplined or self-disciplined nowadays, though. And thus our churches have, broadly, become as shallow and empty as ourselves.
ReplyDeleteRay, I'm curious -- what do your favorite pastors advise you, and their other followers, to do about America and the West's spiritual decline and moral corruption? Disapprove of it? Sure, that's easy. But how, when, and where are you to confront it, if at all? It's a serious question.
Another question for you: how does a Christian base his life on the Bible, when the Bible says so much, and on so many topics, much of which can be interpreted as contradictory? Surely people need a cheat sheet, in practice, and a way to simplify what God requires of them. Seems to me that, again in practice, people substitute their own wisdom, or the wisdom of their pastor, for that of God. How to overcome this?
Jack, the Catholic Church is an excellent case study in the decline of Christianity, if you ask me. Yes, it's old, and it has a glorious history in many respects. Yes, even in recent years it's played a (mostly salutary) role in history. Be that as it may, it's never been more feeble, in terms of its wealth and temporal power, and it's never held less sway over the psyches of its (nominal) members, either. Ray is right that the current pope is as much as a Marxist as a Christian -- and even he is barely listened to by the balance of the population in most historically Catholic countries. Of course, one gets a slightly different impression if one visits a Catholic Church in Nigeria or Brazil than in France or Germany, but I think my generalizations hold, nonetheless.
RAY TO DR. WADDY
DeleteActually I don't have any favorite pastors. There are a few that strike me as being unique (such as the ones I mentioned), but that's about it, and in the end I really can't endorse them.
I'll never join them, but The Jehovah's Witnesses probably nailed the answer to "spiritual decline and moral corruption" in believing it all began when Adam and Eve disobeyed God and suffered the consequences of believing in Satan's lies. This of course is in The Bible, but a lot of Christians pass this off as myth.
In other words, the entire globe has been in "spiritual decline and moral corruption" since Day One. If I want some clear answers I go to JW.org. Again, I have NO plans to join them,
but they do provide clear explanations in plain language as to what ails our planet yesterday and today.
I tend to have great respect for The Seventh-day Adventists who believe in many things the JWs believe, but without the brain-washing. Both JWs and SDAs believe that God will renew the earth to be a paradise as he originally created it, and that resurrected humans who believe in Him will live on it for eternity.
God created this earth to be our home and we corrupted it. Don't blame it on God! Satan has always been The Prince of this World, but his days are coming to an end.
Dr. Waddy from Jack: The Christian religion has been subjected to more study, examination, criticism, trial and exposition, by persons of highly discriminating and discerning minds, than any other institution , for any longer time, in Western civilization. If it was absurd, it would have been proven so by such rigor. Its survival confirms that there is something very close to essential humanity in it and that its assertions deserve, at least, our respect and deference.
ReplyDeleteDr. Waddy and Ray et al from Jack: I think all of the historical and present manifestations of organized Christianity have been engulfed at times in a miasma of hypocrisy and misuse. But like a ship emerging yet again from a heavy fog, the glorious ever central truth, Christ's sublime example, carries on forever.The great old hymn says it so well : ""Onward Christian soldiers, marching as to war, with The Cross of Jesus, going on before. . ."
ReplyDeleteDr. Waddy from Jack: Another telling historical experience was the French Revolution's ludicrously presumptuous attempted establishment of a brand new religion. It was replete with idolatrous and probably forced celebration of an ersatz "Goddess of Reason". Didn't last long.The Church had done much wrong in France but this episode, characteristic of the later marxist evil of which the French Revolution and its philosophical inspiration, Rousseau, stood prototypical, demonstrated the Church's fundamental vitality to the great civilization of France and the Western Civilization in which France plays such a significant role.
ReplyDeleteRAY TO JACK
DeleteI appreciate your comments about France and Western Civilization. I'm retired now, but having taught Western Civilization in College (as Dr. Waddy has and still does I believe), it is a subject still close to my mind and heart. Thanks for reminding me of this. This is particularly important since in many colleges, world history courses have replaced Western Civilization courses, with textbooks reflecting a decidedly Marxist view of all history.
With that said there is a series of books by the late Warren H. Carroll who founded Christendom College in Virginia titled "A History of Christendom" in six volumes. I have one volume "The Founding of Christendom" and will probably buy the other five this year. I'm sure you will recall that Christendom was what Europe was once called before it was referred to as "Western Civilization".
Best of luck to you, and God Bless.
Ray from Jack: Thanx and the same to you. Being an amateur historian I am especially glad always to receive endorsement from a professional. It's worth noting that several volumes of the Durants' eleven volume Story of Civilization have titles referring directly to France. You know, those who arrogantly advance Marx's views can just KMA! It's the most discredited doctrine ever and after the prolonged and catastrophic tryout it was given in the 20th century, that it has any adherents is appalling. Their purpose cannot be creditably intellectual because in that vein Marxism is merely a hideously manifested atavistic abomination.
ReplyDeleteRay, thanks for the honest answer to my question. Sounds like your strategy is to "Wait on the Lord", which, as a Christian and a live-and-let-live kinda guy, I can readily endorse! And, yes, it's a fallen world and always has been. If it's a question of turning one's eyes to God, rather than glorifying the self, or the nation, or the goggle-box, etc., then the world of today may be, in my humble opinion, more fallen than most that have come before it.
ReplyDeleteI concur, Jack: any religion or any cultural tradition that survives for 2,000 years must have something going for it. One of Christianity's great selling points has always been the promise of eternal life, which, especially in times when death seemed constantly imminent, must have brought a lot of comfort to the hoi polloi. Now, though, we've sequestered death (although we haven't overcome it), so most people seem to feel little need for the "good news". Well, little need until they're on the deathbeds, that is.
Good point, Jack, that Christianity has outlived many flash-in-the-pan faiths and ideologies. Still a bit early to tell if this "science" thing has legs...
Ah, "Christendom"! There's a word you won't hear on CNN or MSNBC anytime soon...
Here's a brainteaser for you: can one be a Marxist and a Christian simultaneously? Quite a few clerics seem to think so...
RAY TO DR. WADDY
ReplyDeleteSome Clergy thinks it can be Marxist and Christian simultaneously. A perfect example is the current Pope, and Pope John XXIII who presided over Vatican II BACK IN THE LATE 1950S AND EARLY 1960s.
Dr. Waddy and Ray et al from Jack: I suppose its nominally possible but the greatest cleric of our time , St. John Paul II , was marxism's bete noire. His example may answer your question.
ReplyDeleteDr. Waddy from Jack: Marxism's greatest evil today is manifested in the historically confirmed reality of its assured subhumanity in practice. Anyone who yet advocates it in the very face of that verity is detestable. This isn't 1917 anymore. I cannot see Christianity and this abomination sincerely coexisting in one mind.
ReplyDeleteQuite so, Ray! Many clerics think like Marxists, even if they don't always call themselves Marxists.
ReplyDeleteTo your point, Jack, we would first need to clarify the definition of "Marxism". The neo-Marxists would say it reaches its highest perfection in, oh, Sweden, as opposed to Maoist China or Stalinist Russia. Or maybe it reaches its highest perfection at Harvard or Stanford, if you like your "Marxism" more cultural than economic. Pretty hard to say whether a Christian can be a Marxist, when few people, and maybe even few Marxists, understand the term.