January 24, 2006
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Religion
First of all this is actually a continuation of the Alito The Hun conversation and a reply to LiquidyFire’s comments at the end there. One of the things that kind of distresses me a little about Xanga is how topics can very quickly be bumped to later pages and then somwhow look ‘old’. I like posting a lot, but hate the way the whole ‘Heaven’ and ‘Heart of Darkness’ type entries look like old news or something. Anyways…this is why I’m starting another post up here.
Ok so first of all, that was an awesome reply Liquidy. I can tell you put a lot of thought and energy into your effort to articulate your beliefs, and it’s appreciated! I’m not sure if ‘Traditional’ was the best term for what I was trying to say, but you described the kind of atmosphere that defines the kind of church I like. It might be the fact that I live on a state college campus, but I do generally get the impression that churches like the kind you described are fading away. I went to some within walking distance to where I live, and they were all progressive. I went to some that required a bus or two, and even when I managed to find one that was focused on the faith of the congregation and felt like a family church – there were so few families! I went to this one baptist church nearby, and it had maybe 50 or 60 people in there. 45 of them had to be elderly. I didn’t attend these churches with the intention of finding a girl or anything, but to be the only one in our age group – it was disappointing to say the least. Going to 15 churches and being able to remember each member of my age group led to some massive essays about the state of religion/church/spirituality.
When I think about a church and it’s purpose, I think of it as kind of a club. People can go to a whole variety of clubs and find one that fits their needs and desires. Maybe there isn’t one perfect fit, but there is more than likely going to be a club to fit each person’s unique beliefs. What bothers me about both Progressive and the giant Evangelical churches is that they don’t seem to be focused on the faith of it’s own members and spiritual matters so much as they are about the world around them. The progressive churches(open door, open heart, open mind) have a wonderful philosophy in my opinion – but a philosophy more designed for an individual than for an entire faith. I think each individual can decide for him or herself what they want to and do not want to believe. I don’t think an individual church can decide the same thing for an entire religion.
I’ll go back to the club analogy. Imagine a new person going to a club and liking some of what it has to say, but not all of it. Instead of deciding to either continue their search for a club that better fits them, they decide to try and change it according to their set beliefs. I think this is what progressive churches are designed to do. They agree with a lot of methodist beliefs, or catholic beliefs, or whatever, but wish to tweak it and still remain catholic or methodist. I have nothing against a church’s united belief, but to try and change religion as a whole simply because they say so is quite arrogant in my opinion. Branch off and form your own church, rebel entirely and form your own religion, but don’t tell a preestablished faith that it’s wrong simply because it doesn’t quite fit!
Then you have the massive evangelical churches. I think their intentions are good at heart, but when they try and change the world to fit their belief system, it disturbs me. Progressive churches are politically minded, but evangelical churches are a political force! A major force to be honest if you see how Karl Rove and President Bush’s political minds went about campaigning last year. They appealed to the out in the country family churches yes, but boy were they going for the big dogs of the Christian faith. The president himself came to World Harvest, which has a nationally telecast service. I went to Grace Bretheren from about 1997 to 2002 and it is along the same lines, though not quite so politically minded.
I guess it really all just comes to how the church deals with the issue of money. Are they using their offerings to bash President Bush and put up rainbows all over the sanctuary? Are they using their offerings to promote President Bush and put his picture up all over the sanctuary? Or perhaps, just perhaps do they use their funds to do church picnics and youth retreats all done solely for furthering each individual’s spiritual walk and offering a sense of community and acceptance.
What do you think about the state of the church?
EDIT: Analogy, not metaphor.
SECOND EDIT: Alito The Hun, not Metamorphosis.
Comments (1)
ok, so this comment isn’t really going to be on the state of the church or religion in general, but more about me personally. i too, have had a hard time finding a church. i found one i really enjoyed back in michigan and we had just moved into a new building and i was becoming more involved in the church as they began to have more things to be involved with and built the new building and new programs together. and then my family situation forced me to move on.
i was never able to find a church in ohio for lack of many things including but not limited to transportation and lack of connection to people in general. and i have been feeling the absence of a good home church. i went to one of those big churches, not so big as to have a telecast or something, for several years with my parents and i hated it. it didn’t have that family church feeling that i enjoy. some churches are just too concerned with expanding their congregation so they can fill every seat as though that was what God wished of them, instead of being concerning with those already within their doors. i think each church needs to find a balance between those who claim that church as their own and helping those beyond the walls of the building. sure, we want to share what God has done in our own lives with others so that they too can make a better assessment for themselves and also have a place to gather and worship. and i’m not saying that i don’t want to share a church or invite more people or anything, i’m simply stating that some churches are too concerned with what might be looked at as a quota of how many people they have and how much money that means for them.
i loved the pastor of said large church, i was friends with his family and his daughters were 2 of my best friends in the church and high school, but aside from a few other families i was close with, the people in that church in general were so distance and removed from each other. and the worship at the large church was almost entirely geared towards the large number of older people who would be ‘uncomfortable’ with anything slightly above the tone of an old hymn. and the youth services had to be conducted with pre-teens and their ‘concerned about certain topics’ parents. so there wasn’t much of a place there for my age group. which is why i moved to the other church. well, there were many reasons why i did that, but this is one of them.
well, i miss my home church in michigan and it’s going to be hard for me to find another church like that where i felt that everyone genuinely cared about everyone in the building. people i hardly knew at first were actually wanting to know how i was and stuck around to hear the answer instead of just looking bored until they could escape b/c they were simply wanting to hear ‘oh i’m just fine’ every time they asked. but instead, they listened and spoke and were listened to and genuine prayer for the other on both sides was evident.
it’s that difference between milk and meat. i felt this was where the meat was and yet there was still milk available for the new ones coming through the doors who needed that as well. whereas the large church was more milk and i felt i was starving. it’s a lot cheaper to provide many people with a drink than to feed them all steak.