I’m sitting here on Sunday morning and decided to hurriedly write a blog post. It can’t be long because, after all, it is Sunday morning and it won’t be long until time for church. You see, being Sunday morning, that means it’s almost time for Sunday school and church.
Attending S.S. and church on Sunday is not an option at our home. We have decided that, “as for me and my house, we WILL serve the Lord. It amazes me how, for so many people, church is an optional choice. If there is something better going on, they choose not to attend Sunday school and church. If there is someplace better to be, they opt to go there instead of going to church. If the weather is nice, they decide there are other things they could be doing now that the weather is nice, and, if it’s bad, they decide quickly that the weather is too bad to go.
Question! How can people say that God is the most person in their life and yet decide so easily and quicly to just stay home on Sunday morning? Sports is more important than church. Other activites are more important than God. We now have a generation of people who have made God optional rather than make Him first choice.
When it comes to serving God, church should not be an option. We need to consider what kind of a message we are sending to our children to show them by example that God is optional in our life, that we don’t have to have him in first place and that other things are more important than church. Unfortunately, they will soon become teenagers and will make their own decision about serving God, putting him first place in their lives and about whether or not to go to church or Sunday school.
And, based on what they have been taught by their parents, the decision won’t be a big deal – God will be an option rather than a requirement. How sad it will be when parents turn to us and say, “Thanks mom and dad, for showing me that I don’t have to feel guilty if I don’t put God first place in my life, or that I don’t have to feel guilty for not going to church. After all, Serving God is an option, not a necessity – that is, until we find ourselves in a situation someday where we really need Him. How sad it would be to find that we are only an OPTION to Him.
Here is a quote supporting my earlier comment:
There is no need for temples,
no need for complicated philosophies.
My brain and my heart are my temples;
my philosophy is kindness.
Dalai Lama
Maybe my original comment didn’t get added because I logged in through FB instead of WordPress. Fortunately, I saved it:
A church is a wonderful place for establishing a sense of community. And the resulting collaborations among service-oriented people can accomplish beautiful things on behalf of the people Jesus encouraged us to help.
Otherwise, you’ll have a hard time convincing people under 40 that there is any good reason to go to a church. Young evangelicals who’ve been to college know more about what the Bible REALLLLLY says, and how to assemble an understanding of the Old and New Testaments, than most old preachers and especially their Sunday School instructors.
And while these young evangelicals may like to hear a variety of opinions, they don’t like to be told what to do (“preached” to), who they can and cannot live with or marry, whether to study and appreciate science and technology, and how to treat people who are different. While preachers desperately try to fertilize roots in young people, the rest of us are helping them grow wings to fly. They see most preachers and their churches are stuck in the mud.
Young evangelicals have also discovered they can find spirituality on Sundays in the woods, rivers and mountain tops like the ancient people did, and probably feel much closer to God than they ever will surrounded by older people singing hymns they don’t understand, chanting chants they don’t understand, and listening to preachers who they know are much more flawed than they try to appear.
If you want people to come to churches (and donate time and money), focus on the programs that Jesus would want you to focus on (poverty, disease, unconditional love, and economic self-help programs), and stop putting all your energy into homophobia and defensive posturing over where we place the 10 Commandments and Nativity scenes.
There will always be a few people willing to come to church who don’t know how to seek out spirituality on their own, people in 12-step programs, or people who believe that by listening to a preacher they’ve fulfilled some weekly obligation, and plenty of good people who like the quiet time, the routines of Sunday morning, and to see and be seen by others. But you should aim higher. I’ve read about the programs CCC coordinates outside the chapel, and most of them are great. That’s what will attract younger generations and also keep the rest of the church (and you) from getting old.
Jim, I just noticed your response (comment) or I would have responded much earlier. I want to thank you and thank you I do, for you have drawn the dividing line this time between where people such as yourself stand, and where people such as myself stand. “And neither the twain shall meet” and for that I am greatful. You have shown yourelf proudly, I’m sure, to portray the typical New Age Christian who wants to throw the church out the window because there is no longer a need for it and let everyone “spread wings and fly” to their own spiritual destination, whereever that is. One thing is for sure, it doesn’t lead to a personal relationship with Christ. As far as you are concerned, no one needs such a relationship with “Christ” because after all, they can “find God” anywhere, in nature, walking in the woods, and who knows, maybe for some, even during a marijuana-fest somewhere in a moment of “highness.”
Come on Jim. Your new age religion does everything that Satan Himself (And yes he does exist) has tried to do for centuries = to draw everyone’s attention off of the Christ, the Son of the Living God and putting it on themselves and their own quest for “finding God.”
The Bible has stood the test of time for Centuries, I have embraced it and you haven’t. You would rather embrace a “no-need for God religion” or at least a “find him in your own way” search. I find it amazing that you would speak for all of the “young evangelicals”. How many of them have you met? How many of them have asked you to speak out on their behalf? The only difference between you and me is that we are speaking out on behalf of others, only on opposite sides of the fence.
It’s interesting that my church is growing and many of the new ones are the young evangelicals you spoke about who are tired of searching for satisfaction in the woods or through some self-satisfaction quest. God has created each of us with a space reserved especially for him and people find that after years of searching things your way, nothing satisfies like a personal relationship with Christ. I knew we were on opposite ends of the spectrum, I just didn’t realize how far apart we were, but you have made that clear. You accuse me of pushing religion while you are doing just the opposite, you are pushing your own form of qualified religion, believing that anyone who doesn’t see it your way is either stupid, blind or ignorant. If that’s the case, I am proud to be so and I will adhere to my beliefs until the day I die, as well as try to proclaim the gospel truth equally as long. You said yourself you are trying to spread your propoganda so that young evangelicals can spread their wings and fly. And so it is, we are both attempting to influence others in our beliefs. I guess we’ll one day see whose right. I, quite frankly, will take my chances with the Word of God that has stood the test of time, rather than some new age, anything goes philosophy that holds no future and warrants no accountability.
Actually, there was a time when I believed exactly as you do, from age 14 right up until the end of my first semester in college when I turned 18.
Please do not confuse my message with that of alternate spirituality through medication, alcohol, or illegal drugs – I believe that such things provide the same escapism from reality that many religions provide. I’ve worked directly over 1, 600 teenagers who were my students, but I’d only be guessing at what percentage of those were evangelical Christians, but probably lower than the national percentage of 34% typically stated for U.S. adults. In any case, I think I know more about young people than most older adults.
I don’t much care how people pursue religion, but I do think it’s unethical, or at least short-sighted, for anyone to prescribe what is and is not optional. And I also think that if young people aren’t attending the church, it says much more about the church than it does about the young people. Finally, don’t confuse ethics-based understanding of human interactions (sometimes aligned with human secularism) with “anything-goes” philosophy. Indeed, it’s quite the opposite. Religious people hold themselves accountable to God, whereas ethical people hold themselves accountable to themselves (their conscience) and all other humans.
I would rather hold myself accountable to God than to other people. As I said, I hold firm to my beliefs and I have not been involved in Christianity per sae all of my adult life. I decided to try my own brand of finding my own way and wanting to see what life was like without any religious restrictions. But I found myself coming back to my roots, not because of guilt, but because of grace – God’s grace. Because I found that something was lacking in my life without the God I knew being present. I do not regret serving God. I don’t feel as if I have missed out on anything in life because of my religious upbringing. I am quite content to live the life I’m living. And I spend much of my life trying to introduce others to Christ, not because He is a slave-driver or not because He is a bigot or hate-monger. In fact I do so for just the opposite reasons. Because He actually sets the one bound by his or her own desires free from being entangled with our own insatiable desires. Because He loves us with an everlasting and unconditional love. I’ve been “God-free” before in my life and realized that the term “God-free” is actually an oxymoron since one is not free without God. I like where I am in my spiritual walk. I’m not bound by laws, rules, regulations and commandments. Instead I am free because of his grace and his divine love. If you haven’t experienced where I am, then I wouldn’t expect you to understand.
I saw you referenced our discussion in your Hampshire Review column. I don’t make this stuff up, you know. Here’s the supporting research:
http://www.barna.org/teens-next-gen-articles/545-top-trends-of-2011-millennials-rethink-christianity
I hope you do indeed enjoy contradictory evidence in your church, and I’m now confident you won’t take it for granted.