Why Nobody Wants to Go to Church Anymore (believer, dogma, priest)
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SAAN forgot one very critical reason why people are leaving Christianity, or at least not attending church: they are disgusted with prosperity preachers bilking people with this "sow a $1000 seed" drivel. Every time you turn on a Christian channel there is some huckster like Mike Murdoch trying to grab some poor widow's social security check by promising her that check will make her millions if she just has the faith to trust God will grow it into a million dollars.
The prosperity gospel is so prevalent because it is a sure-fire money-maker: the promise these jerks pass off to ignorant/naive Christians is a future promise (God will make you rich) made on a present act ("Go to your phone right now and sow a $1000 seed. Put it on your credit card. Doesn't matter if you've only got $500 left. Trust that God will turn that $500 seed into 5 million"). And to boot they put this guilt trip on you, "Who are you to rob God of the tithes He demands from you?! Do you realize that stealing from God will send you to hell to burn for all eternity??" And so these poor ignorant Christians think, "I don't want to go to hell. Here, take very last dime I have." And these prosperity preachers laugh all the way to the bank while the poor ignorant Christians go without paying their water bill or medicines or food.
Honestly, these prosperity preachers should be locked up and the key thrown away. They are the worst scourge on Christianity that ever existed. And the incredible part is that scores of Christians defend them. "Touch not the Lord's anointed", they scream at you if you even question their practices.
I couldn't agree more. I've spent maybe a sum total of maybe 2 hours watching TV preachers in my lifetime. I guess I'm getting old(er) because I find myself telling more stories. The mother of a friend of mine, she was on social security, complained she hadn't enough money to buy food. After looking at her checkbook register my friend found out his mom was sending anywhere from $200-$500 a month to some TV preachers. She told him she was buying her way to heaven. Wonder if these preachers were 70's rockers?
Quote:
There's a lady who's sure all that glitters is gold
Quote:
And she's buying a stairway to heaven.
When she gets there she knows, if the stores are all closed
With a word she can get what she came for.
And she's buying a stairway to heaven.
To what end? Does knowing your "true identity" help you go to heaven? Is that even an option or a goal to you? Does the fact that Jesus died on the cross and rose again result in that?
It puts an end to sin consciousness and condemning sin in others. The good news is not about going to heaven(out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks), never has been and never will be. The place Jesus prepared for us was not a future abode but the place where he abode............oneness with the Father.
To what end? Does knowing your "true identity" help you go to heaven? Is that even an option or a goal to you? Does the fact that Jesus died on the cross and rose again result in that?
If your only goal is to "go to heaven", then you're missing your "high calling which is in Christ". He came that we might have abundant life (John 10:10), and if anyone cares to look at Abraham's life, you'll see why I believe it's part of our heritage to be "the head and not the tail" (Deut 28:13).
We're to have the faith of Abraham, and his blessings too. (Gal 3:9-14)
(See the blessings in Gen 12)
I'm having a rubber band reaction to the depressed walk of the cross (nothing but dying to self) I've walked over the last 25 years, and come to the knowledge that His death really does give us the victory.
Riches as a blessing on earth is a byproduct of, not a result of.
The Father does not bless us all equally and not necessarily with financial blessings.
There is no doubt in my mind that Osteen is a money-changer.
When you discover that The Lord IS your shepherd, goodness and mercy follow you all your days of your life(the prosperity of God). Now if the preachers taught such a thing they would begin to connect with folk and cause them to lift up their heads, instead of having their heads down, beating their own chests in remorse of forever being told you're a sinner and you'll always will be one until you get to heaven, how does this kind of BS inspire anyone to desire to go to a church meeting and more importantly give you boldness and confidence before God ?, I would say it is virtually impossible.
Like one of the guys who works for me said to me this week.........God wants us to look up,not down to the earth(our old nature).
If your only goal is to "go to heaven", then you're missing your "high calling which is in Christ". He came that we might have abundant life (John 10:10), and if anyone cares to look at Abraham's life, you'll see why I believe it's part of our heritage to be "the head and not the tail" (Deut 28:13).
We're to have the faith of Abraham, and his blessings too. (Gal 3:9-14)
(See the blessings in Gen 12)
I'm having a rubber band reaction to the depressed walk of the cross (nothing but dying to self) I've walked over the last 25 years, and come to the knowledge that His death really does give us the victory.
maybe so...but I'd rather be more concerned about eternity today. We live what? 80...90 years? Maybe 100 if we're fortunate? Eternity is a long time.
2 other things that are causing the decline in church attendance are.
Overly Sensitive People
I cant recall how many people that I have seen in church for many years and they get a insensitive comment from someone, or take the comment way to serious and they leave the church and stay home. 5-10 yrs gone over 1 comment or question. Yet when they are at their job, people say 5-10 times worse comments to them and they show up everyday with a smile to the person.
Of course, some of us just did not want to be there.
Here is my take. If I am going to spend my morning, or part of it in a church, it had better be worth MY time. It had better be in a facility that exhibits a highly aesthetic form of ornate architecture, such as a classical cathedral. If I am going to sit around shallow, judgmental people, hypocrites who frequent services or perhaps just people who are too fear ridden or insecure to know the difference, then I had better be inspired by some aestheticism of the service. That would be a high mass, a tridentine mass, or a choral performance with choirs, music. There is a part in a film we saw called Life of Pi, where Pi is talking about his excursions into religion, having just witnessed a Hindu ritual, and his father warns him that religions may have a certain beauty on the surface, but underneath, they are dark.
I generally avoid talking to or socializing with people when I go. I am there to take in the beauty of the ceremony, on the rare times I go (like Advent and Christmas Eve)
Past that, I have no need whatsoever to go, and as the article mentioned I have many other things to do as well.
I couldn't agree more. I've spent maybe a sum total of maybe 2 hours watching TV preachers in my lifetime. I guess I'm getting old(er) because I find myself telling more stories. The mother of a friend of mine, she was on social security, complained she hadn't enough money to buy food. After looking at her checkbook register my friend found out his mom was sending anywhere from $200-$500 a month to some TV preachers. She told him she was buying her way to heaven. Wonder if these preachers were 70's rockers?
There is one simple way to explain why people are not in church. They have no love respect of faith in God and no desire to live by His will or worship HIM. They have other things to do that are more important to them than their relationship with God.
May GOD bless you and yours.
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