A Good Reminder
After spending some time this morning surfing the web, I ran across an excellent article. Stuart McAllister has written a particularly convicting (as a Southern Baptist) article about the state of the church. The majority of the article is a critique of novelty versus tradition. Here are some of the best parts of the article:
"What disturbs me personally—and many people whom I have talked to across the country and internationally—is the growing trend to ignore Christian history, to devalue Scripture, to reframe worship, and to lessen the role of discipleship, holiness, theology, and content. What matters is whether God is “experienced” (something I also seek), whether worship is compelling (a commendable value), and whether people actually come (a valid desire). However, this tendency and practice of avoiding the past is distracting, and I believe, wrong."
This is his comment on a "new" way to learn about the Scripture:
"I was reminded of this by my wife who sat in on a discussion about learning Scripture. One individual concerned with the other adult’s lack of biblical knowledge suggested this be might remedied by watching the Veggie Tales! (Might it also have been possible to suggest reading the biblical book itself?) "
If you are interested in "the rest of the story," then click the link below.
Novelty and the Church
The reason I found this article to be as convicting as it is stems from the decision handed down recently by the Presbyterian Church of the United States of America (PCUSA) to rename God. This group took it upon themselves to create all "new" names for God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. One of the more interesting ones was "Rainbow, Ark, and Dove." To read more, check this link. Find the blog entry entitled, "God talk is not a game."
"What disturbs me personally—and many people whom I have talked to across the country and internationally—is the growing trend to ignore Christian history, to devalue Scripture, to reframe worship, and to lessen the role of discipleship, holiness, theology, and content. What matters is whether God is “experienced” (something I also seek), whether worship is compelling (a commendable value), and whether people actually come (a valid desire). However, this tendency and practice of avoiding the past is distracting, and I believe, wrong."
This is his comment on a "new" way to learn about the Scripture:
"I was reminded of this by my wife who sat in on a discussion about learning Scripture. One individual concerned with the other adult’s lack of biblical knowledge suggested this be might remedied by watching the Veggie Tales! (Might it also have been possible to suggest reading the biblical book itself?) "
If you are interested in "the rest of the story," then click the link below.
Novelty and the Church
The reason I found this article to be as convicting as it is stems from the decision handed down recently by the Presbyterian Church of the United States of America (PCUSA) to rename God. This group took it upon themselves to create all "new" names for God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. One of the more interesting ones was "Rainbow, Ark, and Dove." To read more, check this link. Find the blog entry entitled, "God talk is not a game."
posted by Michael D. Estes at 9:52 AM
1 Comments:
Yeah. It is simply beyond me why we feel like we have to make something that speaks to the soul more relevant.
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