Let it go?
Up until 75
years ago, every house had several loaded rifles at or near the front
door. Both to protect against humans, and to shoot other vermin attacking livestock.
Children were NEVER hurt... they were trained to shoot the loaded guns.
{ BTW: Growing up in small town (4k) in south GA and we always had guns in house, so learned how and when to use them properly. We knew where they were but were taught not to play with firearms - Hunting, self defense and target practice were taught - never knew of anyone actually being shot. But then the Liberal know it all's like Bo and bunch got into office and things have gone wrong for years now!}
Only city people, or out of touch types, seem to hate guns. and most city people are Liberals/DEMOCRATS, who because they hate guns don't want YOU who know how to use them wisely - to have any. But this is fascism, where liberals enforce their personal beliefs upon others!
==================================
The Christian Church the foundation of the US
The fact remains that the physical numbers within Christ's earthly body were never promised to exponentially increase year over year. History has shown us this fact when you consider Christ's body globally over time.
What we know for sure is that hell cannot prevail against His church because He has over come the Devil! So whether there are ten million, ten thousand, or just ten faithful souls, Christ's true body is pure and unblemished.
What sign is on the door of a building or how many people are inside has virtually nothing to do with the success of the Lord's kingdom. It is not even necessary to meet in a church building - because where 2 or more assemble there the Lord God will be present! Any where any place any time!
That has been the reality since He died alone on a tree.
The first of these is that we never really managed to live up to our claim that we could be silent where the Bible was silent. Many people have an opinion on everything and we are ready to go to war over these opinions at the drop of a hat - any hat. Cups, colleges, kitchens, orphans homes, the Herald of Truth, Marriage Divorce and Remarriage, and interpretations of John's visions in the Book of Revelation. We divided and fragmented into small groups, anathematized one another, declared one another's churches invalid and reserved the title of "The Lord's Church" for people who only believed as we did. Institutionally, we have not retained the memory that we were 19th century Protestants who were desperate to find away to get along with each other on the American Frontier. Instead we majored in the minors, preached our own opinions as the Word of God, and raised a generation of young people on a diet of religion without love and rigid codes of obedience and traditional interpretations devoid of grace.
[Rule #1 - The theological emphasis must be on Christ and the Gospel.]
Another reason is that many of our preachers and teachers made claims that could not stand up to scrutiny in the information age. The most common of these is that our Church is God's One True Church.
Of course, once everyone can go online and check out what other people believe, they can see how Catholics believe that same thing about themselves. Orthodox churches lay the same claim. Some Lutherans do to. Some Baptists feel the same way about their church. Even the Mormons think that they have the One True Church and rather uncomfortably they claim that the true church was lost until they restored it in the 19th Century.
That sounds uncomfortably familiar.
Yes, we believe that we are beautiful and unique like a snowflake - just like everyone else!
While there are some young earth creationist preacher's who speak of dragons that were dinosaurs that belched and had a flint tooth that they used to create an ignition spark to start a fire. (One wonders if these dinosaur / dragons also had a steel tooth.)
I am not making this up, I have actually heard this preached in a meeting to young people. We staked our credibility on the rather dubious assertion that the Earth is only 6,000 years old. All this is pseudo scientific gobbled goop and we ate it up and when we tried to serve it to the world they did not see us as bearing spiritual fruit but as becoming religious nuts.
I have heard Church history lessons in Churches of Christ in which it is explained that the first Pope was Boniface III in 606 AD. Um.....
Isn't it obvious that you can't have a Pope Boniface III without Popes Boniface I and II?
The information age made it possible to fact check these dumb claims with a google search.
[Rule #2 - Don't say dumb things. Stake everything on Christ and Him crucified and risen. Stop trying to lay a different foundation for the Christian Faith.]
Another really big factor has been our unhealthy attitudes toward multimedia in our assemblies. Clearly, there is a place for video projectors as an expedient visual aid, but in our rush to make things more modern and appeal to the young people coming up we decided that Power Point was necessary for all songs and sermons. I am not sure how our people reached this idea. Young people that I know do not compulsively create power point presentations without just cause or provocation. Other churches have worship services focused on serving God and overcoming the World.
We are lucky if we can serve up the right files and overcome technical issues.
[Rule #3 - Keep the A/V equipment in the classroom and limit its use in the assembly.]
Finally, there is the remarkable shallowness of our musical tradition. I am not talking about acapella - acapella can be awe inspiring when done correctly. We're just often not doing it correctly.
I am not sure which is most deplorable - the asthma inspiring verses of
"He Paid It All that I might - in His Presence Live" or some of the newer hymns that sound like they came from a Disney cartoon.
There is a long, rich tradition of ancient Chant - such as "Oh, Gladsome Light" or "The Great Doxology" which are reverent, doctrinal, filled with praise, and are frankly in better taste. A lot of the best hymns ever written were written in the first millennium.
[Rule #4 - Its good to learn contemporary hymns but we should also be open to ancient chants.]
If it seems like a hymn sounds like circus music (i.e. you can imagine it being played on a caleidopei) or a Disney piece (i.e. you can imagine Elsa singing it in Frozen) just "Let it go!" Maybe it time to reconsider what songs are being used for praise in the church!
Children were NEVER hurt... they were trained to shoot the loaded guns.
{ BTW: Growing up in small town (4k) in south GA and we always had guns in house, so learned how and when to use them properly. We knew where they were but were taught not to play with firearms - Hunting, self defense and target practice were taught - never knew of anyone actually being shot. But then the Liberal know it all's like Bo and bunch got into office and things have gone wrong for years now!}
Only city people, or out of touch types, seem to hate guns. and most city people are Liberals/DEMOCRATS, who because they hate guns don't want YOU who know how to use them wisely - to have any. But this is fascism, where liberals enforce their personal beliefs upon others!
==================================
The Christian Church the foundation of the US
The fact remains that the physical numbers within Christ's earthly body were never promised to exponentially increase year over year. History has shown us this fact when you consider Christ's body globally over time.
What we know for sure is that hell cannot prevail against His church because He has over come the Devil! So whether there are ten million, ten thousand, or just ten faithful souls, Christ's true body is pure and unblemished.
What sign is on the door of a building or how many people are inside has virtually nothing to do with the success of the Lord's kingdom. It is not even necessary to meet in a church building - because where 2 or more assemble there the Lord God will be present! Any where any place any time!
That has been the reality since He died alone on a tree.
The first of these is that we never really managed to live up to our claim that we could be silent where the Bible was silent. Many people have an opinion on everything and we are ready to go to war over these opinions at the drop of a hat - any hat. Cups, colleges, kitchens, orphans homes, the Herald of Truth, Marriage Divorce and Remarriage, and interpretations of John's visions in the Book of Revelation. We divided and fragmented into small groups, anathematized one another, declared one another's churches invalid and reserved the title of "The Lord's Church" for people who only believed as we did. Institutionally, we have not retained the memory that we were 19th century Protestants who were desperate to find away to get along with each other on the American Frontier. Instead we majored in the minors, preached our own opinions as the Word of God, and raised a generation of young people on a diet of religion without love and rigid codes of obedience and traditional interpretations devoid of grace.
[Rule #1 - The theological emphasis must be on Christ and the Gospel.]
Another reason is that many of our preachers and teachers made claims that could not stand up to scrutiny in the information age. The most common of these is that our Church is God's One True Church.
Of course, once everyone can go online and check out what other people believe, they can see how Catholics believe that same thing about themselves. Orthodox churches lay the same claim. Some Lutherans do to. Some Baptists feel the same way about their church. Even the Mormons think that they have the One True Church and rather uncomfortably they claim that the true church was lost until they restored it in the 19th Century.
That sounds uncomfortably familiar.
Yes, we believe that we are beautiful and unique like a snowflake - just like everyone else!
While there are some young earth creationist preacher's who speak of dragons that were dinosaurs that belched and had a flint tooth that they used to create an ignition spark to start a fire. (One wonders if these dinosaur / dragons also had a steel tooth.)
I am not making this up, I have actually heard this preached in a meeting to young people. We staked our credibility on the rather dubious assertion that the Earth is only 6,000 years old. All this is pseudo scientific gobbled goop and we ate it up and when we tried to serve it to the world they did not see us as bearing spiritual fruit but as becoming religious nuts.
I have heard Church history lessons in Churches of Christ in which it is explained that the first Pope was Boniface III in 606 AD. Um.....
Isn't it obvious that you can't have a Pope Boniface III without Popes Boniface I and II?
The information age made it possible to fact check these dumb claims with a google search.
[Rule #2 - Don't say dumb things. Stake everything on Christ and Him crucified and risen. Stop trying to lay a different foundation for the Christian Faith.]
Another really big factor has been our unhealthy attitudes toward multimedia in our assemblies. Clearly, there is a place for video projectors as an expedient visual aid, but in our rush to make things more modern and appeal to the young people coming up we decided that Power Point was necessary for all songs and sermons. I am not sure how our people reached this idea. Young people that I know do not compulsively create power point presentations without just cause or provocation. Other churches have worship services focused on serving God and overcoming the World.
We are lucky if we can serve up the right files and overcome technical issues.
[Rule #3 - Keep the A/V equipment in the classroom and limit its use in the assembly.]
Finally, there is the remarkable shallowness of our musical tradition. I am not talking about acapella - acapella can be awe inspiring when done correctly. We're just often not doing it correctly.
I am not sure which is most deplorable - the asthma inspiring verses of
"He Paid It All that I might - in His Presence Live" or some of the newer hymns that sound like they came from a Disney cartoon.
There is a long, rich tradition of ancient Chant - such as "Oh, Gladsome Light" or "The Great Doxology" which are reverent, doctrinal, filled with praise, and are frankly in better taste. A lot of the best hymns ever written were written in the first millennium.
[Rule #4 - Its good to learn contemporary hymns but we should also be open to ancient chants.]
If it seems like a hymn sounds like circus music (i.e. you can imagine it being played on a caleidopei) or a Disney piece (i.e. you can imagine Elsa singing it in Frozen) just "Let it go!" Maybe it time to reconsider what songs are being used for praise in the church!
posted by Kerminator at 03:35
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