I know you will never be convinced of anything happening outside your head. That may work for you (I doubt it), but it's not viable for future generations.
Recipe for disaster, obviously. Really not even worth discussing.
I’ve been studying Christianity in America for the last sixteen years. Youre statement could be the center piece for an argument for what I’ve found. A few points that stand out from what I’ve learned and the heritage that churches in America draw from can explain the conditions that fostered the OP of this thread.
Most early denominations in America sprang from movements that broke away from the established church. That added a heritage of self definition and reinvention.
As Americans we have a tendency to tear down old things and call them rubbish indiscriminately. Many posts in this thread demonstrate that mindset.
The revivalist movement was heretical. Charles Finney lied to gain pastorship in the Presbyterian church. Then he went rogue and developed a governmental/legal view of the Christian faith. He denied original sin and took John Wesleys doctrine of Christian perfection to its logical end. The direct result of his influence and the many spin offs resulted in that area of New York State being the seed bed for all of the major faux Christian movements that swept across America in the 1800’s.
That is our heritage. In my opinion we need to adopt the spirit of the Renaissance and reformation and call these religions that front as Christianity exactly what they are. False.
From studies that the Barna Group to what Christian Smith wrote about concerning Moralist Therapeutic Deism we can see the result of how these influences have gutted any objectivity concerning the faith and replaced it with emotionalism.
It’s no wonder that young people leave the church in America. It’s no wonder that the atheists and agnostics laugh at Christians and Christianity on these threads.
This thread demonstrates everything that is wrong with the American church. We have Gnosticism, Spiritualism, Mysticism, Rank Fetid Moralism and objectively ignorant cliche Christianity (I’m a good person) attaching false orthodoxy to the name of Christ. Just name the name of Jesus and we are all good and all the same no matter what we believe. It’s like Rodney King united the Christian faith under his cry “can’t we all just get along” at the cost of truth.
In respect to demonstrating those things this thread is wonderful.
