After reading the article below I had the following reactions:
How long will the US mirror the moral and religious culture of England? What must be done to break the trend? How will "we" know that "we" are on the right track? Would changes from the pulpit really have done the job in England? It seems the Churches in England would be well served by some apologetics from the pulpit along with substantial arguments from the scriptures. I have heard NancyPearcey recomend the same course of action as a first step to a pastor in America. How much of what is effective for the Churches in England will be effective in the USA? Will American churches be able hold off the tide of secularism with passion and more "cool" or aesthetic things? Will contemporary services be sufficient? Can proper Bible teaching cure all ills?
When all is said and done I suspect what we need is balance. If the "spiritual doctors" of our churches have the insights to see cures to our behaviors and symptoms, that is great. However, what maybe a better role the church needs to play is that of paramedics who keep the wounded alive until they can be healed by the Great Physician.
Crosswalk.com - Christianity Vanquished in Britain?: "'I was shocked at how moral values had changed in such a short time and
how church attendance in mainstream denominations was in free fall,' he
said. 'Four out of five churches were either declining or simply
static.'"
Wednesday, July 20, 2005
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2 comments:
Wow! I didn't know this statistical truth - that moral behavior correlates with being involved in organized religion, and that when people stop doing that, they go bananas!
Makes you wonder how our species survived all those thousands of years prior to Christianity and even the Old Testament.
I think most of them were really somehow going to church, but in a kind of time warp or alternate universe, and that's why everybody didn't murder everybody else prior to the Ten Commandments being issued.
There's no other possible explanation.
My comments on this can be found at http://afterprogress.blogspot.com/2005/07/morals-and-relationship-to-religion.html
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