handy
Member
OK, I alluded to this on a different thread and decided I really couldn't derail that one, so I started a new one.
The subject is "seeker friendly" churches, and I'll start with the quote from "seeker friendly" pastor extraordinaire, Rick Warren:
I question that. I question whether this is even Biblical. Does the Bible teach us that the saved are saved by feeling God's presence? Generally, in the Bible, the unsaved's reaction to feeling God's presence is one of abject terror and fear, or such a complete cluelessness about what they are seeing that they write it off as drunkenness, as in the case of Pentecost. I always thought that the saved were saved by faith, faith in Jesus Christ, that He died on the cross because our sin and that we find forgiveness of our sin in Him. When Peter preached to the unsaved that were mocking those at Pentecost, it wasn't exactly a "feel good" "uplifting" message. He basically told them they had nailed to the cross an innocent man, "God has made Him both Lord and Christ - this Jesus whom you crucified."
I don't see, and perhaps I need someone to point them out, Scriptures that tell us that those who are saved are saved because they had a warm uplifting experience in which they "felt" God's presence.
I grew up being taught, and finding it verified in God's Word, that the purpose of the church is the equipping of the saints to go out into the world and share the gospel, complete with the message of our fallen and sinful nature and just what exactly we are being saved from (gasp, hell). It seems with the onset of seeker friendly churches, that the idea is now that the saints are just to bring the unsaved to worship services that are uplifting and emotionally charged, and most importantly of all: comfortingly familiar (with the latest in current trends in music and plenty of coffee, snacks, fun things for the kids to do, basketball teams that one can sign up for, etc.). "Negative" messages, such as our sinful natures, hell, the fact that we are responsible for the Cross, are diminished if not ignored altogether.
If I could see, within the past 25 years or so, that the Church was making a huge impact for the cause of Christ throughout the world, I would figure, hey, God's moving so who am I to question it. But, I don't see it. What I do see, is the Church is getting more and more fleshy, with issues like divorce, fornication, homosexuality, and a host of other sins, being more and more embraced by the church as being the way things are and don't worry because God loves you, yes He does.
I mean, my best friend had to leave their "seeker friendly" church after 30 years of membership there, because they needed to get their daughter out of the youth group, because the youth group kids were all involved in drugs, being tattooed, cutting and sending nude pictures of themselves to each other.
My opinion about these seeker friendly churches is that they are Mrs. Dash, a salt-substitute. It tastes good, but it's by no means the essential nutrient we need to live.
The subject is "seeker friendly" churches, and I'll start with the quote from "seeker friendly" pastor extraordinaire, Rick Warren:
I question that. I question whether this is even Biblical. Does the Bible teach us that the saved are saved by feeling God's presence? Generally, in the Bible, the unsaved's reaction to feeling God's presence is one of abject terror and fear, or such a complete cluelessness about what they are seeing that they write it off as drunkenness, as in the case of Pentecost. I always thought that the saved were saved by faith, faith in Jesus Christ, that He died on the cross because our sin and that we find forgiveness of our sin in Him. When Peter preached to the unsaved that were mocking those at Pentecost, it wasn't exactly a "feel good" "uplifting" message. He basically told them they had nailed to the cross an innocent man, "God has made Him both Lord and Christ - this Jesus whom you crucified."
I don't see, and perhaps I need someone to point them out, Scriptures that tell us that those who are saved are saved because they had a warm uplifting experience in which they "felt" God's presence.
I grew up being taught, and finding it verified in God's Word, that the purpose of the church is the equipping of the saints to go out into the world and share the gospel, complete with the message of our fallen and sinful nature and just what exactly we are being saved from (gasp, hell). It seems with the onset of seeker friendly churches, that the idea is now that the saints are just to bring the unsaved to worship services that are uplifting and emotionally charged, and most importantly of all: comfortingly familiar (with the latest in current trends in music and plenty of coffee, snacks, fun things for the kids to do, basketball teams that one can sign up for, etc.). "Negative" messages, such as our sinful natures, hell, the fact that we are responsible for the Cross, are diminished if not ignored altogether.
If I could see, within the past 25 years or so, that the Church was making a huge impact for the cause of Christ throughout the world, I would figure, hey, God's moving so who am I to question it. But, I don't see it. What I do see, is the Church is getting more and more fleshy, with issues like divorce, fornication, homosexuality, and a host of other sins, being more and more embraced by the church as being the way things are and don't worry because God loves you, yes He does.
I mean, my best friend had to leave their "seeker friendly" church after 30 years of membership there, because they needed to get their daughter out of the youth group, because the youth group kids were all involved in drugs, being tattooed, cutting and sending nude pictures of themselves to each other.
My opinion about these seeker friendly churches is that they are Mrs. Dash, a salt-substitute. It tastes good, but it's by no means the essential nutrient we need to live.
