(EDITED BY AUTHOR: 2/28/2006 - 1:12 p.m.)
I'm a Methodist, but there is not so much denominational distinction today. At my church there are Presbyterians, Baptists, Roman Catholics, etc. People are taught denominational differences any more and they're not even taught the whole gospel. There is an anti-intellectual component to today's American Chrsitian Church. It's manifested as, "I don't want to know things, just tell me what to do." Doctrine is dumbed-down and minimized.
I could talk all day about what is wrong with the American church but succintly put it's this: We've gotten away from the gospel in the sense that Jesus was "full of grace AND truth". Hence my constant haranguing on this forum about truth. Today it's all sentimentality and love (which is not really even grace) and show me the 5 steps I need to take to be a better (fill in the blank). It's The Purpose Driven Life instead of the Promise Driven Life. Adam keeps running around inventing all sorts of fig leaves to cover his nakedness. Full of Grace and Truth means just that. Full means 100% both, not 80% & Grace and 20% Truth. Not even 50% Grace and 50% Truth. It means 100% Grace and 100% Truth, 100% of the time. The gospel is just not preached. If you talk about the depth of Sin in the face of God's Holiness, you're bound to tick somebody off and they might not come back and you just can't have your attendance numbers dropping. Your boss might start asking questions. So somewhere along the way, we decided to compromise with the world and start giving it what it wanted as opposed to what it needs. We started aping the culture and brought in rock bands and big screen TVs and great audio systems in bigger buildings. There's a flurry of mindless activity that reminds you of, "Jesus is coming soon. Look busy." You wonder if anyone had a thought would it die of loneliness? We are culture crumbling because we are amusing ourselves to death. We've dragged that into the church and instead of working to further his kingdom, we're working to meet someone's agenda and business plan. Despite this, Jesus is still on the throne and there's real work to be done. I think that the American church is one of the biggest mission fields on the planet.
