I recently visited a LCMS Lutheran church where the pastor proudly showed the following video:
Welcome to Our Church
What do you make of it?
There are good points, to be sure. But what I notice is that there's no Savior. Jesus is an ill-defined icon. And the church's historic message of salvation from hell is one this church is proud to say it considers unimportant.
Welcome, my friends, to the era of "Jesus as energy drink!"
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2 comments:
Mike
Hope all is well with you, Ken here, one of your thanksgiving camping companions
Interesting video, with many strong points that many fluffy churches avoid including
Jesus true God
Bible = God's Word
Jesus = actual life, actual death and actual historical resurrection
Man = broken/sinful
But why water down the salvation message?? A study of the NT shows lots of discussion about the "kingdom" and a close read shows that the kingdom is "now" and it is "later". The video focuses on Now and seems to proudly avoid the Later.
It is as if the church is trying to be "different" by focusing on Now, when in reality it is not Now Or Later, it is BOTH.
Being able to accept an answer which is "BOTH" when logic would seem to dictate "OR" is critical for Christians. Consider the following questions
Is Jesus Man or God?
Is God one or three?
Am I sinful of saved?
I see some focus on the "Now Kingdom" in the emergent church, after all "who knows what the future holds, and who can be sure anyway, so don't worry about it" but in those cases you generally don't find strong teaching on the Bible as God's word, the true resurrection, etc.
The video doesn't say that they disagree with the "future" it just seems to say that they place more focus on the now. This may not be a bad focus as long as the future is acknowledged as a truth. Many a "dead" congregation focus only on the Future and do nothing about the Now. You know the type of congregation, they are saved by faith not works and it is as if they are trying to prove this belief by avoiding works. Lots of traditional worship, no outreach, no works, no growth, no next generation in the church, a church that is working on a slow death.
Based on the video I would give the church the benefit of the doubt and assume that they don't disagree with Biblical teachings on the Future. Watch for teachings that would support universal salvation for the "good", and other such teachings which would be contrary to the Bible's message that salvation is only through Christ.
I would not "walk away" because of the video, but rather use the video to determine other questions you need to ask the Pastor
Ken
It's actually a neighboring congregation in town. I'm a member of a different church -- lots of traditional worship, lots of theology... but it IS growing. =)
> Watch for teachings that would
> support universal salvation for
> the "good", and other such
> teachings which would be contrary
> to the Bible's message that
> salvation is only through Christ.
My concern is that the message of salvation is MISSING.
I'm not sure you are right, that "placing more focus on the Now may not be a bad thing as long as the Future is acknowledged as a truth." If you place the Future on the back burner, you might find that members of your congregation don't actually make it there because they never actually heard, and placed their faith, in the Gospel. They wanted Jesus as a friend and a life enhancer. Without Jesus as Savior, there is no Future.
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