Woohoo! Two-for-One!

Well, my wife and I had an interesting discussion today, so I thought I'd write about it here!

So the topic is this: Why are "Millenials" (people born in the year 200 or later) leaving the church?

Well, here's what I think:

I think it's a lot of reasons, but namely the following:

~Intolerance in the Church
~Hypocrisy in the Church
~Lack of logic in the Church

Now let me explain.

Intolerance

Let me first clarify that this does not mean "Christains should be pushovers" or "sin? What's sin?" Intolerance looks like this:
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Person A: You know, I ran into a friend from college the otherday and got to talking. It was really great to hang out with him for awhile. We went to a pub and he had some drinks while we...

Person B: SHUN THEE! I PRONOUNCE JUDGEMENT AND DAMNATION UPON ALL WHO ENTER SUCH HOUSES OF VILE CORRUPTION!!!!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~

Or like this:

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Person A: Dude! I went to this SWEET concert this weekend! The headliner was...

Person B: ESCHEW THE NON-BELIEVER! SATAN ROMPS IN THE FIELDS OF INSOLENT HEATHENS WHO ATTEND SUCH FESTIVALS OF THE DAMNED!!!!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~

Or even like this:

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Person A: Well, I went to visit a mosque/temple/shrine/cathedral and ended up meeting a really cool imam/rabbi/monk/priest who had a lot of interesting thoughts on ...

Person B: HELLFIRE AND BRIMSTONE UPON THY HEAD! THOUS HAST CONSORTED WITH PAGANS AND SATAN WORSHIPERS!!!! A POX UPON THEE, HEATHEN!!!!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now, obviously, this is played up quite a bit, but can you see the logic there? Many in the church seem to think that someone who sins is untouchable, someone who has different tastes is a pagan, and someone who is friendly with others of different beliefs is going to hell. That last one is really infuriating when they are mad at you for befriending other Christians (Catholics, Presbyterians, Anglicans, Mennonites, etc.).

This is obviously not in keeping with Christ's teachings. "Those who are healthy do not need a doctor. Those who are sick do" (Mark 2:17). If that's the case, then why do we spend all our time medicating the healthy? Concerning worship styles/music preferences, when King David, in the Old Testament, saw that the Ark of the Covenant had been returned, he ran out and danced naked through the streets of the city. And when his wife shided him for it later, she was struck barren by God. Now, this is not to say that we should all dance naked, but the point is that if God was not upset with David dancing naked, I find it hard to believe that he finds Third Day, Skillet, Casting Crowns, etc. THAT offensive. Finally, concerning inter-faith friendships, I think, at the end of the day,  Christ is glorified when the poor are fed, the homeless clothed, and the orphans loved. I don't think he really cares who called "dibs" on the event planning. I think the important part is that those Christ cared about most (the ones who have almost no hope) have been cared for.

So yeah, that's the "intolerance" I'm talking about.

Hypocrisy

Now let me begin this by saying there is not one singular big hypocrisy in the Church, but rather a lot of smaller ones. For example, Christians speak vehemently against spreading gossip and deceit, yet eagerly wag their lips to share the latest and juiciest  "prayer requests". We all know that person who is always eager to pass on information disguised as concern and prayer.

Another thing Christians do is sing all about "Jesus loves me" and "the deep, deep, love of Jesus" and speak endlessly of His great compassion and how OBAMA IS THE ANTICHRIST AND DEMOCRATS ARE ALL SATAN WORSHIPERS AND Jesus loves the little children UNLESS THEIR PARENTS ARE DEMOCRATS. Also, never forget that, out of faith, hope, and love, "the greatest of these is love", right behind SABOTAGING PEOPLE'S OBAMA YARD SIGNS!!!! And it's not just democrats! Awhile ago, it was communists, now it's trending towards homosexuals. In short, we're supposed to love everyone except for whatever social issue we don't agree with. That's hypocrisy, plain and simple.

And that's not the last of it, sadly. For a group that preaches against the sins of greed, pride, and gluttony, there sure are a lot of scrooge-y, arrogant, obese Christians. And that obese one hits me too. I'm not just throwing accusations around blindly. If we believe that moderation is a good ideal to pursue, than why are all the buffet's packed as soon as church let's out? That's not right.

Deficient Logic

I tell you what, I am pretty tired of getting the answer "one must have faith despite a lack of reasons/evidence" in response to tough questions concerning faith. If we truly believe that even "the skies declare the glory of God", ought we not be able to try to reason out why red-shift universal expansion are scientific things? If we truly believe God created all things than logic and reasoning MUST be evident in all things.

God gave us minds and the ability to problem solve and invent things. I don't believe He is very proud of us when we stick our heads in the sand and ignore our instinct to reason and discover in favor of pursuing "blind faith". The Catholic church has had some experience with that (I'm sure they would love to go back and apologize to Galileo). Ignoring and rejecting science is a terrible idea. We instead need to lend our voice to those crying out in search of a reason for it all.

And it's not just matters of science, either. This head in the sand attitude infects many areas of our lives. Why did Mrs. Bahb's baby die? "I guess it was her time?" Billy's uncle just died? "All things work together for good!" Fred lost his job? "When God closes a door, he opens a window!"

No! These things happen because of sin! ADMIT THAT!! These issues are crucial points in people's lives. They need friends who don't stand on the edge of the fight cheer-leading; they need friends who step in and fight for them! These moments have the potential to reach the most hard-hearted, and when we throw out these whimsical phrases, we do more harm then good.

We claim to worship the God who invented logic. Shouldn't the answers we give people make sense? Shouldn't we be able to use that logic? Too often it seems like, well, honestly, we're lazy. Logic is difficult, and it's easier to just say "Woah, Nelly! It's God's thing" than "no, your baby didn't deserve to die. It is a terrible injustice to have your infant taken from you so young." It's true, if Adam hadn't rebelled, no-one's babies would die (and we'd all live hundreds of years happily with no diseases). That's the truth, and we can show people that it's not God's fault, it's our own.

But it requires honesty and a LOT of hard work. People come up with some DOOZY questions for us to answer. But the wonderful news is that, God has the answers, we just need to seek them.


So, yeah, lots of good stuff. And there are many smaller issues too. These just seem to be the biggest/encompass the most smaller issues. What do you think? Do you have suggestions for other issues we as a church need to be wary of? Do you think it's the millennials' fault? What's your opinion?