Turning Off Spiritual Seekers

A facebook friend of mine is looking at Buddhism. He posted some comments on facebook about the things that he liked about it - along with some short summaries of other religions (or at least their followers). He had this to say about Christians:

Christian - Do as I say or go to hell. Read this one book, it tells you everything. Pity those who don't know, try and save them.

I guess there are two questions for us.
1. Does this describe me, or my fellow Christians?
2. If not, then is this opinion an indication that we are spending too much time in those 'holy huddles' and not interacting with the rest of society?

(Also, it reminds me of some of the stuff in unChristian.)

Ash Wednesday Anyone?

In church-land we're currently in the middle of Lent. A few weeks ago a church near me had this on their sign. "Ash Wed 5.30".


How many of the drviers going past (eg the taxi driver, the guy with the ute) do you think would even know of the existence of ash wednesday? Let alone what wednesday it falls on.

"Is it this Wednesday? Or next? Or is it the one just before Good Friday?" i can imagine them wondering.

Seriously, would you invite a friend to your house by saying "Hey Tony, i'm having a party at house - it's on St Albans Day"? And expect him to figure out when on earth that is? Of course not, but that's what we do as church.

Last time i posted a quote suggesting that the church's tendency to repel outsiders is based on selfishness. I don't think that's the whole story though. Clearly there's also a lack of thought, and an element of cluelessness about the people who live outside the boundaries of churchland.
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UPDATE: The same church has done the same thing again for "Palm Sunday".

Insiders Trump Outsiders

Regular readers are familar with my Black Box Theory.

I saw the same thing being described in on the american lutheran website.

My theory is that mainline churches have ceased to be relevant to the culture because insiders trump outsiders every time. All decisions, even little ones, are made for the benefit of those inside the church. Insiders trump outsiders.

Take hymns, for example. Musical decisions aren't made considering what will attract spiritually hungry outsiders but what will please the card-carrying, bill-paying membership.

Time and time again church leaders receive heat from insiders upset about this or that because they are trying to re-create a childhood church experience or simply have a rigid idea of church. Leaders cave in to these insiders because they control the purse strings.

Insiders are inherently change-averse. People don't like change, especially those who have status in the church.

Valentine's Day - The Big Mistake

Speaking of turning off young adults, here's one that's not in the book.

Valentine's Day sermons
In an effort to be relvant, some preachers give the impression that no secular day can pass without being worked into a sermon. And what better example than Feb 14? It's got something to do with love. God's about love. Instant sermon!

On any other sunday, a preacher might talk of the 4 different Greek words for love - and distinguish romantic-love from God's "agape" love - but not this week. However, that's not the big issue. Here's what happens - at least as far as i see it...

In preacher-land, romantic love is associated with celebrating 30 years of marriage. Someone who is always there, hearing your concerns and cares about them. Someone who may anger or confuse you at times, but who you know loves you. Someone who you are getting to know better with each passing year... Put like that, it sounds a bit like God, and so the preacher goes with that metaphor - without thinking any wider.

Over in young adult land, some are dating. Some have their love repeatedly rejected. Some have broken up. Some dramatically so. Here are 3 recent examples of young adults i've met. Imagine their reaction to being told that "God's love is like that of a partner"

1. She and he were happy until she was pregnant. He started an affair with someone else. She was abandoned to raise their child alone.

2. She and he were happy. She was going through a tough time. He seemed not to care at all. Months later they broke up. He told her she wasn't godly enough.

3. He and she were happy. He trusted her. Turned out she was lying to him, seeing other people behind his back, lying to his face and playing him for a fool.

If we met any of these people, there's no way we'd be heartless enough to say "God's love is like that of a partner". It'd be way too cruel - and a very bad representation of God. But for some reason we do exactly that from the pulpit each February!

Preacher, if you're reading this, hopefully it's not too late to change your sermon.

Young adult, if you're reading this, please forgive the preacher. He/she does not mean to come across as Mr Insensitive.

The Filter Bubble

This TED video illustrates how we can (unknowingly) find ourselves in an information bubble.


Websites can tailor the information we recieve to what they think we want to see. The result is that despite living in diverse world, we get only certain types of information. I think this diagram shows it best.


As the presenter points out, this same type of filtering has always occurred in other media - by newspaper editors, tv producers etc. But here i wanted to ask where we think this might happen in church circles.

How often do we seriously listen to views from people other than church people? Do we listen to sermons by preachers other than our local pastor. Do we read the full gospels (or even full bible) or just the snippets from the lectionary? Do we talk with people who see Jesus differently from us - or do those people get bounced away by our own personal filter bubble?

Jesus > Religion

Love this great verse from Jefferson Bethke. Full lyrics can be found here, and some of my favourite pieces are below. We often get caught up doing the whole church/religion thing. I think it does us good to be reminded that we are supposed to be following Jesus.



I mean if religion is so great, why has it started so many wars
Why does it build huge churches, but fails to feed the poor

They can't fix their problems, and so they just mask it
Not realising religion's like spraying perfume on a casket

Now I ain't judgin, I'm just saying quit putting on a fake look
Cause there's a problem - If people only know you're a Christian by your Facebook

I mean in every other aspect of life, you know that logic's unworthy
It's like saying you play for the Lakers just because you bought a jersey

Because if grace is water, then the church should be an ocean
It's not a museum for good people, it's a hospital for the broken

Now let me clarify, I love the church, I love the bible, and yes I believe in sin
But if Jesus came to your church would they actually let him in

See remember he was called a glutton, and a drunkard by religious men
But the son of God never supports self righteousness not now, not then

Now back to the point, one thing is vital to mention
How Jesus and religion are on opposite spectrums

See one's the work of God, but one's a man made invention
See one is the cure, but the other's the infection

See because religion says do, Jesus says done
Religion says slave, Jesus says son

Religion puts you in bondage, while Jesus sets you free
Religion makes you blind, but Jesus makes you see

[More of Jefferson's stuff is available through the Chisel Season website, including more thoughts on 7 differences between Jesus and Religion]

Doing Something Great

This is a good positive video to start the new year.



I've written some about this before, but i just love how the internet connects enough Christians to enable us to do great works.