Opinion

Decline of Christianity

Tuesday, August 5, 2014

"How can you have church in a school?" was Ray's comment. Good question in today's more politically correct America but it wasn't always that way. Small rural communities throughout our western area came together to first build school buildings which were multi-purposed as church meeting places until a more religious structure could be built by the small congregations. I even remember attending a meeting of the Mormon community in the Red Willow County Courthouse as a young boy. Can't happen now!

Grannie Annie and I were in Omaha to attend a family reunion -- the annual Trail family reunion. Yes, we can get together from time to time and just enjoy each other's company. Generally politics and religion are kept off limits. Kids and grandkids are a major subject of discussion and I dare say bragging rights. Food and a lot of it is omnipresent and sadly many of our bodies display the results of lusty appetites.

Too far away to attend our home church, we elected to attend the charismatic group that attends Lincoln Murdoch's All Nations Church in West Omaha. They meet on Sunday mornings in the gymnasium of Millard South High School. Lincoln as some Southwestern Nebraska readers may remember was the featured speaker at Johnny Wacker's Project 31 banquet last December.

A charismatic group of Christians gathered there in the gym and they made us feel welcome. It is a venue with cinnamon rolls, yogurt and plenty of coffee to start the celebration. Then came a spirit filled band with several youth singing praise songs.

Lincoln Murdoch was nowhere to be found as he was off on vacation. Pastors take vacation? His stand-in was his dad, Elmer Murdoch, and he delivered a masterful sermon titled "This is a mess!" from the letter to 1st century Christians by James, the half-brother of Jesus. Gee, things haven't much changed over the past 2000 years as the James was describing similar problems that exist in our world today. James stressed that Christians were to be doers of the word, not only believers.

Yet today we see Catholic Relief Agency and other church groups being turned away by our government when they try to reach out to the multitude of children who have illegally come across our southern border. We see HHS refuse to inform our governor of the whereabouts of some 200+ children who have been transported to our state by our federal government to have been theoretically placed with "family members" already here.

We don't see much about it on the big media news but there seems to be a move afoot in the turbulent Mideast to eliminate all Christian communities. The Copts are having their churches burned in Egypt. In Iraq, the site of the earliest of Christian Churches, some of to which James was undoubtedly referring, Christians are being forced to leave, convert to the Muslim religion or pay huge fines just to stay in their homes.

Today it is hard to even find a Christian in Palestine, including Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus.

For a professing Christian the whole world seems to be a mess. Yet, there are rays of hope. Friends recently entertained a Christian Missionary in their home who told of large numbers of Muslims in Sierra Leone converting to the Christian faith. He was appealing for money to help with the work in his mission there.

Hopefully the efforts of faith there will help offset the evil Boko Haram terrorist sect that recently kidnapped some 230 young Christian girls in Nigeria to forcibly convert them to become Muslim.

In Russia today, a great number of churches have reopened and Christians are again celebrating their faith since the demise of Communism. Christians are resurging and openly celebrating their faith in China today. And let us not forget that the largest protestant church in the world today is located in South Korea.

This great country of the United States of America was founded on Christian principles and has become the most economically dynamic freest society that the world has ever seen. Yes secularism and its politically correct mantra seems to be running amuck in our country at the moment. Christians use five thousand years of human experience found in our Christian Bible to be their rule and guide to morality in human inter-relations but what is the blueprint for those who claim to be atheistic secularists? Obviously nothing!

Elections have consequences and I have faith that "we the people" will stand fast and choose leadership that will indeed return us to the Christian principles that have stood our country in good stead for the past 200 plus years. Vote wisely.

That is how I saw it.

Dick Trail

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  • Christianity has it's good points and bad. Just like the Muslims. Just like the Jews. Just like any other religious group. They all have bad spots in their histories. None are simply " GOOD " religions. Talking of Christians though, they have strayed very far from their bible. I don't know any devout Christians. I don't know of any Jesus followers. For the most part, Christians are as secular as agnostics or atheists. They don't stand out in any way. They are just as morally crippled as any group around. They are average.

    -- Posted by bob s on Wed, Aug 6, 2014, at 1:26 PM
  • Maybe you're not looking hard enough, bob s. Or maybe you're just looking at things the wrong way.

    -- Posted by bjo on Wed, Aug 6, 2014, at 4:28 PM
  • Not looking at all. bob's first mistake is viewing Christ's life as a religion. Unlike other "religions", Christianity is not based on rules or ceremonial prayers. It is all about transformation. The desire to be Christ-like, and set apart from the worldly offerings.

    Yes, we as followers each have a lot of room for improvement. But the life of Christ is without fault.

    -- Posted by Hugh Jassle on Thu, Aug 7, 2014, at 2:11 AM
  • Ok. Here we go. This is what Dick Trail says -- " Christians use five thousand years of human experience found in our Christian Bible to be their rule and guide to morality in human inter-relations but what is the blueprint for those who claim to be atheistic secularists?" -- What I am saying is that the Jews, the Muslims, the Christians, the agnostics, the atheist, etc. all act the same. They are equal morally. None rises above the others. It is also important to stress here that if , say, the Christians DID act according to the guidelines recommended by Jesus , the Christians would be exception. My point here is that they don't. So, they are - like I said - just an average group. Not better or worse than the others. They are the same.

    -- Posted by bob s on Thu, Aug 7, 2014, at 10:58 AM
  • Your stressing seems to indicate that you think the teachings of Jesus are the moral ones, and following those would put one morally above the other groups. While I don't quite get how the followers of Jesus Christ are no better than other religious people because they're not perfect, I especially don't see how you can claim that the Jews, Muslims, atheists, etc. are the same, when they are deliberately not followers of Jesus Christ and his teachings.

    Of course, if you aren't actually using the teachings of Jesus as the moral standard, then what moral standard are you using as your basis for your claims? (If it's what I think it is, then there is an intrinsic flaw in your statement.)

    -- Posted by bjo on Thu, Aug 7, 2014, at 3:34 PM
  • I don't think Jesus was the only moralist ever. There have been lots of people who have put forth the idea that people should be better towards others. For various reasons over time and in different places. I've read the new testament. Most Christians have not. Jesus gave instruction on how one person should relate to another. He didn't try to say how to grow crops. He didn't advise the rulers in Jerusalem in re to what type of sewer system should be used in Jerusalem. Etc.. He wanted to say how people should regard others. That's about it. His advise is good. If all Christians followed his advice , Christians would be an exceptional group of people. They would be "praiseworthy". My point here is that they don't follow what he says and are not exceptional. Dick Trail seems to think they are. But on what basis? Why give them credit they don't deserve?

    -- Posted by bob s on Thu, Aug 7, 2014, at 4:55 PM
  • God speaking: Unless you think what I think, then you are looking at things the wrong way. The only right way to look at things is my way. That is why I cast adherents of alternative viewpoints into hell. (because I am always right and everyone else is wrong)

    Wouldn't it be great if our political leaders could act more like God? That would solve all of our problems!

    -- Posted by shallal on Thu, Aug 7, 2014, at 7:24 PM
  • Bold statement, all Christians have read the New Testament and follow Christ the best they can. You don't know about them because they don't brag about it. Those of who claim to be follower's and don't, cannot call themselves Christian, neither can you and be honest about it.

    -- Posted by Hugh Jassle on Thu, Aug 7, 2014, at 7:45 PM
  • I'd guess 10% have read the whole bible. The Jehovah Witnesses that come by seem to have read it. Other than that , there are very few. The vast majority of Christians follow Jesus when it is convenient for them to do so. If you were to mention this to them, they would agree that that is the situation.

    -- Posted by bob s on Thu, Aug 7, 2014, at 8:26 PM
  • If all you got out of the New Testament was that Jesus "wanted to say how people should regard others and that's about it", then I think your claim about how you've read the New Testament is hollow at best. It's more like you skimmed through an instruction manual for a car, and are now claiming to know more about them than the mechanics. Did you miss the parts where Jesus claimed to be the Lamb of God, that no one could come to the Father, except through Him, and whoever believes in Him will have everlasting life? Seems like He claimed to be more than just a moralist.

    Still wondering what your point is, bob. Some of your statements echo statements Dick made in this column, as part of the reason society is so secularized is because of the half-hearted Christians. I'd say you're trying to encourage Christians to be more like Christ, but the Christ you say they should follow doesn't appear to be the Christ they worship by definition. Makes me wonder what you're trying to argue here. It might help if you explained what moral measuring tape you're using to rate Christians as being the same level as other religions. (Though, thanks for referring to atheism as a religion. Most atheists try to claim otherwise, even when atheist churches are starting to crop up.)

    -- Posted by bjo on Thu, Aug 7, 2014, at 11:15 PM
  • *

    Well put BJO. Unfortunately Bob S is speaking from a tragic lack of information and knowledge. Most all Christians know that Jehovah's Witnesses do not use "The Bible" but use one they have rewritten for their own use.

    Bob S., be bold and attend a Christian Church for a few Sundays and find out what true Christianity is all about so you can speak from an informed perspective. Comparing Christians, Muslims and Jews on a strictly moral basis is a pretty shallow comparison as to what they are about.

    Like someone mentioned above, Christians are not perfect but we try to walk with Jesus every day.

    -- Posted by ksfarmer on Fri, Aug 8, 2014, at 12:05 AM
  • As what is always asked of us, where's your proof bob?

    -- Posted by Hugh Jassle on Fri, Aug 8, 2014, at 8:05 AM
  • More stuff to answer. Jesus thinks two things are the most important things. First is to love God - the second to love your fellow man as yourself. He says this - not me. His words. Keep that in mind. The first part he already has going on in the people he's talking to. They are Jews. The were a devout people. They grew up with all the ideas about God that Jesus sometimes reminds them of. It's not like when a missionary goes to some primitive place and has to introduce , for example , the Mormon religion to people who have no idea what the missionary is talking about. Jesus has an audience that is already up to speed on the God and relation to God issue. He may tweak it a little, but the audience is on the same page as he is. So, we come to the second half of the two most important things. That is to love your neighbor as you would yourself. For him, something has gone wrong with this second part. He sees this as the real problem. For the people he's talking to. If he was talking to the Chinese of the time he may well be talking about what God was like and God's relation to others. But, once again, he's not. His whole " ministry" addresses in one way or another - directly or indirectly - this second part. He wants better relations among people. In one way, he seems to want the poor and marginalized to be loved. He stresses this a lot. Loved just as much as people who are not poor or marginalized. Jesus doesn't have much regard for the wealthy. He condemns them repeatedly. Anyway, he gives good advice. Christians ignore the advice. If Christians did not ignore his advise, they would be an exceptional group. But, since they ignore His advice they end up just another group - totally undistinguished. Which is my main point here. But, I thought I'd run down this look at His ministry since Christians don't actually read the bible. They don't know what it says

    -- Posted by bob s on Fri, Aug 8, 2014, at 8:45 AM
  • So Bob, do YOU love God with all your heart, mind, and soul? Do YOU love your neighbors as you love yourself?

    -- Posted by Hugh Jassle on Fri, Aug 8, 2014, at 3:51 PM
  • Chunky - I'm not a member of any religion. But , I do admire Jesus. He was good for the world. Just as many others have been. Just as even the most common of people anywhere on the globe can be good for the world. Regardless of religion or lack of religion

    -- Posted by bob s on Fri, Aug 8, 2014, at 6:21 PM
  • *

    Bob you seem to categorize Jesus as an all around good guy with no unique attributes. I am not trying to be clever or cute but what do you think happens to people that are nice yet don't have any "religion"? When they die are they just gone and that is the end or is there some sort of afterlife for them?

    Just curious.

    -- Posted by ksfarmer on Sat, Aug 9, 2014, at 1:05 AM
  • If you have to look hard for a Christian then as whole, Christians are not living Christlike.

    Going to church on Sunday doesn't make you a Christian anymore than standing in your garage makes you car.

    Simply saying you are Christian doesn't make you a Christian although, it's at least a start.

    It is our actions that make us Christian and pleases God. Unfortunantly in this country, those actions are lacking.

    There is a reason why most articles state fewer Americans are identifying themselves as Christian. It's because Christians as a whole are not living like Christians and people are turned off by hypocrisy.

    -- Posted by npwinder on Sat, Aug 9, 2014, at 7:38 AM
  • ksfarmer - I have no idea what happens when you die. ---------------------- npwinder is probably correct about why Christianity is declining. Older people may go along with the hypocrisy for any of a number of reasons. Maybe because they always have been Christians. Maybe because they think there's a social value to it. Young people wonder why they would want to bother with it at all. It would be interesting to see what the percentages in each age group of Christians look like. Probably most Christians are older.

    -- Posted by bob s on Sat, Aug 9, 2014, at 9:41 AM
  • John 13:34-35 "And so I am giving a new commandment to you now--love each other just as much as I love you.

    Seems straightforward.

    -- Posted by Diatheke on Wed, Aug 13, 2014, at 2:44 PM
  • It's the "Love God with all your heart, mind and soul" that causes so many to drift. Living that commandment means loving only God the creator. It means no worship of self. No worship of inanimate objects.

    Worshiping self and inanimate objects leads to keeping the Sabbeth free of sin, and dishonoring mom and dad. Murder, stealing, and lying become a mere gray area. Desiring the neighbors possessions leads to greed.

    Many churches today are teaching the prosperity gospel, which teaches we can have it all but merely being happy.

    By not teaching the relationship of man and God, the churches fail their flocks, which is why many turn away from God.

    -- Posted by Hugh Jassle on Wed, Aug 13, 2014, at 9:49 PM
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