The biblical understanding of a “wonderful life” looks dramatically different than the consumer culture’s definition of a “wonderful life.” If this assumption is never identified, named, and deconstructed, a person may hear “God love you and has a wonderful plan for your life” very differently than we intend. This is the problem we must begin to address if we hope to slow the exodus of people from the church. It’s not that we are failing to preach the gospel, but that we are failing to deconstruct the consumer filter through which people twist and receive it. The result is a hybrid consumer gospel in which God exists to serve me and accomplish my desires in exchange for my obedience—voila, Moralistic Divination.
He calls that the false gospel. People leave because their theology demands a god who serves them. The other reason he identifies is the structure of many churches:
Unfortunately for the last few decades, our ecclesiology in North America has been heavily influenced by the values of secular corporations. And I can’t think of a profitable corporation that has achieved success by promoting love above efficiency.
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Take the time to read the whole thing. But, it seems in both cases it boils down to a church that is too enamored with the world to be different from it. Jesus said that we would be known as his disciples by our love—not the size of our congregations or budgets. Not by the correctness of our doctrine, but by our love. Why do we always get it backwards? (Rhetorical question)
<idle musing>
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