April 09, 2004
How Far Should Churches Go?
This morning while driving I noticed a sign advertising an “Outdoor Easter Event” at a local Church on Sunday morning. The sign had a tiny church logo (it’s a non-denominational) and a bunny rabbit and listed “egg hunt” as the main feature of the event. Is this going to far? It’s similar to the mega churches that now have services with soft rock, very casual attire, and serve hot dogs and Cokes during church. I’m not sure this is the right way to go.
In my mind, this is watering down the Gospel. It’s presenting the good, forgiving God and ignoring the reality of God. Does this really follow what God wants from us? Underlying this type of movement is the assumption that the church is selling God as opposed to offering the opportunity to build a relationship with God. We know that people have a natural inclination to seek out God, to desire a relationship with Him. The church’s responsibility is not to bring in as many people as possible, but to simply enable that relationship to form and grow as people come into the church. The church’s obligation is to present God fully and accurately, which includes denouncing sin and requiring us to strive for personal holiness. This is what gets lost in this desire for as many parishioners as possible.
What do you think?
God bless,
Jay
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Great post, Jay. Many people think I'm crazy, but my family does not do the Easter bunny or egg hunts. Either are not a problem in March or May. But Easter is the day of our Lord's resurrection. It really irks me when I see it cheapened it with meaningless (and historcially pagan) practices. I think we have a duty to share the true Easter with a world that is high on candy and fairy tales. Maybe we won't have as many "buyers". But Christ told us to preach the Good News, not to start a popular club.
In Christ,
Dave
ok heres an interesting tidbit for you. consider this:
why have easter egg hunts, easter bunnies, a leprechaun for st. patricks day, a santa claus, etc. ?
first and foremost these beliefs dissolve after we reach maturity, its just a given fact. but why even have them at all, when they are so at odds with christian beliefs?
imagination, imagination, a gift given from our Lord to us, which enables us to not only stray from being mindless drones without the ability to think for ourselves, but can be the key to the ability to ponder on the deeper meanings of Christ Jesus, and salvation, and all inherant beliefs contained therein. why is imagination important? imagination stirs belief. when a child is young and believes in santa claus, this excersises the thing within him that creates belief, and strengthens it. if a child has the ability to believe (belief is a God granted gift to all of mankind, the power to believe) this strongly about something, then once he becomes an adult, his belief system still needs excersise, and still needs to be fed, this is out opportunity as parents to deepen their belief in Christ, and the mysteries conatained within the whole of faith. a child has faith that santa will put presents under the tree, this faith grows and becomes strong, and once the childs ability to discern is fully developed, because of the fact that they were able to believe and have faith at a younger age, they in turn are able to believe and have faith in the things that are ture, at an adult age.
this of course is not an abolute, there are very few absolutes, but i personally can see that benefit of inspiring imagination and belief in our young childeren, so as to stir up and excersise these God given Gifts for the greater glory of our Lord and Father.
of course this does not mean that we should not teach our childeren from a young age the TRUTH, far from it. and what teaching them the truth at a young age, as well as inspiring imagination and belief will begin to foster discernment, which is never a bad thing:)
just my two cents.
Rob J.
Posted by: Rob at April 10, 2004 05:53 PMDeath to the Easter Bunny and Santa. What a easter egg hunt has to do with my Lords sacrifice, I will never know. I'm so happy that te Passion came out so that we can se what the reality is.
That being said I don't really think it makes a difference if you wear jeans to church. Does the Holy Spirit have somthing against hot dogs and coke? You should look to the Gospels for examples how Religious formalities are not essential and can even be a hinderence.
Posted by: Stan at April 16, 2004 10:08 AM
