The State of American Christianity

Right off the bat, some of you may take issue with my title.  Shouldn’t it be “The State of Christianity in America?” Well, no, I don’t agree.  You see, I’m very fond of labels and words.  I think they serve us well.  When I say the word “elephant,” you go through a mental check list of what it is to be an elephant.  If I show you a photograph of a zebra and tell you that it is an elephant, you have a firm grasp of the label “elephant” and are able to refute my claim.  Categories and labels are the areas where the Church has completely lost touch.  Let’s start at the beginning.

“The fundamental fault of the modern Church is that she is busily engaged in an absolutely impossible task – she is busily engaged in calling the righteous to repentance. Modern preachers are trying to bring men into the Church without requiring them to relinquish their pride; they are trying to help men avoid the conviction of sin.

“The preacher gets up into the pulpit, opens the Bible, and addresses the congregation somewhat as follows: ’You people are very good,’ he says. ‘You respond to every appeal that looks toward the welfare of the community. Now we have in the Bible – especially in the life of Jesus – something so good that we believe it is good enough even for you good people.’

“Such is modern preaching. It is heard every Sunday in thousands of pulpits. But it is entirely futile. Even our Lord did not call the righteous to repentance, and probably we shall be no more successful than he.”

-- J. Gresham Machen, Christianity and Liberalism, 1923   

Machen wrote that in 1923.  What is different now?  What does this mean?  Machen’s argument that the doctrine of original sin is not preached is certainly true.  Listen to Joel Osteen for 5 minutes and you will hear him tell you 5 times that God loves you and wants you to do your best.  Without sin, without the wrath of God weighing over you with the threat of eternal separation from God, why do we need Christ?  If we are not damned to hell, of what use is salvation?  We need to understand just how desperate our plight truly is, otherwise, we will have no need of a Savior.  We have lost the category of sinner.

In a recent survey at a Christian book sellers convention, the question asked was “Are all people basically good?” The category here is clear.  Do you accept the doctrine of original sin or not?  All of the traditional Protestant denominations of the Reformation and also the Roman Catholic church uphold the doctrine of original sin.  And yet, in this survey, it was shocking to hear person after person say that man is basically good if you look deep inside.  Interesting.  Jeremiah certainly did not agree.  Isaiah thought otherwise.  Paul clearly finds fault with this assertion. Romans 3:1-20 tells us exactly how far from good we truly are.  But we have lost the category of sinner.

If sinner has been replaced by basically good guy (deep down inside,) what has replaced our Savior?  God is now more of an on-call handyman, doc in the box, and infinite ATM machine, who makes me feel better and encourages me.  In his recent books describing the faith of American teens and then five years later these now young adults, Christian Smith describes the faith of our youth as moralistic therapeutic deism.  The focus of the Gospel is no longer on Christ.  Our gospel is all about us and what God can do for us in our lives.  God has a plan for you; all you have to do is ask him.

The problem with our churches is that we have lost our Christian categories.  The logical eventuality of liberalism in the church is this moralistic therapeutic deism.  What is amazing is that youth from Christian families of all denominations, Jewish families, Mormon families and essentially atheist families all have the same more or less consistent view of faith and God. 

If you ask basic questions about the Bible, you will be shocked by the answers.  I’ve tried this myself.  I was floored.  Name the Ten Commandments: some might get to three.  Who was Isaiah?  Who was Abraham?  Who was Moses?!  We are now in a generation who can’t even associate Charlton Heston with Moses!  Where did Jesus die?  The level of Biblical illiteracy is categorically stunning.

The religion of so many of our churches is essentially Eastern spirituality in a Christian wrapper.  Once you get past the accepting Jesus into your heart bit, there is nothing else there.  The result of this is that many people feel betrayed by the church.  The church has not kept up its side of the bargain in one area or another.  God didn’t fix my marriage.  God didn’t heal my child.  God didn’t save me from the IRS.  God didn’t do something for me.  It is no surprise that people are angry with the church and leaving in droves.  Narcissistic promises require narcissistic solutions.

Let’s do some math.  If your local megachurch gets 50 prayers for Salvation, or conversions, every week, they should have 2600 new members every year.  In five years, that’s 13,000 new members.  Where are all of these people?  It seems to me that the situation I see instead is that about 30% of the congregation is fairly stable while the other 70% turns over about every 6-12 months.  The net growth is actually pretty small or nonexistent.  These pastors attend seminars about the latest programs to get people into the pews.  Gimmicks and Programs, 7 steps to this and that and purpose driven drivel.  Why are so many people angry?

The Apostles were in a far more hostile environment than we are today.  Peter spoke of the Gospel.  He reasoned with the crowds.  He gave Christian evidences.  He preached the Gospel correctly and let the Holy Spirit do the rest.  Paul started every letter he wrote with doctrine and Gospel.  That should be redundant, but I have found that this is, unfortunately, not the case.  The Gospel is the doctrine.  Paul even came back to the doctrine when he finally got to his application sections of his epistles.  If we want examples, if we need to know how to proclaim the Gospel, why don’t we just follow the examples in the Bible?

Therefore, I have great sympathy for the hoards of people who have been broken by churches over a false gospel.  These people are right to be angry.  They are right to feel betrayed.  I am one of these people.  The Holy Spirit has moved me to the Gospel and to good teachers.  I am working out getting my Communion fix of Grace and Covenant renewal.  I was reached by the Holy Spirit with the Gospel.  The Gospel will find the elect, not Starbucks and 40 days of purpose.  Preach the Gospel correctly with expository preaching through whole books of the Bible.  Administer the sacraments correctly and teach the congregation what is going on in these sacraments.  This is way to fix the church.  Get back to the true mission of the Church and do it right.

--Troll--