Mutant Christianity – What does CNN know about the Church that we don’t?
Whatever happened the the Christian faith? Is something horrific going on?
What does CNN and Princeton Theological Seminary know about the Church that we don’t? Actually, quite a lot? Check these out:
- “Fake” Christianity. CNN reports on research by Kenda Creasy Dean, a professor at Princeton Theological Seminary, who says that “your child is following a ‘mutant’ form of Christianity, and you may be responsible.” According to Dean, it’s a watered-down faith that portrays God as “divine therapist” whose chief goal is to boost self-esteem. Disclaimer: I haven’t read her book Almost Christian so I don’t know what kind of gospel she is selling—I seek spiritual advice only from those who accept the Bible, in it’s original text, as the inerrant Word of God—but I believe she’s onto something with her diagnosis. What do you think?
- Incredibly inarticulate. A World Magazine article mentions the work of UNC Chapel Hill sociology professor Christian Smith. Smith, who has since taken a position at Notre Dame, found that many evangelical teenagers know little about Christianity. Based on interviews with some 267 teenagers, Smith found that the majority of teenagers who identified themselves as evangelicals were “incredibly inarticulate” about their religious beliefs. “They were well-trained in the dangers of drunk driving and STDs,” he said, but they fumbled on basic questions about Christianity.
- False conversion. I believe all of this must be related to the phenomenon of “false conversion.” Let me encourage you to listen to two sermons by Ray Comfort: (1) Hell’s Best Kept Secret and (2) True and False Conversion. What do you think?
What do you think? I can’t wait to read your comments!
Tags: church
This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 8th, 2010 at 8:33 am and is filed under Pro Life. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
2 Responses to “Mutant Christianity – What does CNN know about the Church that we don’t?”
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September 8th, 2010 at 10:47 pm
I think that they are right – partially. For example, acceptance of abortion is usually a sign of inaccurate and incomplete knowledge – or sometimes just flat out ignorance. These people – kids, really – who say they are Christian yet do not do the research to validate themselves (make sure all actions are within beliefs) are as hypocritical as the person who knows they are going against their religious beliefs and do it anyway. It is like someone trespassing and not bothering to read the no-trespassing sign. What will a court of law say? What will God say? You didn’t BOTHER?
It also reflects poorly on the rest of us, and the church suffers for it; they often can’t defend their faith except with shallow “Because God Says So”.
BUT, at the same time, there is this problem throughout our current society – all things are linked. Education takes away from the parents and puts importance in peers, learning is a burden, and college a way to get a job. Knowledge isn’t treasured. Saying it is a problem with Christianity is saying cancer is a problem for short people.
September 9th, 2010 at 9:04 pm
Methinks “Christianity” has been pretty “mutant” for a very long time. Most folks would be aghast to learn the message and refrain of the “church” before about 575 AD, and the vast distance from the type of message being promulgated now… And… then add in the tragedy of church “father” Augustine – (who unfortunately couldn’t read Greek)… So he messed up a lot of the “message” of God, and encouraged further “mutations”… All of this is pretty well known, but hidden by the powers that be, that favor politics and power, over the true liberation of the original Gospel (Good News). Check out Frank Viola. (member of the Barna Christian Research Group). Frank wrote a very well researched book called “Pagan Christianity.” Later on he wrote a book about “House Church.” The Church from ACTS. Very enlightening! We are in “mutant” Christianity, indeed! — DrScot