Why These Americans Are "Done" With Church But Not With God

I think most of my readers are familiar with the statistics that show that the vast majority of 20-30 year old young adults want nothing to do with church.  The organs, pews and hymns just don't "do it" for them anymore.  So according to this article in Christian Science Monitor a lot of them have their own ideas on how to be "spiritual"...and it doesn't include church.

Kyle Rice pretty much stopped going to church a few years ago.

But the marriage and family therapist in Torrington, Wyo., has hardly abandoned his Christian faith – or his deep longing to share it with others and experience God’s love within a community of believers. Mr. Rice, who is in his late 20s, has simply found that what he calls “the Sunday morning experience” – that is, the traditional institutions of Christianity – no longer works for him.

The reasons he feels this way are as complex as any individual’s earnest spiritual journey. But one reason he stopped attending church, he says, is that it came to hinder many of the meaningful relationships in his life – especially when sharing himself and his faith, and connecting with those who may not believe as he does.

“I didn’t want to invite the people that I was first exploring a conversation of spirituality with to church anymore,” says Rice, who was raised in a fundamentalist Baptist home, then pursued a life in full-time ministry, and still maintains his mostly conservative, evangelical faith. “I didn’t want them to see walking with God as a relationship of jumping through hoops – that it was about behavioral management or sin management.”

“You know, the places where I had seen God move the most were in places like on a river while fly-fishing, or backpacking with a group of teens, or sitting at a pub with a group of guys from the UK and South Africa, talking about life,” he adds.

Rice’s frustrations are at the crux of a growing disconnect between historical religious institutions and an increasingly pluralistic society. While much of this has to do with the stormy and publicly vivid politics of abortion and same-sex marriage, scholars see deeper tensions, even among those who want to remain faithful.

Many are uneasy with the exclusivity that their conservative traditions lay claim to – in which the denominations assert that they have the right interpretation of Scripture and the prescription for obtaining salvation. Many are also uneasy with how this exclusivity translates into treatment of those outside the fold – what can feel like a critical judging of “others.”

For those grappling with these issues, religious institutions have a rigidity that just isn’t jibing with the increasing diversity of America. And so they’re leaving the institutions, although they still want to be on a spiritual journey with others.

These people see faith not as being about rituals and doctrine, but as about individuals coming together and enjoying an honest exchange of views.

As tens of millions leave the “Sunday morning experience,” “many of them are getting together and finding other ways to do life and community together, and they are not so hung up on, do you believe what I believe?” says Josh Packard, a sociologist of religion at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley.

According to both scholars and pollsters, the American religious landscape has been simmering with change over the past decade. There’s been the dramatic rise of the so-called nones – those who no longer subscribe to any religious tradition, and who include increasing numbers of those who label themselves atheists and agnostics. This diverse group now includes nearly 1 in 4 American adults and 35 percent of Millennials, researchers say.

Here;  http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Society/2015/1219/Why-these-Americans-are-done-with-church-but-not-with-God

Oh puke.....

"Many are uneasy about the exclusivity that their conservative traditions lay claim to.", says the article above.

Oh, you mean like when Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth and the life.  NO MAN COMES to the Father except through me."...you mean like that type of exclusivity?

"Yes, like that!  We want to have conversations in coffee houses and learn what all people believe!  Maybe the Muslims have a good way?  Maybe the Naturalists have some good ideas?  And this whole idea of sin, sin, sin....quite honestly it just grows tiresome!  I mean really....is anyone a sinner that deserves judgment for eternity from some invisible man in the sky?"

Joe, the sociologist of religion, goes on to say that tens of millions are getting together and finding ways to 'do life and community together and they are not so hung up on do you believe what I believe'?

Hey Frank?  Do you still believe that we by ingesting mushrooms and meditating on your inner soul that you can see into your previous lives?  Wow that's cool!  I don't believe that but if you do then that's really cool for you!  Let's all just have discussions about all the different ways we can be spiritual!!!  It doesn't really matter if ANY of them are true...because really, what is truth?  Truth is what happens when your brain agrees with itself that something really if factual...right?

Friends, if you can't see that we are are in SERIOUS SINKING SAND in this nation....you are simply in denial.

ALL HAVE SINNED!!  ALL are separated from God/Jesus BECAUSE of their sin!  ALL are born with a sin nature that is leading them to eternal destruction!  ALL need a savior!  Jesus IS THAT savior!  ALL need to repent of their sin!  ALL need to accept the ONLY path to eternal life through Jesus!

Does it REALLY MATTER what you believe?  You bet your eternal soul that it does!

John 8
Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

"But Dennis, I don't really like all this talk about doctrine and beliefs...it's boring...I just want to be spiritual."

Yep...and the Bible has a warning for those who would come in the Last Days saying that garbage....

1 Timothy 4:1 
The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.

Think about it....Jesus said HE IS THE ONLY WAY.  Satan comes along and says, "Don't listen to that intolerant crap....there are many ways!  You just need to have conversations and arrive at all of your own beliefs!  Listen to the good in your spirits that you were all born with!"

Matthew 7
13 “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.