I Hate Stupid Churches… which is another reason why I hate going to church.
The Church used to dominate the intellectual market… producing thinkers like Augustine, Aquinas, Calvin, Edwards, and others. These guys had their opponents (who argued with them) but they were never ridiculed for their lack of brainpower.
But after a while… something changed. The new preachers that surfaced replaced the intelligent presentation of the Gospel with emotional appeals, questionable theology, humorous stories, a celebrity-style leader, and engineered publicity.
Sound familiar?
So what do stupid churches look like? Here are five stupid trends of stupid churches.
- Preaching is almost always topical and rarely expository. Topical series allow tough theological subjects to be avoided with ease.
- Although the church leaders say how they are a “Bible believing church”… the Bible is actually used and referenced very little in the sermons.
- Theological terms like justification, reconciliation, sanctification, propitiation, etc., are avoided like the plague.
- There is little to no instruction for new (or existing) believers on the core doctrines of the Christian faith.
- The Student department has an unmistakable concentration on entertainment and games instead of actual biblical teaching.
God warns us about cultivating stupid churches. “For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil” (Hebrews 5:12-14).
When you have a stupid church… the outcome is a body of believers that is incapable of properly discerning good and evil. Slowly but surely… error and heresy creep in with no one being the wiser.
Greg
{This is a series of posts for 31 Days of Love & Hate. To read the other posts, click here.}
