Current Events and Links
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Why Youth Are Leaving the Church: Politics, Postmodernity, or Pure Rebellion?
Dec. 31, 2011 - For years teens and young adults have been leaving their churches. They usually still consider themselves
Christians, but are affected by a number of factors. For one thing, it has always been true that the younger generation has a tendency
to rebel against the standards of their elders. More recently many of them have broken ranks with the conservative politics of
their parents. They are reacting to candidates that they perceive are religious hypocrites.
Young people are also influenced by postmodern thinking that posits a new concept of tolerance and leaves them with a dislike of
controversy and an unwillingness to fight unpopular moral issues. Alex Mason of the Family Policy Network said,
"They’ve bought into the lie that truth can be different for everyone, which often means they become unwilling to tell their
homosexual friend that his behavior is immoral, or their pregnant friend that an abortion would be sinful."
- David Kinnaman, president of the faith-based research organization Barna Group, says that a possible solution for the youth
departure is the formation of "intergenerational relationships" within the congregation.
- Source: Christian Post
Barna: Changing Role of Christianity
Dec., 2011 - Once again, George Barna's end of the year outlook for Christianity is disturbing. In this year's survey it was discovered
that only four people were named by more than 1 out of 50 adults as a most significant Christian leader. The names were Billy Graham, the Pope,
Barack Obama and Joel Osteen. 41% of the people were not able to name one individual who they consider to be an influential Christian.
A controversy among Christians about hell showed that Americans are slipping toward universalism and religious pluralism.
- Half of Americans (50%) believe that all people are eventually saved or accepted by God no matter what they do.
They also discovered that the majority of Christians who are 18- to 29-year-olds are interested in science or the arts, but most of them
struggle to see how the Bible relates to their life’s calling.
- Source: Barna Research Group
Does Joel Osteen Not Know, or Does He Not Care?
Oct. 26, 2011 - While voters are debating the effect one's beliefs have on their ability to lead, Joel
Osteen, pastor of the largest church in America, told a Washington Times reporter his views on Mormonism.
- “I believe that [Mormons] are Christians. ... I don’t know if it’s the purest form of Christianity... I hear
Mitt Romney — and I’ve never met him — but I hear him say, ‘I believe Jesus is the son of God,’ ‘I believe he’s
my savior,’ and that’s one of the core issues."
The real question for Osteen is whether or not he knows the vast differences between Mormonism and Orthodox
Christianity. He told Chris Wallace that he had not studied the matter or thought about it. Maybe he should.
- Source: Al Mohler - Crosswalk
Do-It-Yourself Religion
- Sept. 20, 2011 - Chuck Colson comments on George Barna's new book entitled Futurecast. Barna says
America is filled with people who are do-it-yourselfers when it comes to religion — either making up God as they
go along or dropping traditional beliefs and practices, like going to church. In fact, Barna discovers from his
latest poll that only 7 percent of those he surveyed say they believe in
seven essential Christian doctrines,
as listed in the National Association of Evangelicals’ Statement of Faith. Colson writes this,
- Okay, folks, we are experiencing a religious smorgasbord. Indeed, Barna says with just a hint of
hyperbole that America may become a nation of “310 million people with 310 million religions.”
- Source: Chuck Colson - Crosswalk
'More suited to UN than US': Furious evangelical Christians alone excluded from line-up at interfaith 9/11 memorial service
- Sept. 7, 2011 - In an apparent mis-application of "political correctness" evangelicals will not be represented
in a 9/11 interfaith memorial service at the National Catherdral in Washington.
- The remembrance event will include an interfaith prayer vigil featuring the dean of the Cathedral, the
Bishop of Washington, a rabbi, Buddhist nun and incarnate lama, a Hindu priest, the president of the
Islamic Society of North America and a Muslim musician.
- Source: Daily Mail
New York Mayor Bloomberg Bans Religion at 9/11 Ceremony
- Aug. 25, 2011 - New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has decided that the city’s commemoration of the tenth
anniversary of 9/11 should not include involvement of the clergy. Many people disagree with the mayor's position
on this matter.
- New York City Council member Fernando Cabrera, a pastor in the Bronx, said faith was one of the
“pillars that carried us through” the days after the attacks and called religious leaders “the spiritual
and emotional backbone.”
- Source: Newsmax
- Is America Straying from Religion? - CBN
An Open Letter to Brian McLaren
- Aug. 24, 2011 - Author Jim Fletcher asks Brian McLaren, a popular postmodern pastor and author, to clarify his position
on teachers of end-times theology. McLaren apparently agreed with the sentiment that Christian Zionists are more violent
than Muslim terrorists.
- Source: Prophezine
Exodus International: Churches Shying from Controversy
- July 22, 2011 - Exodus International, the world's largest ministry that reaches out to homosexuals, has lost
the support of a number of church groups in recent years. Now the 24,000 member Willow Creek Community Church,
known as the most influential church in America, has broken ties with them.
- But Alan Chambers, president of Exodus International, said Willow Creek's departure is evidence of a "disappointing
trend" in the Christian community, with churches and other groups shying away from controversial issues --
like homosexual outreach.
- Source: CBN
-
Willow Creek Splits with Exodus International - Christianity Today
Biblical Christianity not found in Megachurch
- July 1, 2011 - When visiting a megachurch for the first time, this columnist was shocked by the worldliness
of the place and those who were in attendance. Read the details to see why he concluded this:
- It was horrific. Megachurches like this one can have almost nothing to do with biblical Christianity
and may actually do violence to the ‘Word of God.’
- Source: Chris Dunn - Collegiate Times
Van Impe ministry abandons TBN in clash over Islam
- Jun. 16, 2011 - After the Trinity Broadcast Network (TBN) refused to run one of Jack Van Impe's telecasts, he
decided to remove his program from the network completely. TBN had objected to Van Impe's expose of some Christian
teachers for advocating "Chrislam" (incorporating beliefs or practices of Islam into their Christian organizations)
and other efforts that are designed to find "common ground" between Christians and Muslims. TBN was especially
opposed to his criticism of individuals, like Rick Warren and Robert Schuller. In response, Van Impe said,
- We will take the tremendous amount of money that we were spending there to obtain new stations that will
allow us to continue to reach every square mile of America with the truths of the Bible without this network.
- Source: WorldNetDaily
Yet Another Tragedy in Mainline Protestantism
May 12, 2011 -
- Yesterday, the Presbyterian Church (USA) presbytery of the Twin Cities in Minnesota voted to approve a change to
the church's constitution that will allow the denomination's 173 presbyteries to ordain persons without regard to
sexual orientation.
The vote marks the end of a 33-year effort to remove all restrictions on homosexuals serving in the church's
ordained ministry. It came in part because of the exodus of larger conservative congregations from the denomination
over the last five years.
- Source: Al Mohler - Crosswalk
Is Hell Dead?
April 14, 2011 - Just in time for Easter, TIME predictably features a story to help doubters
deceive themselves.
Rob Bell's controversial new book, Love Wins, suggests that the redemptive work
of Jesus may be universal — meaning that, as his book's subtitle puts it, "every person who ever lived" could have
a place in heaven, whatever that turns out to be.
The book has met with fierce criticism from the Evangelical community, igniting a new holy war in Christian circles.
Influential pastor/author John Piper, tweeted, "Farewell Rob Bell," and R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of the
Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, says Bell's book is "theologically disastrous."
- Source: Time Magazine
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'A Massive Shift Coming in What it Means to Be a Christian?' - Christian Post
- Hell is for Real - Ron's Blog
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