The Predicted Collapse of Evangelical Christianity – Part 2

Picture Lisbon/Lisboa/Lissabon Ruins of Igreja do Carmo courtesy of Bert K.

On her Facebook site, Anne Rice wrote this comment on Wednesday:

For those who care, and I understand if you don’t: Today I quit being a Christian. I’m out. I remain committed to Christ as always but not to being “Christian” or to being part of Christianity. It’s simply impossible for me to “belong” to this quarrelsome, hostile, disputatious, and deservedly infamous group. For ten years, I’ve tried. I’ve failed. I’m an outsider. My conscience will allow nothing else.

Five minutes later she added this:

As I said below, I quit being a Christian. I’m out. In the name of Christ, I refuse to be anti-gay. I refuse to be anti-feminst. I refuse to be anti-artificial birth control. I refuse to be anti-Democrat. I refuse to be anti-secular humanist. I refuse to be anti-science. I refuse to be anti-life. In the name of Christ, I quit Christianity and being Christian. Amen.

When Christianity moves away from the Gospel and towards politics and opinion – it becomes something else entirely. It seems that the church is totally at odds with the outside world which it is meant to serve. It seems that there is something of a culture war that has been going on for a while and looks to be coming to a head very shortly. Many are predicting the collapse of evangelical Christianity as we know it – for these very reasons. The staunch viewpoints of the church on homosexuality, abortion and the like, place it at loggerheads with reality. This is what seems to have led Anne Rice to shun the religion which she once embraced. You may also wish to read this article entitled the coming evangelical collapse and The Coming Collapse of Evangelicalism. For more information about evangelical Christianity – check out the following link.

Whatever happened to Christ crucified redemption and knowing the Father's love for you? Why can't we just stick with that? Christianity does have a fellowship aspect to it, but it is also something that is intimate: a one-to-one with our Maker, our Father who is in Heaven. There seems to be a stigma attached to Christianity that many find they cannot shake. There seems to be a need for believers to prove their beliefs, otherwise, they might feel as if the outside world will blame them for following a pointless, ritualistic religion. We should not get caught in the trap of feeling the need to prove what we believe and to justify ourselves. This is nothing more than low self-esteem, shame and guilt. We should never feel the need to force our beliefs on others. We should definitely not stick our noses into politics and the like in the name of serving God, unless we a called to do so and our vocation is in the political arena. Discover what it means to be loved by God for yourself and just allow God to take things naturally from there.