I’ve been noticing my attitude towards Western-brand Christianity (and the Church at large which seems to subscribe to it willingly and blindly) becoming more and more jaded with the passage of time and the depth of my cynicism increasing in intensity. It’s to the point that it it’s becoming slightly uncomfortable to sit through a church service save for Greg Boyd’s mentally and spiritually challenging/stimulating messages that focus on Kingdom principles. But that’s not all.

I don’t listen to “christian radio”… can’t stand it actually. I don’t read “christian books”. I don’t have the latest Newsboys CD (nor do I intend to even try to Grokster it onto my computer—waste of hard drive space—even with 200 GB to work with). I most certainly don’t wear “christian t-shirts” or put “christian bumper stickers” on my car and don’t wear “christian bracelets”. Frankly all of that stuff makes me cringe, even feel the sensation of a huge dry-heave lunge from my diaphragm…. sorta like some of the really bad marketing slogans some of the main-line denominations have come up with to market themselves. To whom are they trying to market themselves to anyway… and how’s that working out for them? I bet “Faithful to the Scriptures; True to the Reformed Faith; and Obedient to the Great Commission of Jesus Christ” is just filling the pews.

Aside from the friendship and association I’ve got with friends who also follow Christ, I feel I really don’t have much in common with the Church of the West. Frankly it turns me off and I’ve lost interest in it altogether. This poses a problem for maintaining a healthy spiritual life—and I recognize that. But how can one have a really healthy spiritual life when they’re so immersed into the subculture of Western-brand Christianity.

I’d really like to see what an authentic Church (Kingdom-style) would look like. I think things’d be significantly different.

But I guess it doesn’t stop at the church. I’m extremely cynical of our government, the lousy choices of our Commander-in-Chief, and the increasing blatantness of our self-driven and self-centered culture. I grow weary from hearing the news about more and more troops dying in Iraq. I lose hope when I hear that in a poll reported on by the BBC, that over 100,000 people in Great Brittain felt that the bombings in London were justified. I also am extremely frustrated with the Islamic extremists who think that the only way they’re going to make any headway is by violence, fear, and death. FOOLS.

I understand that they loathe the image that our media and Hollywood project of what “Americans like” through their movies, magazines, video games, etc. and that many muslims feel that it is a threat to their beliefs—a virus and a threat to their ways and beliefs. Christians feel that way too, I guess. Well, some do anyway.

The problem is, everyone has their own idea of how they think everyone else ought to live their lives. No respect. A lot of presumptions. A lot of people stedfastly holding to their own opinions and ideals without giving regard to what others think, feel and believe. That’s not giving into political correctness or modern-day “tollerance”—that’s just respect, empathy, and compassion. Caring about others, what they think, feel, and believe. That goes for everyone. No one ought to be excluded from that mandate either.

Anyway, I’m just really pissed off and edgy these days. It doesn’t make it any easier that I’ve been quite busy with work and with client projects. I don’t get much unwind time. Work projecs around the house remain unfinished due to the numerous 90+ degree days/evenings we’ve had. The weeds in my garden are rivaling the flowers. And my cynicism? Well, it’s growing like a weed.

August 3, 2005, 11:37 pm

Filed under: Christian Subculture, Spirituality, Websites

1 Comment »

1. bethinthewest said,

   July 29, 2006 @ 9:45 pm

   Michael,
   Having read your spiritual “bloggings”, I just wanted to say that my heart goes out to you. I have struggled with the same issues with our Western Church. I see that your comments were from a year ago. I am guessing that Pastor Boyd helped some, but did not address the real issues of the meaninglessness of our religion.
   I also have a problem with Praise and Worship teams. When did we come to be an audience instead of a corporate worship team?
   Well, all that to say that I have found some answers, but not at my Baptist church. I actually went so far as to give up on that congregation and stayed home to study on my own. I bought a Chronilogical Bible to read through cover to cover. That left me with some convictions and some questions.
   I won’t bog you down with the year’s worth of searching. I will just point you to two of the places where I found good answers. I am now nearly through two years of study and have found real peace.
   If you are still searching, try looking into the materials on these two sites. My favorite is http://www.ffoz.org. The best resource to start with is their new book Restoration. I can highly recommend their Torah Club studies, as I am nearly finished with the second year of study and looking forward with great anticipation to the third year of the five volume study. I also like the slideshow studies at http://www.hebroots.org/yeshiva/.
   I was pleased to read that you are a person that will study outside the teacher’s curriculum when you have an interest that the curriculum does not address fully.
   I sincerely hope that you have found the peace that you were seeking. If you have not, try reading the book Restoration from FFOZ and see if it doesn’t peek your interest enough to get you onto a path of learning that will answer your questions.
   Bless you Michael, may you forget the pain of the past and be fruitful in the future. May you find true PEACE, the Shalom that is complete in every part of your life. Seek God and He will be faithful to satisfy your desire for knowledge and wisdom. He has done so for me and I long to share it with someone else.

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