Post by Daniel on May 12, 2018 8:03:28 GMT -5
WALSH: How To Kill A Church In Just A Few Easy Steps
By Matt Walsh
The Episcopal Church announced this week that it would be removing the words "man," "woman," and "procreation" from its marriage liturgy. Of course, the Episcopalians have long since removed Christ from their liturgy, so this latest move is no surprise.
I refer to them as the Episcopal Church only loosely. They are a church in the same way that the Church of Satan is a church. They are an anti-church. Rather than a body of Christian believers, they are a body of self-worshiping heretics. And a very small body at that.
Episcopalianism has been skidding into oblivion for decades now. They lost over 30% of their members during the '90s. In this century, they’ve been losing about 2% a year. Today there are fewer Episcopalians in America than Jews or Mormons. This is significant because the latter groups have always been relatively small minorities in America, while the Episcopal church was once the largest church in the nation. It’s been all downhill since then.
What happened? You can easily track the church’s stunning decline over the past several decades and see that it corresponds to the church’s shedding of Christian orthodoxy in favor of liberal orthodoxy. It began, as always, with the embracing of birth control and divorce. Then they moved to the ordination of women. Then it was a straight line to the ordination of openly gay clergy and the approval of same sex marriage. Now there is nothing surprising about seeing a feminist Episcopal priest blessing an abortion clinic or a transgender priest leading a service in a church adorned with rainbow flags. And it is even less surprising to look around the church and notice that nobody is sitting in the pews.
Why would they come and sit in the pews? What would be the point? The message of liberal Christianity is: "You’re perfectly fine exactly the way you are. Everything you’re doing is acceptable. Make no changes. Keep up the great work!" A weak person may be happy to hear that message, but they need not hear it twice. They need not come back for it week after week. They need only receive the affirmation and then continue along living just as they were before. Just as lost, just as confused, just as hopeless. The Episcopal Church, like any worldly church, has already given all it has to offer — which is nothing at all.
I refer to them as the Episcopal Church only loosely. They are a church in the same way that the Church of Satan is a church. They are an anti-church. Rather than a body of Christian believers, they are a body of self-worshiping heretics. And a very small body at that.
Episcopalianism has been skidding into oblivion for decades now. They lost over 30% of their members during the '90s. In this century, they’ve been losing about 2% a year. Today there are fewer Episcopalians in America than Jews or Mormons. This is significant because the latter groups have always been relatively small minorities in America, while the Episcopal church was once the largest church in the nation. It’s been all downhill since then.
What happened? You can easily track the church’s stunning decline over the past several decades and see that it corresponds to the church’s shedding of Christian orthodoxy in favor of liberal orthodoxy. It began, as always, with the embracing of birth control and divorce. Then they moved to the ordination of women. Then it was a straight line to the ordination of openly gay clergy and the approval of same sex marriage. Now there is nothing surprising about seeing a feminist Episcopal priest blessing an abortion clinic or a transgender priest leading a service in a church adorned with rainbow flags. And it is even less surprising to look around the church and notice that nobody is sitting in the pews.
Why would they come and sit in the pews? What would be the point? The message of liberal Christianity is: "You’re perfectly fine exactly the way you are. Everything you’re doing is acceptable. Make no changes. Keep up the great work!" A weak person may be happy to hear that message, but they need not hear it twice. They need not come back for it week after week. They need only receive the affirmation and then continue along living just as they were before. Just as lost, just as confused, just as hopeless. The Episcopal Church, like any worldly church, has already given all it has to offer — which is nothing at all.
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