http://illusoryfollies.com/a-proper-prayer-to-god/ Code, Technology, and Ramblings Tue, 06 Jan 2009 10:08:01 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7 hourly 1 http://illusoryfollies.com/a-proper-prayer-to-god/comment-page-1/#comment-920 Aaron Fri, 14 Dec 2007 04:57:38 +0000 http://illusoryfollies.com/2007/12/06/a-proper-prayer-to-god/#comment-920 Meh, it's nothing new...liberalism has always sounded like that. Meh, it’s nothing new…liberalism has always sounded like that.

]]> http://illusoryfollies.com/a-proper-prayer-to-god/comment-page-1/#comment-917 Peter Fri, 07 Dec 2007 13:37:36 +0000 http://illusoryfollies.com/2007/12/06/a-proper-prayer-to-god/#comment-917 Nameless, eh? :) Nameless, eh?

]]> http://illusoryfollies.com/a-proper-prayer-to-god/comment-page-1/#comment-914 Dave Feucht Thu, 06 Dec 2007 18:04:09 +0000 http://illusoryfollies.com/2007/12/06/a-proper-prayer-to-god/#comment-914 Well, I think we could have a really, really long discussion on why the church is losing attendance and relevance in the world - I think there are quite a few really good reasons why that happens. But I do agree with you that it doesn't really benefit anyone involved to try to make things fluffy and nice to try to attract people into the church. As Derek Webb puts it, the gospel is and should be offensive, because it requires us to change and grow, and that is beyond our comfort. But we are all about comfort, and we like a place where nobody ever tells us we're wrong. I think this is partly why there are so many wishy-washy Christians too, and why the church is seen as behaving so contrary from the message they preach - many Christians have never had to struggle with their faith to any great extent (because they have simply been made, or made themselves, comfortable), and therefore it doesn't mean much to them personally. If you look at all the sort of "giants of faith" in the Bible, they are people who have had to struggle with everything in them to decide what faith in God meant to them, to the point of agony. There definitely isn't a rosy, comfortable picture of following God painted in the Bible. Just a very deep, rewarding one. Well, I think we could have a really, really long discussion on why the church is losing attendance and relevance in the world - I think there are quite a few really good reasons why that happens. But I do agree with you that it doesn’t really benefit anyone involved to try to make things fluffy and nice to try to attract people into the church. As Derek Webb puts it, the gospel is and should be offensive, because it requires us to change and grow, and that is beyond our comfort. But we are all about comfort, and we like a place where nobody ever tells us we’re wrong. I think this is partly why there are so many wishy-washy Christians too, and why the church is seen as behaving so contrary from the message they preach - many Christians have never had to struggle with their faith to any great extent (because they have simply been made, or made themselves, comfortable), and therefore it doesn’t mean much to them personally. If you look at all the sort of “giants of faith” in the Bible, they are people who have had to struggle with everything in them to decide what faith in God meant to them, to the point of agony. There definitely isn’t a rosy, comfortable picture of following God painted in the Bible. Just a very deep, rewarding one.

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