American Christian Idolotry

"Oh, great altar of passive entertainment... Bestow upon me thy discordant images at such speed as to render linear thought impossible!"

This is a quote from my favorite comic strip Calvin and Hobbes. Of course Calvin is speaking of TV, but I find this same attitude to be pervasive in American Christian culture as it pertains to worship. Churches are judged on their ability to entertain rather than their ability to edify. We do not come to Church to worship our Lord and Savior or think on the deep things of God, but to hear fables and a good concert that takes us to a higher emotional plane. In the end we leave with a feeling that we have indeed had a wonderfully worshipful experience and look forward to the next time. It is true that worship has taken place, what is not true is that it was God who was worshiped. We are spiritual creatures that must worship and so we cater our worship to what we love most. Unfortunately it is not God that we love most; our love is a self love. We worship our own carnal desires and anything that satisfies them. Oh, we do it all in Jesus’ name and have all the cliches and catch phrases down to a worship science, but in reality we have become the focus of our own worship.

Taking up a cross is too hard and costs too much, so why do it? Why attend a Church that emphasizes the preached Word of God and demands that its members seek to live holy lives in sacrifice to the God who purchased them with His own blood? That’s legalism anyway right? We want Church our way and done as quickly as possible. After all we have more important things to do with our time. We would rather be culturally relevant and accepted by our peers than be Scripturally relevant and accepted by God. The American Church is very aware of the newest cultural leanings and lingo and how to appeal to the ‘unchurched’ but is woefully ignorant of who God is and what He demands of His people. We have become a valley of dry bones and God alone has the power to raise us up again.

I leave you with Paul's words of warning found in II Timothy 3:1-5: "But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people."

Chris Connally
Romans 8:28