Since this thread was started nearly a year ago, I feel a little late to the party. But since it has kept going till today, I feel compelled to respond to your original post back in February.
Absolutely. We cannot do it on our own. And that's why we should help that single mom who just got dumped by the father, instead of attending abortion rallies. Because we cannot do it on our own, we need to make sure that shut-in-- the one who can't go to church any more because he's too old-- has his physical needs taken care of, along with getting a ride to Sunday services.
Yes, and when the church leadership decides to go back to discipling the individual instead of marketing to the masses, more people will take responsibility. But they first have to be taught.
That's an easy one. Because most people, including myself, feel it is an utter waste of our precious time. You get up early. You get all dolled up. You drive 20-30- minutes to the church. You sing some songs hoping that the Holy Spirit actually shows up this time (I can write an entire blog just on this one point, especially when I see pastors and elders with their hands in their pockets during "worship"). You sit and listen for an hour to one guy drone on about the ills of society, instead of preaching the Gospel. Then afterwards everyone scatters like little ants to see who can beat who to the local pancake house. Very spiritual indeed.
Okay, this one really gets my ire up, since I'm a recent victim of infidelity and adultery within the church. I hear pastors preach on this subject more and more. And most of the time, I cringe when I here it. In most sermons, without meaning to, the pastor comes across as saying it's okay to divorce your spouse because they are not a Christian; or maybe they're just not Christian enough. Oh sure, they don't say it outright, but it is too often misinterpreted. This is extremely dangerous, and if the pastor can't put together a good enough sermon to clarify God's true stance-- which is no divorce-- then he should just preach on a different topic altogether.
The other sermon you here in relation to this is when the pastor rebukes the men for not being the spiritual leaders of their families, or at least the head of their households. Of course the preacher is just hammering away on us guys, telling us how insufficient we've become as husbands, and therefore America is in the toilet because of it. It would be okay if the pastor was able to rebuke us in private. But they do it in front of the wives, who can easily misinterpret their husbands as being "inadequate" to lead the family, and thereby think it's okay to run off with a "better Christian man."
Yes. And I would go a step further. Let's cut out all the ridiculous, expensive children's programs like AWANA, and spend the money on making sure they don't go hungry at night.
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