They Like Jesus But Not The Church - Additional Thoughts

This next part was a little sobering to read, though to be honest, not surprising. If anything, it confirmed my belief of how the church presents itself to a secular and modern world:

Part 2 - What Emerging Generations Think About The Church (in relatively simple nutshells)

• the church is an organized religion with a political agenda
• the church is judgmental and negative
• the church is dominated by males and oppresses females
• the church is homophobic
• the church arrogantly claims all other religions are wrong
• the church is full of fundamentalists who take the whole Bible literally

Why Dan and I (that's right, we're on first name basis) think emerging generations think this about the church:

• the church is an organized religion with a political agenda
  - the church is represented by the Christians who want to make their voices heard. Unfortunately, these are usually the ultra-conservative, ultra-Republican who subscribe to the theory that compromise is of the Devil and dialoguing with people outside the church is to conform to the world. WRONG.
  
• the church is judgmental and negative
  - aren't we all? The answer to this question is yes, yes we are. The problem is that as Christians, we are called to be different. Instead, so often we come across just as bitter and cynical as the rest of humanity, if not moreso. Not a good way to share the joy and love of Jesus. But then again, I firmly believe that when a person is IN Christ - that is, when he/she is fully in tune with God's love and presence - a spirit of love, compassion, and TRUE happiness will almost certainly result. Too bad not very many Christians are actually IN Christ; the numbers are significantly lower than an already significantly low number of Christians. It is this vast majority that represents - sorry, MISrepresents the church.
  
• the church is dominated by males and oppresses females
  - this one is touchy. There are verses in the Bible that clearly state the males are to be the heads of the households and the spiritual leaders in relationships. On the flip side, men are also called to LOVE their wives and treat them with the utmost courtesy and respect, while women are called to honour their husbands and support them in all good things. I see a spirit of equality in this context. Neither is bigger or better than the other; the roles are so different that a superiority/inferiority complex is impossible to define.

More to come later.