What is the greatest threat to the church in our generation?

[timothyu]

You scandalize the faithful.

Humans scandalized Christianity eons ago by rejecting the Kingdom for alliance with the world of man. Nothing any adversary to the will of God wouldn't do. The two worlds are polar opposites and what happened was akin to what the Hebrew people did at Sinai. God does not use the governments of man for His purposes. They use Him.

 

[Hvizsgyak]

Humans scandalized it eons ago by rejecting the Kingdom for alliance with the world of man. Nothing any adversary to the will of God wouldn't do. The two worlds are polar opposites and what happened was akin to what the Hebrew people did at Sinai. God does not use the governments of man for His purposes. They use Him.

Constantine Has Been Beaten to Death

Did the Roman emperor, Constantine the Great, found the Catholic Church as many Fundamentalists claim? Click here and learn why this argument fails.

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[timothyu]

'

Constantine Has Been Beaten to Death'​

This has nothing to do with a denomination but Christianity as a whole. Believe as you will. We all have that right. But tell me, how does serving and partnering with the will of man then serve God and follow His will, a will opposite in nature to our own? The purpose of Christianity was to promote the Kingdom. How can it do that and partner with the adversarial world of man? I don't defend any church. I defend the will of God over that of man.

 

[Oompa Loompa]

767K views · 37K reactions | What is the greatest threat to the church in our generation? “Pastors. Honestly, pastors.” – Paul Washer #paulwasher #gospel #scripture #reformed #creedsconfessions #christ #salvation #christian #theologian #preacher #

What is the greatest threat to the church in our generation? “Pastors. Honestly, pastors.” – Paul Washer #paulwasher #gospel #scripture #reformed #creedsconfessions #christ #salvation #christian...

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Just jumping into the thread so I don't know how much of this has been discussed. But I honestly believe that the greatest threat to the Church is weak men who are unwilling to take a stand to defend Christian values and teachings.

 

[Gregory Thompson]

Satan: true as long as its not a cop out for lazy believers who refuse to examine themselves, and find him within themselves.

Placing "satan:" before the statement implies you mean the opposite maybe, so it's hard to tell what exactly you're saying.

 

[Gregory Thompson]

Next greatest threat:

"Do you think that you were called to believe in Jesus because you're the most righteous of the earth? No, you were called because you were the most sick."

So instead of being the salt of the earth, churches have become places to be avoided like leper colonies.

Not sure how to fix an issue with that since church kids, saved or not, tend to monopolize church social space.

 

[A_JAY]

Placing "satan:" before the statement implies you mean the opposite maybe, so it's hard to tell what exactly you're saying.

Yeah, sometimes my writing is not that precise. My intent was to reference and add to comments made by 2Philo. In agreement with him but I added a statement that Satan can be used as an excuse by lazy believers. In other words the devil made me do it excuse.,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

 

[Gregory Thompson]

Yeah, sometimes my writing is not that precise. My intent was to reference and add to comments made by 2Philo. In agreement with 2Philo but adding to his comments that Satan can be used as an excuse by lazy believers,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

The sin of Romans 7 tends to be the culprit anyway.

Satan is not omnipresent afterall.

 

[Vambram]

I believe that the greatest threat to the Body of Christ, the Church, is not a simple answer. I believe that there multiple things that are threats to the Body of Christ. However, all those threats can be laid at the feet of the father of Lies, the adversary, Satan himself. By using lies and half-truths, the adversary and his fellow demons have turned away far too many Christians from the true meaning of the Gospel of Christ. Romans chapter 1 goes into great specifity with cornerstone doctrines which are still applicable in the modern world. Also, because of our own failings and faults as humans, we Christians have allowed the influence of Sin into our lives. What the Bible calls "the flesh", our inner selfish desires and our own Sin, is constantly in disagreements with the indwelling Holy Spirit. But the father of Lies and his demons know this. Therefore, I believe that we must follow the guidance of God's indwelling Holy Spirit, read and study the Bible daily. Please remember that we can only overcome "the flesh", sin, and the world and the adversary Satan himself with his demons by relying upon our loving God, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

 

[Paidiske]

Is that not because one will see it from the viewpoint of the world while the other will see it according to the Kingdom?

Not necessarily.

One's faith should not be shaken because of sinful people in the Church. They have always been there and they will always continue to be there.

That may be true, but the scale of this problem - in every denomination, around the world - and the blatant hypocrisy, incompetence, and protection of perpetrators over victims, has been enough to discredit the claims the Church likes to make for itself in the eyes of many. As one person put it to me, why should they seek God in what, to them, looks like nothing more than a paedophile ring in drag?

 

[timothyu]

Not necessarily.

But that would cause conflict

 

[Paidiske]

But that would cause conflict

And? Is that conflict not abundantly in evidence?

We're fallen humans. By our nature, our understanding is limited and flawed. Even sincere people, genuinely loving God and neighbour and committed to the Kingdom, can be imperfect in our understanding, and thus disagree, even when making every effort to be "Biblical."

 

[timothyu]

. By our nature, our understanding is limited and flawed. Even sincere people, genuinely loving God and neighbour and committed to the Kingdom, can be imperfect in our understanding, and thus disagree, even when making every effort to be "Biblical."

Which reinforces the concept within the Bible, will of man - useless, will of God - supreme.

 

[Gregory Thompson]

making every effort to be "Biblical."

Biblical, this is one of the greatest threats.

It's an evolution of the concept of "Orthodox" which means "the right way"

Biblical, means: my way or whatever you heretic.

(edit) Over the centuries the prideful obsession of "being the right tradition" has evolved to each person creating a montage of bible cut-outs to support their carnal thoughts.

 

[Hvizsgyak]

Not necessarily.

That may be true, but the scale of this problem - in every denomination, around the world - and the blatant hypocrisy, incompetence, and protection of perpetrators over victims, has been enough to discredit the claims the Church likes to make for itself in the eyes of many. As one person put it to me, why should they seek God in what, to them, looks like nothing more than a paedophile ring in drag?

I won't argue with what you say because you are mostly correct. But what also needs to be conveyed to the world is that the priests/clergy/pastors/sisters sexual abuse scandals happen in frequency at the same percentage as other professions. They just seem more pronounced because of the way the news media portrays them. There are way more decent and caring priests/clergy/pastors/sisters that are spiritually guiding their parishioners/communities correctly. Unfortunately, we rarely ever hear of these good God-fearing people. Sexual abuse is a sickness throughout all of our society and brought about by many different factors.

 

[Paidiske]

But what also needs to be conveyed to the world is that the priests/clergy/pastors/sisters sexual abuse scandals happen in frequency at the same percentage as other professions.

True.

There are way more decent and caring priests/clergy/pastors/sisters that are spiritually guiding their parishioners/communities correctly.

Also true.

But I think it is not the abuse, itself, that has caused this reaction, but the way church institutions have responded to the abuse, and to victims.

 

[ViaCrucis]

Wouldn't the answer to that question depend a lot on, say, where we are talking about?

I suspect that an Iraqi Christian or an Egyptian Christian would give very different answers than what most Christians living in western Anglophonic nations would answer--and answers would also change even then. American Christians and Australian Christians will, in spite of similar(ish) experiences offer different answers.

So "the greatest threat" where?

Where churches are being bombed?
Or where people in churches are doing the bombing?

-CryptoLutheran

 

[Gregory Thompson]

Applied Modalism doing spiritual warfare.

 

[ViaCrucis]

I would say it's simphood and the worship of women over God's word.

Your name is "Darktriad"
You use the word "simphood" unironically
And you mention "worship of women"

Unless you are trolling, then, my dude, get off the "red pill" websites, go touch grass, and try attending church.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[Akita Suggagaki]

The greatest threat is the age old threat of ego and its partner selfishness. And they can even take religious forms where in we claim to have the only truth and way to salvation while condemning others. But more often it is found in a self absorbed search for material comforts and convenience. I deal with that myself. Thanks to the grace of God I get reminders that it is not all about what I like, what makes me comfortable and what s convenient for me. Thank God for the dangerous, disturbing and uncomfortable memory of Jesus.