Even the most conservative, traditional expressions of Christianity like Russian Orthodoxy or the Catholic Latin mass and self proclaimed restorationist evangelicals do this.
What I'm talking about is things like:
- The mixing of men and women in church
- Lack of modesty amongst women (hair exposed, body shape exposed because of trousers)
- Women speaking above men and having authority over men
- The fact that homosexuality, transgenderism, feminism are even things up for discussion among some churches
- The mandating of male monogamy (that a man is only permitted to have one wife)
- The unequivocal condemnation of things explicitly allowed in the Bible, like slavery (you can be disgusted by the thought of ever having slaves — I am —, but why should man condemn it when God allowed it?)
I was raised Christian and this is what really struck me when I was rediscovering religion, how much Christians have shifted their morality to keep up with the secular world. It's a loosing game. Good morality is never popular, secular society is never going to accept it. What first attracted me to Islam as a teenager, before I knew anything about it, was how dedicated Muslims are to the faith. They still follow the exact same rules given in the Quran 1400 years ago, and adapt their understanding of right and wrong to the book; Christians adapt the book to their secular/worldly understanding of right and wrong. The Bible specifically gives men authority over women, mandates sex segregation and modesty but that doesn't sit well with the secular world so you see women preachers and pastors, unrelated men and women sitting next to one another in the pews, women in blouses and trousers where you can see their body. I go to a mosque and I see men and women separated, as the Quran, the Bible and Jewish Torah commanded. A church will only allow a man to have one wife, even though polygamy is the norm in the Bible, in Islam I am entitled to have 4 wives and nobody can ever take that right away from me etc etc.
Of course, these aren't the only things that attracted me to Islam. I felt that it answered the multitude of questions that Christianity left me with in a much more logical way, that the Islamic Jesus and Mary seemed much more true than the gospel accounts written decades after their death by John, Mark, Luke and Matthew and so much more. However I don't want get into an argument about the narrative and doctrinal differences, I just wanted to ask Christians, what do you think about the adoption of modern secular "values" by most churches?
Let's be respectful of one another! I love you all.
Sincerely,
A young English Muslim
What I'm talking about is things like:
- The mixing of men and women in church
- Lack of modesty amongst women (hair exposed, body shape exposed because of trousers)
- Women speaking above men and having authority over men
- The fact that homosexuality, transgenderism, feminism are even things up for discussion among some churches
- The mandating of male monogamy (that a man is only permitted to have one wife)
- The unequivocal condemnation of things explicitly allowed in the Bible, like slavery (you can be disgusted by the thought of ever having slaves — I am —, but why should man condemn it when God allowed it?)
I was raised Christian and this is what really struck me when I was rediscovering religion, how much Christians have shifted their morality to keep up with the secular world. It's a loosing game. Good morality is never popular, secular society is never going to accept it. What first attracted me to Islam as a teenager, before I knew anything about it, was how dedicated Muslims are to the faith. They still follow the exact same rules given in the Quran 1400 years ago, and adapt their understanding of right and wrong to the book; Christians adapt the book to their secular/worldly understanding of right and wrong. The Bible specifically gives men authority over women, mandates sex segregation and modesty but that doesn't sit well with the secular world so you see women preachers and pastors, unrelated men and women sitting next to one another in the pews, women in blouses and trousers where you can see their body. I go to a mosque and I see men and women separated, as the Quran, the Bible and Jewish Torah commanded. A church will only allow a man to have one wife, even though polygamy is the norm in the Bible, in Islam I am entitled to have 4 wives and nobody can ever take that right away from me etc etc.
Of course, these aren't the only things that attracted me to Islam. I felt that it answered the multitude of questions that Christianity left me with in a much more logical way, that the Islamic Jesus and Mary seemed much more true than the gospel accounts written decades after their death by John, Mark, Luke and Matthew and so much more. However I don't want get into an argument about the narrative and doctrinal differences, I just wanted to ask Christians, what do you think about the adoption of modern secular "values" by most churches?
Let's be respectful of one another! I love you all.
Sincerely,
A young English Muslim
