Is the church falling away now

[Servant78]

2 Thessalonians 2:1-3 warns about the falling away of the church before antichrist rules the world in the great tribulation.

As this has been prophesied by Paul who saw it happened, do you see this is happening now ?

 

[Swan7]

I'm not sure how this is to be viewed, but I have seen many churches behave contrary from what is Biblically taught. I'd say it has been happening for over 2000 years. It was happening in Paul's day and so it is the same today.

The sure sign I am looking for right now is when the antichrist makes himself known.

 

[ewq1938]

2 Thessalonians 2:1-3 warns about the falling away of the church before antichrist rules the world in the great tribulation.

As this has been prophesied by Paul who saw it happened, do you see this is happening now ?

What Paul described was a sudden one time event related to the antichrist/man of sin. The church has been shrinking for many decades but that is a different thing than the Apostasy/Apostasia.

 

[Aldebaran]

2 Thessalonians 2:1-3 warns about the falling away of the church before antichrist rules the world in the great tribulation.

As this has been prophesied by Paul who saw it happened, do you see this is happening now ?

The church in general has been embracing the world quite a bit lately. Appointing pastors that are women, homosexuals, and so forth. Even flying the LGBT flag outside (and even inside) churches is an indication that they're swallowing the world's agenda hook, line and sinker.

 

[DragonFox91]

It's hard to say. The Church has always 'fallen away'. It's certainly not good now.

 

[ForHimbyHim]

The church worships money, people go there to receive 'blessings'. Less about relationship with God. More about a better life.

 

[RandyPNW]

2 Thessalonians 2:1-3 warns about the falling away of the church before antichrist rules the world in the great tribulation.

As this has been prophesied by Paul who saw it happened, do you see this is happening now ?

The history of Israel has been given to the Church as a pattern for Christian nations in history. We should expect the same kinds of developments in European nations, which was the cradle of Christian Civilization.

Following the Christianization of the Roman Empire, and of all Europe, there has been the typical backsliding and apostasy from Christian peoples. There have also been reforms and revivals. But in our day we see full blown apostasy away from Christianity in these former Christian nations.

A major starting point followed the Renaissance in the Enlightenment era--late 1700s. This was the time frame for the creation of the U.S. and modern secularist states in Europe and throughout the world. Even Russia had been Christian and chose to follow the path of the Enlightenment towards a thoroughly secularized society.

So we've been in this apostasy for some time now, and it is only getting worse. In fact, here in the US I'm seeing a once-Christian country turn away from our Christian roots and begin to favor anything but Christianity. And the manners among our people is showing this loss of Christianity, with violent rhetoric and insistence on a kind of revolution, or else...

 

[parousia70]

There are More Christains today than there were yesterday, and there will be more tomorrow.

The Church ever is Growing, and nothing can stop us (Matthew 16:18)

 

[DavidPT]

The church worships money, people go there to receive 'blessings'. Less about relationship with God. More about a better life.

Hopefully there are still some churches out there where these things would not be true of their churches. It was certainly true of the churches I attended in the 80's though, what you describe above. I imagine it is profoundly worse by now. I don't attend church anymore, so I guess I wouldn't know firsthand. And one reason, among numerous others, why I no longer attend church is because of what you said in this post, and that once I realized this in the 80s, I distanced myself from churches altogether at that point. Maybe that's throwing the baby out with the bathwater, yet I never found a church to attend back in the 80s that was not like the churches you described.

 

[Spiritual Jew]

There are More Christains today than there were yesterday, and there will be more tomorrow.

How do you know that? Do you not believe that a Christian can fall away from the faith?

Even setting aside the question of whether a Christian can fall away, would you agree that there are more people of the age of accountability today than there were yesterday? What if most of those who reached that age today are not Christians? What if the overall percentage of people who are Christians was less today than it was yesterday? Is that not something that matters to you or do you just assume that the percentage of people who are Christians goes up each day?

 

[Spiritual Jew]

It's hard to say. The Church has always 'fallen away'. It's certainly not good now.

Yes, there have always been some in the church who have fallen away, including in Paul's day, but Paul was clearly talking about a mass falling away that would happen some time in the future.

So, this has to do with noticeably more people falling away than what you'd typically see over the years. Is that happening now or has it been happening for awhile? Could be. I'm certainly seeing an increase in immorality in the U.S., but I'm not as familiar with what's been going on in other countries. I think it's been similar in other countries as far as an increase in sexual immorality is concerned, at least.

 

[WhoIsLikeGod?]

2 Thessalonians 2:1-3 warns about the falling away of the church before antichrist rules the world in the great tribulation.

As this has been prophesied by Paul who saw it happened, do you see this is happening now ?

I think the great apostasy started in 1454 with the invention of the Gutenberg Printing Press. The Bible was the most widely produced book back then. After the printing press, competing ideas were more easily distributed. Catholicism really took a hit in 1543 when Nicolaus Copernicus' On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres shook up their geocentric view. They were too proud to admit that a Renaissance astronomer could hold more insight than them. This started the scientific revolution, which placed empiricism above divine revelation.

 

[Jeffwhosoever]

The church in general has been embracing the world quite a bit lately. Appointing pastors that are women, homosexuals, and so forth. Even flying the LGBT flag outside (and even inside) churches is an indication that they're swallowing the world's agenda hook, line and sinker.

Agreed.