As I was driving down Semoran Boulevard the other day I saw a message on a marquis outside of a rather large church building that posted the service times. It read: Traditional Service 8am- and right underneath-Contemporary Service 11am. I began to think, is it me or does there seem to be a new church and an old church? The old church is the one I remember. Leaders back then taught strong messages of hell and brimfire, sin and holiness. As a matter of fact, I seem to recall a little slogan preachers used to constantly remind you that there was a standard of righteousness that God required of all born again believers, “Holiness or Hell“. We were fearful of sinning. Not of just being caught by fellow members of the church, but also of going to hell. Preachers made hell seem real and real close if you failed to live that strict life style that the bible instructed. Your choice of music could only be one genre- gospel. Your choice of sexual involvement could have only one answer- none before marriage. The choice to respect your elders- you didn’t have one. The choice to excuse obvious sin-repent before the entire congregation. You get the message!
But now, the new church seems to be a little, shall we say, lenient. With all of the new commentaries, revelations, and interpretations one would think that God made some errors in his life commandments for mankind. For example, the new church now accepts music that can be played in the night clubs and in Sunday morning service. Sex outside of marriage, OK- “God knows and understands”. Gender is negligible and does not define marriage, accept the homosexuals as good people but don’t tell them they are going to HELL! Oh yeah, and the size of the membership surely represents the rightness of the Pastor. You get the picture….
Are we reading different bibles? Do we want God and what we want as well? Is the church in conflict like Jacob and Esau in Rebecca’s womb?
