Perhaps the Mystery Isn’t All That Great

Some may wonder how a church can move from 4.2 million in 1967 to 2.3 in 2005, despite the fact that Christian churches in general have been growing more rapidly than the population. The answer might be found in the publisher of this Amazon entry and the publisher’s explanation. (It is extolled here and reviewed here.)

Some might think humility would be one of the key characteristics of the Christian; if so, this approach would seem more appropriate. And so would sympathy for those who risk their lives daily choosing to become policemen in Iraq. They hope to further the rule of law – one Christians have long understood as necessary for an earthly life of peace. This church offers little succor.

(And we aren’t even getting into what can be interpreted as anti-semitism in the bizarre policy of “punishing” Caterpillar.)

The statistics are from the July Layman, which is a pdf; it is reached through the Layman Online.

9 thoughts on “Perhaps the Mystery Isn’t All That Great”

  1. My wife and I left the PCUSA over twenty years ago as we began to see where it was headed. This book, disappointing and embarrassing as it is to us, is not surprising.

    The churches that are growing are those that stand for the “Old Time Religion” and ask something of their members. Sadly, the PCUSA does neither.

  2. I guess I owe these moonbats a debt of gratitude–it was their howling at Caterpillar that prompted me to take a serious look at the company, and it’s been a pretty profitable investment.

  3. Officially, I’m still in the PCUSA, but it’s been ages since I went to service, and my parish is the worst of the worst when it comes to leftish political piety. (I equally loathe both varieties of letting politics be a surrogate to Christianity’s demands from the parishioner.)

    I suppose I’d start going to service and being active again, if it would precipitate some changes.

  4. PCUSA is run by lefties and there’s a big disconnect between the annointed and the peons. In the 70s they gave money to Angela Davis.

    Of course, they pray for guidance before they do any of this stuff, but disinvesting from Israel really backlashed against them.

    And now it’s gays in the pulpit.

    This book is the final nail for my family. I never got to ask at the meetings I attended if their decline was because they weren’t liberal enough????

  5. The author is a process theologian. His understanding of Christianity is as poor as his understanding of politics, and thus can be discounted as a kook and a heretic. So much for him, what is the scandal here is that the PCUSA’s official publishing house chose to print it, in effect endorsing it. I think that speaks volumes for that church’s orthodoxy.

    Presbyterians are wise to flee that church in droves.

  6. The funny thing is that even within the “mainstream” churches, there is a backlash. The Congregational church in my town announced that they were holding back their contribution to their (whatever the term is) regional body because it had gone completely lefty BDS. Just truly dropped off the table. They got lots of letters from a variety of eminences denouncing them as fascists, and a lot more from ordinary parishioners saying “Way to go! Keep up the good work.” The Congregationalists (United Church of Christ) make the Episcopalians and Presbyterians look like medieval monastic orders, so this was quite a change.

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