Easy Faith…
This is a little Bible in the nursery at church. Maddie loves it.
It makes a great illustration, which is why I initially took the pic.
It is a very soft book. The outside is covered in material like a teddy bear, and the inside is a few nice, cozy Bible stories. There’s not much to it.
But it’s entirely incomplete, incredibly shallow and would give a very skewed view of the faith if that’s all someone ever knew. And yet…that’s how too many Christians live, isn’t it? Talking of God’s love, and our blessings, and happy happy joy joy…while omitting everything else. A feel-good, personal faith with rock-star pastors of huge congregations…
Ok, so maybe that last bit stretched things a bit, since there are small churches that act the same way. And probably some large churches that aren’t entirely like that. 🙂
But it’s an incomplete faith, and often relegates Christ to the level of a rub-the-belly-for-good-luck Buddha statue.
This is a little Bible in the nursery at church. Maddie loves it. It makes a great illustration, which is why I initially took the pic. It is a very soft book. The outside is covered in material like a teddy bear, and the inside is a few nice, cozy Bible stories. There’s not much…
I'm reminded of the film "Dogma" and the Buddy Christ theme. The negative doesn't appeal to the masses like "warm and cozy" does. I suppose the idea is to reel folks in (not a bad thing by itself), and then expand knowledge.
Life isn't easy, nor should something as important as faith be. Are religions just as entitled as any group to do as they see fit to recruit folks?
But Rob, the Biblical truth is so much better and more exciting than the shallow stuff most large churches teach. When we attended the shallow churches, I always lost interest in church. It became a struggle to get the kids ready for and drag everyone to church each weekend, a struggle I usually lost. Eventually, we rarely attended. Now that we are attending a church that digs deep into the meat of the Bible rather than sticking with the shallow, feel-good doctrine, I cannot wait to attend church each Sunday. I wish church were every day. It's exciting stuff. A pastor's fear of offending people isn't advancing the kingdom, it's just increasing the size of his club.
JoAnn, I don't disagree with you at all. I suppose it sounded like I was defending mass-market religion, when I was really just musing and trying to understand what's behind "easy faith," as Scott accurately characterized it. You're spot-on.
Though not a person of Christian faith, I agree that the nuances and complexities of the truth offer so much more than what appears on the surface.