DO YOU THINK THAT SOME churches in the United states lost tuch with REAL christianity?

Question

I saw this documentary on the bible and its interpretations by different churches. It showed different churches in the united states. Some of them i would not even call churches. They are more like large rooms with some guy singing in the microphone and giving some BIZARRE interpretations of the bible, while the people who attend these places are totally into this stuff and almost fall into a trans. This to me does not seem like christianity. it can be compared, in my view, to african tribal beliefs in some cases. I come from Serbia, so my english might not be so good, because i am not a native speaker. I am not that religious eather, but i do attend church from time to time, for traditional reasons, but also to pray. Our church has been the same since it was founded in 1219, and does not offer interpretations of the bible. our priests read sections of the bible word to word, with NO INTERPRETATION. and the rest of the time is spent in prayer. THIS SEEMS LIKE CHRISTIANITY TO ME

Answer 1

Definitely. For example, some churches gather lots of people because they have free coffee in the mornings. Then they say lots of happy stuff like "believe in God you will go to heaven". Is that what the Bible says? Yes, but it has a lots more meaning than that! The Bible is being twisted into so many strange things!

Answer 2

Every person interprets their Holy Books as they suits them better. Of course, there are some people who use the Bible as a mean of income, inducing people to live in constant fear, and in some cases the leaders turn to "bizarre" practices that are not found anywhere in the Scriptures.

When people disagree on what a certain passage means, or when they feel they should base their beliefs in a certain passage, they form a new church.

For instance, the Samaritan Christian Church movement, believes that women should cover their faces with a veil when praying. That's because Paul the apostle came up with the idea that the women in the Corinth Church must cover their faces when praying. On the other hand, the 7th Day Adventists, (one of the Christian Churches I admire the most) believes in worshiping on the Sabath (Saturday) instead of Sunday, and refrain from eating certain meals. (In all honesty, their diet is far better than mine).

The list list quite long. But the intentions are one and the same: to do what their God tells them, and be His humble servants.

But even when the people have the genuine intention of serving God, some leaders use the faith of the people to make a living from it. They disguise as God's messengers and boast of their college degree titles. I know a lady who has created at least 3 churches in my neighborhood, who walks with the Bible under her armpits - ahhh - and the truth is that the offerings she gets are invested in her personal clothing store. Tell her that you need help, that you are hungry, or worried, and she will never give you a helping hand. But if you are a person - like me - who's often on TV or newspapers, she will be inviting you to her church and use you for promotional purposes. But the people believes her blindly.

So, as you can see. The best thing to do, is to continue worshiping where you feel the Word of God is being preached. Invite your friends and share your view with them, and keep an open heart for those who disagree, accepting their rights to believe differently.

Have a wonderful day.

Answer 3

You raise a valid point.

Many US based denominations have become Apostate, that is they have fallen away from the truth.

Primarily these are churches which sprinkle water on the heads of babies and call it "baptism".

Even the sponsor of Inter Varsity Christian Fellowship at ISU 35 years ago was one of these guys who didn't believe the Bible.

He was an English teacher who taught the classes, "Literature of the Bible I & II".

Bible Lit I covered the Old Testament, Bible Lit II covered the New.

So even organizations like Inter Varsity don't have leaders who follow the Bible.

I visited a church recently where the Pastor talked on hell one weekend and what he said was, "We believe there is a hell but we hope its empty."

The Bible on the other hand tells us that Hell has been enlarged to hold the crowd.

When I preach, I preach the Word of God as fact and as the Words which give us Life!

I don't know how or why people put up with less.

Pastor Art

Answer 4

My question to you then is, do YOU read the Bible? If so, do you read it in the original Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek texts, or in your own language?

It is not just churches in the US, but the Church itself, which seems to have lost it's identity as the Body of Christ. Because some people believe that certain parts of Scripture apply more or less to Christian life than others, there are different denominations of Christianity that emphasize different aspects of Christian life. Many get off on a tangent that makes no sense compared to the whole, while others seem to ignore things that are vital to all of a Christian's walk.

Please note that just because your church does a thing the same way all the time and that it hasn't changed in a long time doesn't mean that it's the right way to do things. It's the way to which you've become accustomed and these other things are different, not necessarily wrong. If I do not seek to learn what Scripture means I am gaining nothing from it. In seeking to learn what Scripture does, in fact mean, I may find that my beliefs about Scripture conform to one or more of these denominations.

Making such a statement as you have done is, actually, making a judgment against those who worship in ways that you do not. In the end, if Jesus is lifted up and praise and glory is given to God, I'm not too sure He wouldn't be pleased with whatever form the worship took. I'll admit that sometimes I do have to wonder whether this is so, but in the final analysis, I am not their judge, and neither are you. Worship in a manner that best suits you and leave others to worship as they see fit.

Answer 5

The difference between "religion" and "christianity"... is what you are discerning. More wars were fought due to religion than for any other reason. Religion tends to breed zealots. (the bible warns to beware of zealots, unfortunately, it does not do a good job of outlining exactly what constitutes a zealot.) A zealot can appear to be a very charasmatic person who speaks with great conviction and his only goal in life is to convert people to his beliefs.

Christianity, on the other hand can be summed up quite simply. "Treat others as you would have them treat you. " Something I have discovered that is interesting is that if you look into the teachings of many other types of religions, you will find that some prophet or other in these other religions offer up this exact same teaching.

Religion was intended to supply a support system to help bolster one's faith. What a lot of them have evolved to is frightening.

Jesus spoke in parables for a reason. Each person who heard them took away an answer to a personal question in their hearts. The parables did not answer any one question, but was applicable to many. It is the same with the rest of the Bible. There is no "one true" interpretation. There have been people trying to twist the words to mean what they want for centuries in an effort to control the masses.

Religion tends to complicate Christianity. They think that it should not be so easy to enter the "kindom of God". But Jesus himself pointed out just how easy it is. Unfortunately, mankind has a strange built in resistance to anything easy.

Just treat everyone the way you want to be treated. I guarantee that if you do, no commandments will ever be broken. I am pretty sure that an omnipotent God is smart enough to see through the gilding on the outside of the zealots and he will deal with them accordingly.

Answer 6

Absolutely the church has lost touch with reality. Read revelation and look at the books Apostle Paul wrote. Churches never could get along together and in revelation you see Churches that have forgotten their first love. Many churches don't live for the Kingdom of Heaven or Jesus. They try to appeal to the people by watering down scripture so its non-offensive (politically correct) and make church about the rock music and the drama team. You never hear about the death or resurrection of Jesus. Look at the Willow Creek association. Now people are complaining that they are not being fed. Yet they are the largest church in the US! So yes I would agree and go even further to say the church body has ricketts because they arn't taught scripture so they don't have much to stand on.

Answer 7

Yes, I agree, SOME US churches have developed crazy interpretations of the bible. (Note: this is not to be confused with Americans who are just very religious, which is a much higher % than in other western countries)

I was reading an article the other day that there are number of US churches that have now interpreted sections of the bible to mean "god wants you to be rich". They are taught that it if they pray to god, god will want them to have wealth (more money to give back to the church).

There are also some US churches in Utah that say that god wants men to have many wives and children, and they will have 5+ wives!

And yes, there are many where they all stand in a big room and someone preaches stuff like, god wants America to be the world power and bomb the hell out of places like Iran. And people do stand around in a trance. For Europeans and others not familiar with this, go rent the movies Borat to see this. No purple kool-aid but there should be.

Answer 8

i was reading the book of revelation a while back, and a few things jumped out me. forgive me if i interpret, but this is what came to mind:

1. to every single one of the seven churches of asia, Jesus said ''I know your works.'' He didn't say ''I know your opinions,'' or ''i know your interpretations,'' but ''I know your works.'' as long as these people confessed Christ to be their Savior, all that mattered beyond that was how they conducted theirselves as christians.

2. no matter what was wrong with any of these churches, they were all still represented by a candle, a light. that light is a source of truth. it may not be the source of the whole truth, but that church was still at least the source of bits of truth.

3. most importantly, those seven candles were all connected as part of a menorah. we are all connected. we are all contributing members of the Body of Christ, and as such, we should strive for unity in the Invisible Church of God, which is made up of every bloodwashed, bornagain christian in the world. that can never be achieved if we're constantly downgrading other denominations.

i'm a conservative lutheran, and i follow lutheran doctrine pretty closely. very few things have changed in my church for close to five hundred years. that being said, there are tons and tons of beliefs in other churches that i don't agree with, but it's so much more important to edify our fellow christians than it is to try and point out the things we see as flaws.

Answer 9

This is sooooo true these are the people who make others angry because they are so judgemental. I'm a christian myself and i get judged by other christians because of the way i dress and etc. I think some churches really lost the point

Answer 10

To Answer your Question: Yes.

GOD Almighty is Raising Up Children of GOD who Will Walk in Faith and won't Fall for the religious Stuff AnyMore.

Faith (the Substance of Things Hoped For) won't Work with "religions"---Faith will Only Work With The Word of GOD (Jesus).