Monday, November 11, 2013

Millenials Want It Their Way: Don't Use Biblical Phrases

Erin Benzinger discusses the "Millenials'" whining over "churchy" phrases: 

Nevertheless, in this age of entitlement many who walk through the doors of a professing Christian church do so with the motive of being served a weekly dose of what they desire to hear. If they find the message displeasing, they quickly leave and rarely return. The Washington Post has published an article revealing five 'churchy' phrases that have 'scared off' the millennial generation. The first of these is:
“The Bible clearly says…” 
We are the first generation to grow up in the age of information technology, and we have at our fingertips hundreds of commentaries, sermons, ideas, and books. We can engage with Biblical scholars on Facebook and Twitter, and it’s impossible not to see the way that their doctrines – rooted in the same Bible – differ and clash. 
We’re acutely aware of the Bible’s intricacies. We know the Bible is clear about some things– but also that much is not clear. We know the words are weighted to a culture that we don’t completely understand and that the scholars will never all agree. 
We want to hear our pastors approach these words with humility and reverence. Saying, “This is where study and prayer have led me, but I could be wrong,” does infinitely more to secure our trust than The Bible clearly says… 
 (Source)
"We want to hear." At the risk of sounding unloving, it does not matter what one "wants to hear." What matters is what the Bible says... 

The Washington Post article also complains about "Black and white quantifiers of faith, such as 'Believer, Unbeliever, Backsliding'" because "Millennials are sick of rhetoric that centers around who’s in and who’s out."

Whether millennials like it or not, however, the reality is that on the day of judgment, many will discover that they are "out," as in, cast into outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth; as in, cast into eternal judgment, forever to experience the wrath of the holy God whom they hated and reviled in life.

When Jesus spoke these words, He was not offering them as a suggestion, rather these were words spoken with command and power. These were divine words of warning from the ultimate authority.
When Jesus had finished these words [the entirety of the Sermon on the Mount], the crowds were amazed at His teaching; for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as their scribes. (Matt 7:28–29)
And yet churchgoers, and the apparently all-important (to some) millennial generation, protests this authority, because the Washington Post article lists as the final scary 'churchy' phrase, "God is in control." 

~Do Not Be Surprised 

By the way, there is but one right interpretation of Scripture. When there are varying interpretations, someone's wrong. The problem isn't Scripture, it's the men who are interpreting it. Clarity is given by context and cross references in the vast majority of Scripture. Every major doctrine is clearly understood from Scripture; differing views is the result of wrong interpretation starting with the context.

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