Love Jesus, Hate Church

I finished the book. It had a LOT a agreed with and could relate to, but also a few things that disturbed me. The problem is that the book provides no solid answers except to suggest that the alieviation of church problems begins with self. In other words: "Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me."

This is not to say it's not worth the read. It certainly is! If not for anything else to know that we're not alone in the boat.

Refer to my last blog entry for ordering information. You probably can't get the book at your book store since it is "self published."

The Church and the Arts

Just reading "The Gospel Accroding to Peanuts" by Robert L. Short.

You may know that Charles M. Shultz (creator of Charlie Brown, Snoopy and the other Peanuts gang) was a believer (same with B.C.'s Johnny Hart). He said:

"...if you do not say anything in a cartoon, you might as well not draw it at all. Humor which does not say anything is worthless humor. So I contend that a cartoonist must be given a cahnce to do his own preaching."

The book has a section on the church and the arts. It begins:

"'How shall we sing the Lord's song in a foreign land?' (Ps.137:4) is a question the Church, always finding itself in but not of the world, urgently needs to consider today..."

The discussion centers on communication to culture through culture. Short continues:

"Art has a way of getting around man's intellectual and emotional predjudices. This is because art always speaks indirectly--wheather in being the vehical for delivering a new answer, or in causing a new kind of question to be asked..."

He contends that art is a reflection into which we peer seeing ourselves. As such art is a great communicator of truth and the human condition; opening windows into the soul and exposing want and need--especially the need for Christ.

The aurgument is somewhat scholarly and lofty for ideolgies expressed through cartoon illustrations. erhaps Shultz was deeper than we have imagined, but, through his art, we "got it." Case in point. The section, if not the whole book is worth a skim.

LOVE JESUS, HATE CHURCH?

From the book "Love Jesus, Hate Church":

"During the past 10 years, approximately 50 million Christians left the church. In fact, the percentage of American adults who attend religious services has dropped from 49% to less than 32%. And more recent studies have shown that the problem of the decline in church attendance is actually getting much worse. In addition, a recent USA Today/Gallop poll reported that almost half of all Americans appear to be alienated from any form of organized religion. If the current trend continues, most Americans will not call themselves religious in just a few years.

"Of the roughly 140 million Americans who do make their way to church on any given weekend, an amazing 74% are not engaged in their church at all.Moreover, a study from the Barna Institute concluded that by the end of the next decade, up to 40% of all church-attending Christians will be worshipping God, serving others, studying the Bible, etc., outside of a congregational church setting. Clearly, the data indicates that church isn’t working."

Why? I'll let you know more as I read the book. In the meantime visit the website www.lovejesushatechurch.com for more info and three sample chapters.