The gospel writers portrayed Jesus as God. Clearly, that has worked very well. Today, nearly a third of the world's population identify as Christians.
In the meantime, science has come a long way; the church not so much. It has been slow to adapt. Lately many, especially young people, have become frustrated with the disconnect. They began to feel like aliens and left the church in droves. They became exiles. Many kept their faith, but kept it private to avoid getting lumped in with the old church that no longer made sense to them. Their worldview that humans are fundamentally good and want the best for everyone left them isolated and alone in a world that values competition and individualism.
Scientists and philosophers now recognize that religion and spirituality is an integrated part of human nature. Every culture in the world has some kind of religious practice. Something deep within us recognizes a common origin that compels us to live connected with each other.
With this new insight, that the ancient writers were right, but that the church had forgotten, the exiles have quietly begun to craft a new form of spirituality without the labels and practices of their parents. Sometimes you will hear or see young people deny Christianity, but simultaneously act more Christlike than the ones who may think they are Christians but really aren't. The awakening seems to have been mostly internal so far, but as they connect with others like them, they are beginning to become more public. New research shows that the number of young people who say they believe in Jesus is on the rise.
That is good news, but overcoming tension with the old church is going to be a long and hard journey. The task at hand is to build a new church the way Jesus envisioned it. We had better get going.
“You never change things by fighting the existing reality.
ReplyDeleteTo change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.”
― Buckminster Fuller