Subject: The real price of a Bible? |
Bible Note: I share your concerns and agree that future seems bleak. My opinion the day ministry changed from being a calling to a career was the day the Christian church opened the door for everything you mentioned. Pastors are selected from resumes instead of by prayer. Ministry success is measured in headcount or dollars instead of disciple making. The society's attitude has also changed. Many people attend not in obedience to God but rather what is in it for them. Christian religion is no longer a lifestyle but rather something we do on Sunday. Look at Islam. It requires a commitment that is not found in Christianity. It becomes a lifestyle long lost to Christianity and it contains absolutes that are not left up to everyone's own interpretation. To me the biggest problem is instead of reforming the church it was instead fragmented with each fragment left to it own opinions and interpretations. Instead of being one body of Christ we are now many bodies that are often in conflict or at the very best only on strained speaking terms. John 17:20-21 (NASB) 20 "I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; 21 that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. 1 Corinthians 1:10 (NASB) 10 Now I exhort you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be made complete in the same mind and in the same judgment. Ephesians 4:1-3 (NASB) 1 Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, 3 being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. |