There is a lot of friction in most churches these days about "direction". I used to belong to a United Methodist church in Ann Arbor and there was internal debate about whether or not services should be more "modern". The leaders in the chuch went away for a week to a "visioning retreat" and came back with the decision that they should be both traditional and modern. They offer a traditional service at 8:00 and a modern one at 10am. This bummed me out because the main reason I enjoyed going to church was for the nostalgia. It reminds me of being a kid, hearing the organ, the choir the traditional sermon. I actually like it quite a bit. What I don't like is getting up early enough to go to an 8am service. People there assumed that because I was in a rock band I would enjoy the 10am "progressive" service with electric guitars, drums and synthesizers. No thanks, I'll keep my rock and roll and my Jesus separate. Another question, and I'm serious here... why is contemporary christian music so shitty? If you love God so much, shouldn't you put more effort in to expressing it creatively? Seems like they take all of 5 minutes to write the lyrics. Horrible, horrible stuff for the most part.
It's the metaphorical lipstick on a pig, man. Revising the delivery is pointless when the message itself is corrupt. I would venture to say the exodus (little pun there) is two fold. The article points out just one arm, that young people are moving to the left politically, while church leaders are moving to the right. That is enough to alienate an audience all by itself! However I submit the second arm, that young people are also less indoctrinated, so they're free to ask more critical questions. They wonder, why does God talk to that guy and not me? Does God really need tv shows and $100 million megachurches? Is it sensible to cherry pick Bible verses, taking them way out of context to support whatever moral argument one has at the moment? For that matter, if we want to get to the heart of our religion, why do we focus entirely on a version of the Bible that's generations removed from the original material, having suffered any number of revisions and mistranslations? I know because I followed that path myself. When I was a kid in the 70s, I remember the day I gathered up all my courage and asked my Sunday school teacher: which came first, the Garden of Eden or the dinosaurs? I don't even remember the teacher's words, I just remember him blubbering and waffling in an attempt to respond with something other than, "I don't know." It's not an issue of intelligence. It's a way of thinking. As best I can tell, my elders had simply never wondered how to rectify their Biblical legend with natural history. Did God kill the dinosaurs to make way for Adam and Eve? Where did black people come from? Where did Noah keep all the food? They never wondered any such things, and if they did, they just sloughed it off as trivial in the face of God's might or whatever. Maybe they just didn't ponder such questions in a serious way because they were comfortable in their habits. In contrast, young people today have no comfort at all. Pensions are gone. The idea of the 'company man' is gone. The notion that a university degree, or any other professional accreditation, will guarantee you a stable, well-paying job is gone. There's similarly no faith in the social security system, the health care system, the nation's political structure and so on. They have nothing to lose by eschewing yet another construct of a passing generation - organized religion.
I have someone I see on a daily basis that is very religious/christian. I once asked her about how God can be all knowing and at the same time grant me free will. The two cannot co-exist. After a few minutes she said, God's just so big". This is her, and other christians I know, response when they cannot answer a question logically. His plan is just so big. Your childhood questions are good ones but I can tell you now, that is where they lead he's just so big. I enjoyed reading your thoughts on why young people are leaving, I think it's pretty spot on. I know a number of young people that think of Christ's teachings as more of a philosophy. I tend to agree with this.
I followed Taoist philosophy for a while - and it worked very well for me, kept me in balance - until I found out there is a Taoist religion, complete with its own rituals, pilgrimages, recitations and such. That took the wind out of my sails. It gave me the distinct sense that most people are followers, not thinkers; that they prefer to be spoon-fed dogma that agrees with what they already believe rather than to think critically for themselves; and that they prefer habit and comfort over truth. It is a realization that haunts me to this day, like a war wound that heals over but nags at you the rest of your life.
When I played in the youth and main congregation's praise bands, I remember the music being terribly easy. I had only played bass for a few months when I started both of them. To be honest, the music contemporary is so shitty because there is so little to sing about. Anything from the old testament is... well, old, and the younger/hip congregations/denominations are more liberal (most even throw out the old testament, saying that Jesus said so when he clearly didn't. Matthew 5:18 "For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished."). Most music about new testament stuff gets closer and closer to this.
Good lord almighty, I wish I knew. My old church had a a rather 'contemporary' setup (which alienated some older folk when they switched years ago) and my mom loves it. I'm, like you, a bigger fan of bands such as Pedro the Lion or Sufjan Stevens. I'm convinced that contemporary christian music is just made to satisfy baby boomers. I've even played in a worship band (led a few times) and most of the music is just variations on G C D with random passages from the bible.Another question, and I'm serious here... why is contemporary christian music so shitty? If you love God so much, shouldn't you put more effort in to expressing it creatively? Seems like they take all of 5 minutes to write the lyrics. Horrible, horrible stuff for the most part.
Actually, it really isn't. Pedro the Lion was a Christian Band in the sense that the songwriter wrote songs about his faith and his struggles with it. That to me, the honest depiction of an internal struggle is real. It's human music where as most "Christian" music is la-la land stuff, just shy of being a children's fairy tale song. It makes me embarrassed to hear it for those that openly consume it. But Pedro the Lion was a great band.
I'm seeing this as my wife and I are searching for a new church where we've moved. We went to one today and it seemed pleasant, not unlike the one I grew up in only smaller; I even recognized the songs. As we were in the lobby after the sermon we noticed that they had some pamphlets on things, one of them entitled: Homosexuality; A firm response. I didn't even read it but I'm pretty sure I know what's inside. I joke to my wife that the churches can't handle us right now.