General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: At the risk of offending, I don't think Christians can be trusted [View all]TheBlackAdder
(28,194 posts).
to inject whatever perversions. While there were the odd 20th Century Pentecosts and later Charismatics, who shifted to a two-stage Baptism, the biggest loss of Christianity came when the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy was adopted by over 300 ministers. Prior to this time, Innerantists were considered outliers and cultish. Due to pressures of church competition, this belief then spread to the mainstream churches.
The main problem is that there are over 300 errors in the Bible, so it can't be divinely created, or with the Inerrantists, now changing it to Devinely Inspired. So, to get around this, they have to invent fictitious backstories to try and explain away the errors, or just tell congregants to accept the errors, if one should ever mention them. There was pressure at Bob Jones and other universities and churches to force this bullshit onto the educated clergy, doctors of theology and researchers. Almost none of them would subscribe to such tripe, so they were issued an ultimatum, either subscribe to it, or get fired. Most either quit or were fired, causing a brain drain in the church. This was filled with charlatans and hacks who would make up shit along the way.
Their goal shifted from selling God & Christ and making a profit -to- make a profit by selling God & Christ. Whatever to fill the church coffers and their pockets. There are now over 4500 Christian Churches in the USA, because many of these pastors want to control their own flocks and fleece them without others judging them or taking part of the proceeds. Since mainline Catholic and Protestant churches were experiencing loss of members, they started to adopt more of these diverse views, such as inerrancy and the speaking of tongues. While Charismatics view tongues as a brief occurrence to send a message to the congregation, Penetcosts believe that once this happens, the Holy Spirit forever lives within you and whatever you do is sanctioned by God and you will always sit by the right side of Jesus in the afterlife. They view themselves as having a free pass to essentially do whatever. Those, in their church who do not speak must have some reason why the Spirit is not entering them. This leads to competition to pretend to speak to join the club.
As far as the congregants, they are taught to just believe and not to question, leading over a generation to people who just accept whatever shit they are told. This is where we are now.
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