I have heard some ministers/or helpers (who have converted) speak about those services, and the pressure they would go thru each week as there was a mad scramble to plan something new that would keep the people happy/pleased/coming back. It sounded like it truly was comparable to putting on a weekly stage production – lighting, optical displays, musicians, etc.
That is your faith teaching and is perfectly acceptable. But for Catholics as well as bible only Christians, from which I grew up, calling a man father or reverend is heresy in their conscience. Orthodox priests on the other hand have valid orders and therefore Catholics are required to call them father or reverend as such out of respect for the orders or sacrament of holy orders. I wouldn’t know what to call a Lutheran preacher anyway and would stumble all over myself not knowing. When I was a member of the Church of Christ [the Protestant one that thinks they are the one true church as defined in the bible alone] made it clear that we are NOT allowed to call anyone by these titles. But I realized early on the error of that teaching. It took everything I had within my being to finally call a Franciscan Friar “father”. And that only happened after we first met and I spilled my guts on him what happened to me when I was Catholic. I spent more time as a Protestant than I ever did as a Catholic. I actually learned what our faith taught and that actually helped me over time realize the beauty of the Catholic Church, if only they believed it themselves. Trust me on this, I actually thought about becoming Lutheran as well. But I kept realizing I needed to go back to the earliest version of the Church I believed to be true. That’s why Orthodoxy was so attractive to me. I initially thought that the Catholic Church broke off of the Orthodox Church. But no where in history was that term ever used until later. But, I have no problem with the use of the term with one exception. The fact it calls it self “Orthodox” makes it sound like an argument against something else that existed back then. Catholic means universal, for everyone, all encompassing, unity in a sense. Where as the term Orthodox tends to sound divisive instead. No offense brothers and sisters. This is the impediment that prevents me from crossing the line along with believing in some sort of primacy of the bishop of Rome.
The term you seek is “prosperity theology”. Yes, that is prevalent among this sect of Christianity. Unfortunately this concept goes all the way back to the Apostles. It is a heresy and reaps its rewards, not a good thing. This kind of theology marginalized many and hurts those that believe they are liked more by God. This kind of thinking will bring many souls to hell unfortunately if they do not realize the error of this thinking. If they truly study scripture and simply ignore the parts that show otherwise they will most likely be held culpable according to the teachings of the Church. However, that judgment is not for us to determine but for God alone.
My dad, a Lutheran clergy, preferred, “Pastor”, and that seems the norm for American Lutherans. It is curious on this point, having been raised in a very Lutheran / Catholic town, that because he always wore his clerical collar, I can remember one day walking with him past a Catholic school. Two boys about my age at the time, 10 or 11, came out of the school yard and said “Hello Father” to him. He said hello back.
I heard once that the Catholic Church should not still be alive. There are so many more “fun” churches out there, people should be leaving the Church and joining the fun. Why is the Church still around? Because she is the True Church, and Christ promised to never leave herI think they are doing that to make the church “modern” and “more relevant” to our times. They want going to church to be a feel-good experience so people will want to come back. In some ways, I like their ideas, and in other ways I believe church should be focused only on God. It’s a church, not a dance club!
A lot of people get “bored” in church, caught up in our materialistic society, leave around the end of adolescence (college age), and then come back when they have children of their own (or after their kids are grown). There seems to be a break from religion in many people’s lives. People are often too caught up in a world of instant gratification and self-pleasure and sometimes it takes us a while to realize the error of their ways, that we had bad judgment, etc.
Maybe the “make church fun” movement is to help people want to continue to go to church and have a relationship with God throughout their lives.
I don’t believe this is different by faith group. It is more a respect issue which is instilled by your parent’s from early youth. I do not agree theologically with Rev. Al Sharpton or Rev. Jessie Jackson, I do call both Rev. That is totally respect for a title and position and the person who holds that position.
i completely agree with your priest. God bless him.
Your priest is pretty accurate in his assessment. Megachurches have big problems keeping their membership intact. There is only so much ‘feel’ good stuff one can take before spiritual diabetes takes over.
Haha, what do you mean by “spiritual diabetes”?
When you don’t watch your spiritual diet and all that you do is go for overstuffing yourself with all those spiritual ‘sweets’ that many prrachers give you, you’re gonna get spiritually sick.
ooo i like that little analogy…
Well that is an observation I too have made. I have only visited maybe two or three megachurches and I must admit entertainment is huge for them. Now I could be wrong,but it seems to me those megachurches have a philosophy,entertainment is key to attracting people,especially younger people, and for retaintion purposes. Sadly today,many people constantly need to be entertained or else they are ‘bored’ and it is useless.Hence,perhaps that is why those megachurches approach it in that aspect,since that is the fad today with people and they feed off it and it works to their advantage.
Last year I visited one of these megachurches since my friend was singing in the choir and they had Elie Weisel author of night as a guest speaker. But anyway i was totally shocked during the “opening prayer”! The guy who did the opening prayer was a rabbi who was friend to the pastor, and the ENTIRE prayer was a thank you directed at the pastor! It was so awkward…
It wasn’t even a prayer, it was more like an award ceremony for the pastor. I’m sure everybody forgot that they were supposed to be being led into prayer, because they were cheering and clapping at the mention of certain achievements of this pastor. After the “service”, I asked my friend that goes there about it, and he agreed with me that it was irreverent and inappropriate, and (thankfully) he no longer attends that church.It’s kind of the opposite of “spiritual starvation,” that empty, bored to tears feeling that many non-Catholics get when the attend their first mass.
Haha, nice. As a mass-going Catholic, the only time Mass gets boring for me is on Palm Sunday. Dunno if you’ve been to a Palm Sunday Mass, but they read the entire Passion of Christ according to John. That drags after a while, even if it is the story of our Salvation.
Hmmm
…my non-Catholic spouse felt like he got a feast when he went to his first Mass… It might help if you knew what was actually going on and the symbolism behind it. Read Revelation…it’s all there…Well if he is in America it is about the time of year when school ends and another class of young people leave home. Many at this time of life, since there are no parents forcing the issue, leave church life entirely. I wouldn’t be suprised if someone the Priest had great confidence and hope for had left the Catholic Church for the local megachurch.