Space For Doubt

Pyrrhus, the king of Epirus suffered heavy losses after defeating the Romans at the Battle of Asculum in 279 B.C.E. After the battle, Pyrrhus is said to have exclaimed, “One more such victory and we are lost“

Our conservative evangelical churches got what they wanted yesterday in the U.S.A. They got the power they craved. They cemented in what will likely be a permanent Christian Nationalism based society.

My question is, at what cost did this occur? This seems to be, as alluded to in my introduction, a Pyrrhic victory at best. At worst, an inflection point where, looking back we will see this was the day the church died.

Without question, Millennials, Gen Z, and Gen Alpha, are abandoning the church in ever greater numbers. The % of those generations who identify as protestant Christian has dramatically dropped in the last decade. Driven in large part by the disconnect they see between the message of the gospel and allegiance of the church to Trump and the GOP, who very much do NOT act or speak like Christ. Why would they want any part of that system? I can’t blame them.

With this latest “victory”, the conservative evangelical church has finally fully sold their soul. All for a short term gain but a long term collapse. When churches no longer have enough attendance to keep the doors open, what happens? When the gray hairs realize none of these younger people are staying in church anymore, what happens? When revelation seminar after prayer meeting after prophecy seminar, all draw little to no new attendees, what happens?

Ernest Hemingway’s 1926 novel, The Sun Also Rises, is often misquoted with a relatable statement here. I’m going to use the misquote because it’s more fitting.

“At first you go bankrupt slowly, then all at once.”

The Church has been going morally and ethically bankrupt slowly for a long time. We have just now arrived at the “all at once.”

No doubt that there will still be some young people in attendance. Some will still drink the cool-aid willingly. Abraham Lincoln has a quote that feels appropriate here.

“You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time.”

These few remaining young people will buy into what you’re selling whole heartedly and become those power hungry gray hairs in their later years. Rest assured though, this subset of young people will become smaller and smaller over time. As the dark side of modern conservative Christianity is fully revealed for what it truly is, attracting more young people will be like attempting to put two identical poles of two magnets close together. The more they try, the harder the push back will be.

Your pews are filled with doubt. Your tithe runs short because people no longer have faith that their money goes to a system worth supporting. Your prayer meetings draw less and less because your prayers feel empty and your motives ring hollow. You cherry pick scripture to fit your goals. You turn people away from Christ

You thought there were a lot of people deconstructing right now? Just you wait. Many members in your pews, seemingly “good reliable Christians” already are deconstructing. Currently they are just doing it quietly and internally. The more they see their church align with this Christian Nationalist movement, the more of them there will be. Eventually, you just won’t see them anymore. They won’t stage a big protest or make a scene. They will just leave, and you will be scratching your heads trying to figure out why.

“Maybe if we play some louder music”

“Maybe if we offer breakfast”

“What if we had a game night?”

No. They don’t want that. They want real truth. They want integrity. They want humility and honesty, without this façade of “caring” masking a deep selfish power hungry pride.

The Church is being challenged to act like Jesus, being held accountable for not sounding or acting like Jesus, and losing a generation who wants to follow Jesus.

It’s just that simple.
Peace.