Weed out all the hypocrites in the church!  I'm not talking about new believers still going through their cleansing, but a lot of the longtime church goers aren't staying true to the faith.  We have a lot of people who like to mix politics and culture with Christianity.  We also have a lot of people who either blatantly say lies to our youth or twist the word to support their point of view.  One good example of this is purity camps which tell our teens sex is bad, when it should be sex is good within the boundaries of marriage.

Stop using Christianity as a form of discipline on our youth is another one.  Along with that, stop trying to conform Christianity to the patterns of this country.  The typical American lifepath is go to school, then go to college, then get full time job, then get married, then raise a family.  That might not be the path God has planned for everybody.  I think we need to be able to radically let go of these social norms, even if it means marry as teenagers and grow up sooner, instead of having multiple bf/gfs and stirring up romance before it's time.  100 Years ago, that wasn't so out of the picture.  Same with college, God's plan might lead you beyond your church walls to go serve in another country, instead of going to college.

@god_stories@xanga - the question is that must be posed is... is the other's faith true?!  Just because someone has "faith" it doesn't necessarily mean faith in the One True God.  You can faith in a chair that won't crumble underneath your weight... doesn't mean that chair is God... the fact that Millenials don't like such statements as, "Jesus is the only way to heaven." is the absolutes they don't like to hear because it means having a closed mind and a faith based on exclusivity... and in such a generation and age where everyone wants to be all inclusive makes for a rather difficult conversation cuz the people who claim to be open-minded tend to be more close-minded than they let on to be...

the Millenial group needs to simply have the Gospel told to them and to understand that this mysterious God has made Himself known in the person and work of Jesus and when Millenials focus on that... regardless of how savvy they are or how intelligent they exhibit themselves to be... Jesus will have more of a profound impact on them irrespective of their journey and where they are at in their faith... again, just because you're spiritual, doesn't mean you're a Christian...

As a preacher I agree that there is a huge gap right now.

What I see happening (with no real success) is that people are changing what they are reaching out with instead of how they reach out-- this is causing devastating effects.  What I mean is that people have begun trying to "change" God, or the Word of God, or what it Says in order to allow them to do whatever they want because they think it will be more popular.

For example; Coca Cola changed its original recipe on April 23rd, 1985 hoping to bring new life into its industry.  Unfortunately the plan backfired.  Their fans were outraged and hated the new taste.

Now, because Coca Cola was out for success it did not get stubborn on its flawed plan and quickly, after only 79 days it returned to its original recipe (now named Coca Cola Classic) on July 11th, 1985. 

The side effect was more successful than the original plan; because they didn't stick to a failing plan their fans were excited by the return of their classic and favorite drink and Coca Cola Classic came back bigger than ever.

My point is that this new idea to "Change" Christianity is a bad idea in the first place.  Christs sacrifice was perfect to begin with; his Word is transcendent and flawless.  What we were taught in the scriptures does not need to be tweaked or changed; it allows the liberty to reach out using new mediums, but the message is always the same. 

Thats my opinion at least.

@leadworshipper82 - 

But how do you know Jesus was real? Or that everything described in the Bible happened exactly the way it says that it did? There's no proof, it all relies on faith.

Could you share some of the empirical evidence behind the Bible with me? So much of it seems so fantastic and supernatural that it seems hard to call it a faith born from reason.

"So instead of dwelling and stewing in this unflattering reality, how do we move forward?"

i think the problem is that, for centuries, Christianity has presented itself as an absolutely 100% provable explanation of reality... usually through stifling and covering up any evidence contrary to that fact.  in this era, that's pretty much impossible, yet Christianity as a whole doesn't seem to think so.  no one is going to choose a religion unless belief in that religion is useful in some way.  i think Christianity is spending too much time trying to prove points and shush anyone speaking against it, and not enough time making itself relevant. 

growing up (i am a Millennial, in every way, and proud of it!), Christianity was "right" because of the following reasons:
-other religions had no historical proof
-Christianity had overwhelming historical proof (i remember being told that they had Noah's Ark, a piece of the cross, and John the Baptist's head in museums somewhere... also, that they had located Sodom and Gomorrah, Eden, and the country of origin of the Three Wise Men)
-the Earth was proved to have been made in seven days, roughly 6000 years ago (i never heard of evolution before age 13)... all animals deemed extinct died off because Noah didn't let them on the Ark
-everyone is Christian by default... unless they're evil mass murderers. 

i could go on, but i think you get the point.  i, and a lot of former Christians i know, just feel flat out lied to.  the second i met a decent human being who wasn't Christian, everything was thrown into doubt.

@Teufels_Hofnarr@xanga - "But how do you know Jesus was real..." 

Are you being serious right now?!?  Like really?

@leadworshipper82 - 

Well, yes. How do you know Jesus was real and that everything the Bible says about Him is true?

I've never met someone who was born from a virgin. Science tells me that's impossible. So, how can you be certain about Jesus being different?

@god_stories@xanga - 

Thank you! I was worried he was going to bite my head off!

@Teufels_Hofnarr@xanga - dude... to say how can you say Jesus was real... i'll answer that correctly if you can tell me how George Washington was real... can you?  I suppose it takes faith to believe George Washington was real too right?

@leadworshipper82 - that's not a very accurate comparison for a number of reasons...

- George Washington lived during a period where the written word was far more prevalent.  he has far more contemporary works that mention him than Jesus ever did.
- the main sources to mention Jesus outside of the Bible are Josephus, Tacitus, Pliny, and Suetonius.  only Josephus calls him Jesus... the rest refer to him as the Christ, which is a title (not a name).  the George Washington equivalent of this would be if every non-propaganda source but one just mentioned some guy called "The General," and how he led a bunch of Americans to revolt.
- out of the aforementioned sources, Josephus is the earliest... in 93 AD.  in contrast, we have thousands of papers written by Washington, not just about him. 
- the Gospels are religious texts first, and historical texts second.  they were written with a particular intent: to spread a message.  the intent was not to be 100% accurate.  and if you believe that early Christians wouldn't have fudged some facts to preserve their beliefs, i think that takes a lot more faith than believing in any god.

by your logic, you should probably be Muslim... Muhammad has far more historical references supporting his existence than Jesus ever did, so of course the theological claims surrounding him are more factual...right?

@Teufels_Hofnarr@xanga - thanks.  i just get so confused when Christians (or any theists, really) try to present faith as something derived from reason.  one, the underlying (and perhaps, unintentional) message is that if faith is reasonable, a lack of faith is unreasonable.  i'm not about to join a group of people who seem to think that those without faith are somehow less intelligent, or "just don't get it."  as a rather famous atheist once said, the burden of argument lies with them.  if i went around believing i could fly, and then asked someone to prove to me that i couldn't... it's completely illogical.  the burden of proof would lie with me to show that i can fly to begin with.

two, i can't see why they'd want faith to be on the same level as other "provable" sciences, anyway.  it'd never stand up under the same scrutiny, and it's not really supposed to.  if it was a reasonable conclusion, the same way we can conclude that gravity exists, then it wouldn't be faith.  and isn't that what they need to get into Heaven... faith, as opposed to knowledge?

@Teufels_Hofnarr@xanga -  GW was a historic figure... that is what your idea or your notion was about... Jesus was just as a historic figure...

@too_pretty_to_die@xanga - then u need to read up... i suggest Josephus, Plimey the Great who all documented the reality of the Christian faith tied TO Jesus...

@leadworshipper82 - "ok... when one suggests that it takes faith
to believe in a historic person that HISTORY has documented... that's
really just..."

So this conversation so succinctly reveals to my mind the divide between many churches and millennials.  Its not clear to me that @Teufels_Hofnarr@xanga is asking if Jesus was a real historical figure.  Sure he might have even used those words, but it seems to me there's a meta conversation going on...beneath the obvious (I sense the same in other's comments here).  As I said before exploring faith is a deep, mysterious, and intimate journey.  If we're older than 12 years old than our past is likely fraught with pain and suffering...and it can be scary and difficult to navigate relationship with a living God.

So to cut short the conversation with Bible verses, trite sayings, superior cultural attitude, advice, rational arguements or anything other than a humble attitude that can lead to a real personal relationship between honest humans is not helpful.

Praying a prayer of salvation isn't a key to the executive boys room...and the good life.  Life is a journey...likely a long journey...and the abundant life that Jesus offers (in my experience) comes from relationship (with Him and with others), right?  Life is merely a string of moments...sometimes life feels abundant and sometimes not...whether you're a follower of Jesus or not.  Having honest conversation is key to relationship...and honest conversation about our struggles, doubts, confusion, joy, and what we think we know...can only be helpful for the other...and ourselves!!

God is a mystery and anyone who claims to know 'objective truth' about Him is likely holding tightly to a pretty small 'image' of who God is...in fact I sense everyone can only know a very small image God...He is way more than we can imagine...so the Bible says (and my experience confirms)!

Sorry for the long comment...praise the living God!