Distracted by wordly desires

Wesley Blog has an excellent post asking "Why are 21st Century Methodists so ineffective compared to our 18th and 19th Century counterparts?"

Maybe we've lost our faith in the Gospel's ability to change individuals. I hear many liberal United Methodists talking about changing society by increasing the minimum wage, mandating a living wage, and creating a national healthcare system. To be fair, plenty of conservatives have their own ideas for changing society: prayer in schools, gay marriage bans, tougher abortion laws, and more tax cuts. There's nothing wrong with working through a political system to bring about change, but if we bypass individuals to do it, we're setting ourselves up for victories that last only as long as the current political wind. Real change begins to happen when people change. Once they actually encounter God, they're never the same.
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The post presents one strong and non-PC point that should be said far more often.

United Methodist churches should not be places where nominal Christians are allowed to exist in religious comfort zones without being challenged. I can't understand why conversion offends so many people. People seem to be insulted by the notion that they could go to church for a long time, yet still lack real faith.
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Or, as my roommate has put it, "There are regualr church goers who going to hell because they never truly accepted Christ." This is an unfortunate fact that has been with the church since its early days. If you don't think the early believers had problems like we face in all denominations today, read Corinthians (both) and think about why the Apostle Paul is saying a lot of what he says (the church of Corinth had many deep seeded issues).

Overall an excellent post. I recoomend surfing over and checking out Wesley Blog, even if you are not a Methodist.

-the Progressive Conservative

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