LRC, Houston - the weekends-free church in Houston, Texas

It’s time for the last of the four major macro changes that I believe the church must embrace to prevent further decline. All one needs to do is look at England and the rest of Europe, which was once heavily weighted in favor of Christianity, and now see but a shell of what once was. We first looked at Mythological concepts, then Metaphysical principles, followed by Absolutism markers. And now on to Historical mining.

The “historic faith” that Christianity has so proudly proclaimed over the centuries has come under close scrutiny in the last 125 years or so by numerous archaeological digs and discoveries. Since almost everything (can you say 99.9%) that we know about Jesus comes from Biblical sources alone, Christianity is not firmly planted- outside it’s own faith.

That’s not necessarily bad, but neither is it a big kudo!

People want to know, do we have the ipsissima verba (Latin for “the very words”) of Jesus? Or maybe another question would be, do we need those VERY WORDS, or is the parabale, the approximation good enough? When, in Don Cupitt’s words, “There is one Jesus, and millions of Christs (how each individual sees Him), is an exactness a possibility?

The exact historicity of the Christian story (can you say Bible?) is one of the most scrutinized endeavors for some 2,000 years now.

The Christian canon may be a closed book for some, but not for me. We are constantly discovering new facts about the development of our faith. To think that all there is to know is now known is to stick one’s head in the ground and live in denial.

Unfortunately, many are!

We cannot predetermine what is yet to be discovered, but we can with eager anticipation, keep our eyes open, and be ready for whatever might be added to our Christian heritage.

In order for the American Christian church to survive and not fall into the quiet ruins that we observe in Europe, where 85% of the attendees are women, it’s got to begin to live by faith again, led by the Spirit, and not by the church hierarchy.

Not easy to do since you’re going against those who control it.