Are We There Yet? Are We There Yet? Are We...

Ok. I have recently noticed a problem in Christianity. At first I just thought it was something that was in the Christian Churches/Churches of Christ, but now I think I am seeing that it is in every other church too. What is this great problem? What is this juggernaut that threatens the gates? (Too dramatic?) Well, I will get to it, but first a brief and somewhat vague history lesson...

As many of you know, the CC/CoC has its heritage from The Restoration Movement of Alexander Campbell and Barton Stone. However, The Restoration Movement has its heritage in the 2nd Great Awakening. Essentially this was a period in the late 1700s to nearly the Civil War when America turned back to God. Of course the natural course of that was turning back to scripture, which has largely become the banner that Restoration Churches fly, "Let's get back to what Scripture says."  This is a noble pursuit.

Here is the problem, though. We feel like we have arrived. Alright!! We have finally made it. We have finally come to exactly what the Bible says now. We are back. I wish this was only true in the Christian Churches/Churches of Christ, but it really isn't. You can point to any other denomination in America and they will pretty much tell you that this is what we believe. This is the 246-point checklist that makes up what we believe. There you have it...we've arrived.

But everyone seems to have arrived at significantly different destinations. They are all in the same county, but that's like expecting Disney World and getting Universal Studios. They just aren't the same.

We have set our doctrine in stone. There is no more pursuit. We are no longer hunting our prey, instead we are jealously guarding our prey so no predator or scavenger will take it. Rather than having a dialogue with others and trying to continue to grow in our understanding our Bible studies do nothing more than affirm what we already believe. In most Sunday Schools, there is a group called the Bereans. Rather than studying scripture to seek truth ourselves, we often study scripture to see how others are wrong. We read books that speak to what we already think and toss out the rest.

There isn't an honest pursuit anymore. There doesn't seem to be any movement in Christianity right now. I think it is time for a movement. I think it is time to start thinking like the annoying kid in the back seat. It seems we are never quite there yet, and that's just fine.