Do you ever get the feeling that most Christians don't really believe in God and the bible. That they're just in it for the good community and morals? I'm not just talking about obvious cases like those churches we see with the rainbow flags - instead it seems to be that many churches, both liberal and conservative, are filled with congregation and even pastoral staff that don't actually believe in God.
Theology that would be no different without God
I'm not basing this on the way anyone acts, I understand that all fall short. It's more the theology - a lot of the pop theology going around at churches actually seems to present a view that nullifies God.
For example:
The popular saying:
>God answers prays yes, no or wait
How is that different from if you were praying and there was no God. If God didn't exit, you would still get what you prayed for sometimes, not get it other time, and have to wait other times. This belief is no different from the way the world would be if God doesn't exist.
In a world where God exists, if a prayer isn't answered, it should mean that something went wrong and prayers should be answered yes more often than not. - unanswered prayers should be an aberration that causes concern.
Another was from my cousin who is a junior Charismatic pastor he said something along the lines of:
>prayer doesn't change things; it changes me
And I just thought, that seems no different from how prayer would work in a world that God doesn't exist.
It's almost like they don't really think God exists or cares, but want to believe he does, so they go about creating a theology that would be equally true whether God exists or not.
In fact a lot of ChriPost too long. Click here to view the full text.