Quotes About Modern Christianity

These quotes are about the condition of modern Christianity. Since I personally believe that almost everything about modern Christianity is in need of reform and a return to "the faith once delivered to the saints" (Jude 1:3), the majority of these will be negative.

This does not mean that I am ignoring what is good in modern Christianity, nor that I am unaware of the many wonderful godly, disciples that exist even in anemic, corrupt western Christianity. Though they are many, such disciples are, unfortunately, a small minority of professing Christians, the rest being at best good people but nominal Christians and at worst despicable and self-righteous pretenders.

Western Christianity's unfortunate queasiness about facing that reality—or any reality—is the major reason why the problem is not being corrected.

A few, however, do notice and admit they notice, and they are quoted on this page.

T. Austin Sparks, d. 1971

It is possible to take parts of the New Testament, as to doctrines, practices, work, methods, and order, to piece them together, and to frame them into a system to be adopted and applied. This is the mechanical or 'ecclesiastical' method, and it is capable of an almost endless variety of presentations, resulting in a very large variety of organized bodies, every one of which claims the New Testament for its authority. This in turn issues in rivalries, competitiveness, controversy, and, eventually, in the presenting to the world of a Christianity divided into a vast number of independent and unrelated parts, far removed from 'all speaking the same thing'.
     ... the approach to which we have referred above is the cause of more limitation, stagnation, deadly legality, than can be measured. ("According to Christ")

Christianity has almost entirely come to be such a thing now, and it is practically impossible for the vast majority of Christians - their leaders especially - to understand or even believe that God can do His work without committees, boards, machinery, advertisement, organizations, appeals, reports, names, deputations, patronage, propaganda, publicity, the press, etc. ("According to Christ")

The thing that now goes by the name of 'Christianity' embraces between its two poles almost every conceivable complexion and inconsistency. At one pole it has the complexion of a liberalism which denies every fundamental truth - as to the person of Christ, the authority and trustworthiness of the Scriptures, the atoning work of the Cross, the bodily resurrection of Christ, and so on. But all this is included in the title 'Christianity'. At the other pole we have hard, cruel, bigoted legalism, which can resort to physical force and the use of lethal weapons for its defence or propagation. ("According to Christ")

Michael Spencer, 2009

Over the last century the church in America has suffered serious generational drift and decay. In every subsequent generation over the last century, the faith has become more fragmented, watered-down, superficial, and irrelevant. We have drifted from a vibrant faith rooted in the historic confessions, coherent theological convictions, and intelligent cultural engagement to a privatized faith that is indifferent to the past, theologically ignorant, and culturally irrelevant.

Ironically, the billions of dallars we've spent on youth ministers, Christian music, publishing, and media has produced a culture of young Christians who know next to nothing about their own faith except how they feel about it. Our young people have deep beliefs about the culture war, but do not know why they should obey scripture, the essentials of theology, or the experience of spiritual discipline and community. Coming generations of Christians are going to be monumentally ignorant and unprepared for culture-wide pressures. (Michael Spencer, "The Coming Evangelical Collapse" as quoted by S. Michael Craven, "Generational Drift and Decay" at christianpost.com, May 12, 2009. Accessed Sep. 17, 2011.)

Tim Kurtz, 2011

The majority of churches that exist today are organized spiritual business entities. They operate similarly to corporate America. There is a CEO, or Sr. Pastor. There is a Board of Directors, probably elders or deacons. There is a staff—either paid or volunteer. There are the customers—namely the lay people who come each week to financially underwrite the corporation/church. And finally, there is the product—their version of the gospel and its presentation. I personally shudder at using the term 'product' for the gospel, but in many churches that is what it has been reduced to. (No Longer Church as Usual, ch. 3)

The spirit driving most of these 'corporation/churches' is self preservation [sic]. They devise methods, practices and policies necessary to maintain their survival. (No Longer Church as Usual, ch. 3)