From watching this video, one would think that the decline of church attendance and rise of disaffiliation could be satisfactorily described, and their future trends projected, without recourse to the supernatural. The more methodological naturalism is successful, the more I wonder if there even is an unstoppable soteriological plan. If we can't see the determinative actions of a Holy Spirit in the growth of churches and the moral conduct of members' lives, then how do we even know there is a Holy Spirit? If we can't rely on the biblical record, how can we know there is a supernatural power behind it? We are not just watching the diminishing of church congregations, we are watching the diminishing of the whole enterprise of Christianity. Churches were places we went to obtain the solution to the problem of sin and alienation from God. This problem was so keenly felt, that we spent the bulk of our week working on it in various church activities. But if we modern people no longer believe in the problem, what good is the solution? Especially when this spiritual solution redirects so much of our earthly lives and opportunities toward its administration and budget (so to speak)?
So many people have left. SBC and other evangelicals have glorified clergy and men and culture rather than God. For years you glorified in your pulpits one of leaders of your “conservative” resurgence. This leader had a very dark secret, and glorifying this man bordered on the blasphemous. Now many of you glorify a man whose sin is much more open and who feels no shame, and all of this for want to power, another idol. People outside the evangelical bubble witness all this hypocrisy and power worship and they decide to stay clear. And of course you all say you mean well, but this is not how outsiders see you.
