Writing about Session: 7 Traditions in Christian Theology, Jesse Vonbehren shares his thoughts on one of the discussion questions.
Discussion question #5: Do you think the Gospel is preserved in the Protestant Church today? Why or why not?
When looking at whether I think the Gospel is preserved in the Protestant Church today I think it is important to define “preserved”. According to Google to preserve something means to:
- maintain (something) in its original or existing state.
- retain (a condition or state of affairs).
- maintain or keep alive.
When thinking about this question I looked back at my church upbringing at a Lutheran church. I feel fortunate to be raised in a home that had Christian principles and traditions. Every Sunday when attending church we would go through the Lord’s Prayer, Nicene, Apostle’s, and/or Athanasian Creed, an old testament reading, a new testament reading and a gospel message (which is what the sermon was mostly about).
I believe all churches think they are preserving the gospel however, in my opinion I think the majority of them skew it for their own benefit. I was given a great Christian foundation, but as I continue to learn more and more from God’s word, I realize how each church affiliation “tweaks” the Word through their separate interpretation.
Several years ago during my Christian journey I was yearning for more so I started looking for something other than a feel good sermon from a pastor that attempted to relate the gospel message to modern day life. I wanted to know what God’s word truly said, not what someone thought it said and how they thought it related to today.
As we have learned in theology class, tradition is important but should not be the at the forefront of a church’s stage of truth. The traditions we kept at the Lutheran church were comfortable because we knew what to expect, but it seemed to be done as a mindless routine not spoken from the heart.
Thankfully I was introduced to Lakeside. It is here that my journey with the Lord continues and I am challenged daily because of the weekly message that comes directly from the Word. Ironically, I think the combination of the mind numbing traditions and sermons that may sugar coat the truth are hurting the attendance at some protestant churches.
Overall, I think many churches are fooling themselves by thinking they are using the Gospel for its intended purpose. I can only go from my personal experience, but the sermons from my previous church seemed to be very watered down and only give the feel good part of the story and not always the real truth. It seemed to me that pastors were getting more and more afraid of offending people rather than sharing the Word in its most basic form.
Churches are more concerned about the number of people in church than what the message is. Pastor Dave uses the phrase, “highly religious but totally lost.” When having a discussion about this with friends and family they tend to be very defensive. Which I get, and am not trying to attack their denomination or Christian affiliation; I just want to challenge them to research and look at the Word to see if what they are practicing does truly come from scripture.