, my main problem with it is that the focus becomes so much on faith, the strength of said faith, and the objects of said faith, that there's a real danger of... well, putting your faith in faith rather than your faith in Jesus
I see a lot of that here. I've often thought that particular sort of Evangelicalism has more in common with a fandom than with a religion; the T-shirts, the bumper stickers, the pins and buttons, saying "Have a blessed day!" to all and sundry instead of "Have a nice day!", the preachy genre fiction and movies and the many memes; an obsession with the trappings, rather than the essence.
Of course, I could be doing many people a disservice and they could be much more deeply faithful than I am in any position to know. Nonetheless, such things still make me uneasy. I try not to judge; most of them are very nice, but the sentiments they occasionally express makes me wonder.
Even if they are deeply sincere, I think some of these things may be at the very least a way of distracting them.
no subject
Date: 2013-03-02 09:55 pm (UTC)I see a lot of that here. I've often thought that particular sort of Evangelicalism has more in common with a fandom than with a religion; the T-shirts, the bumper stickers, the pins and buttons, saying "Have a blessed day!" to all and sundry instead of "Have a nice day!", the preachy genre fiction and movies and the many memes; an obsession with the trappings, rather than the essence.
Of course, I could be doing many people a disservice and they could be much more deeply faithful than I am in any position to know. Nonetheless, such things still make me uneasy. I try not to judge; most of them are very nice, but the sentiments they occasionally express makes me wonder.
Even if they are deeply sincere, I think some of these things may be at the very least a way of distracting them.