Scotland is seeing a radical loss of religious commitment and faith, particularly among her young adults. Why the decline?
Members of the Church of Scotland were polled and only 37% said they believe Jesus was God's son and came back to life after being crucified. Are the pastors who have been presiding over this apostasy still getting paid? If so, does it please them?
I ask because I'm remembering Kierkegaard's comment that, for many pastors, a church without people is their ideal. They want a sinecure—not a messy, smelly flock.
As goes the preaching, so goes the church; and as goes the church, so goes the nation. After years sitting in presbytery meetings listening to sermons by recent grads of my denomination's seminary...
I called a man at the top of the denomination's leadership and told him the seminary and its president would be the death of the denomination; that our seminary grads' preaching was weak and faithless.
Which is to say American Presbyterians are not far behind Scotland and should expect the same decline of Christian faith unless and until God raises up men who preach the Law and the Gospel in the power of the Holy Spirit. By faith.
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Reports a Presbyterian elder from the USA, "Last summer, when (my wife) and I were in Scotland over a Sunday, I was considering attending the dignified, stately Presbyterian Church of Scotland edifice in the centre (Scottish spelling) of St. Andrews. Before attending their service, though, I decided to Google that particular church to see if it seemed orthodox. Finding that the assistant pastor was a professor in “diversity studies” at the local university, I decided that we would instead worship at the local Baptist church (which turned out to be quite sound)."
Tim serves Clearnote Church, Bloomington, Indiana. He and Mary Lee have five children and big lots of grandchildren.
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