The Church seems to have fallen into two schools as of late; the critical thinkers and the sentimentalists. Critical thinkers have a drive to find out why something is the way it is, often times needing a concrete rational answer for their questions. These are the people who take a scripture, dissect it and make connections between it and the human condition.
Sentimentalists have a tendency to be more spiritual, taking scriptures at face value. Often times more concerned with how they feel, and how that is involved with their faith.
My Christian Conservative Liberal Arts School, seems to consist primarily of sentimentalists. I noticed as of late that I found myself resenting them. Me being the type of person that I am, asked myself why I felt that way. My frustration came from, what I believed, a lack of critical thinking on their part. It seemed to me that the reason they worshiped, or raised their hands, or came to church or chapel at all was because it made them "feel good".
This kind of thinking seems very prevalent in the church today. This is why most of the people I have come in contact with say that they want to have nothing to do with the church. They see it all in the service of making someone feel good. This frustrates me, because their was a time when it was impossible to be involved in the church and not be a critical thinker. What I find even more frustrating is that Christians, especially students, are afraid to really put Biblical teaching to the test because of some fear that it won't stand up to scrutiny, or more importantly they'll get an answer they don't want.
This is the school of thought that causes violence against homosexuals, muslims, and any other group of people that don't quite fit within the morality that christianity proclaims (which I believe in whole heartedly by the way, barring old levitical law).
Don't live in your little bubble constantly afraid that something is going to pop it. Ask questions, God can take it.
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