now that I think about it, we were quite the 4T nation for a while (very briefly)

[AspieMillennial]

(09-30-2021, 01:00 PM)pbrower2a Wrote: I see no reason to believe that the Millennial Generation will be prophetic. They are not profoundly religious. The biggest religious innovators among American GI's were L. Ron Hubbard (yuck!) and Billy Graham (who was more an innovator in techniques of reaching people than in establishing any new or improved theology). Billy Graham seems to have been much less objectionable than other televangelists who followed him. (Billy Graham established some practices to keep himself from scandal: never promise medical miracles or personal wealth to an audience, separate himself from the money and let others do the financial choices -- he got a salary that did not depend upon the take, and never be alone with any female other than his wife. Also -- rely upon crowds to make participation less obviously personal, encourage people to rely upon their own local churches, and ensure that there are no obvious distractions. Were I a preacher who got to do religion on a large scale I would do much as Graham did.

If there should be any Millennial innovation in Christianity, then it will most be in fine-tuning the Christian message to fit people who have lived in a highly-secular world and find something missing. Any country in which Donald Trump can captivate 45% of the electorate has huge gaps in any collective soul.

I agree that the Christian message should be fine tuned to fit people who lived in a highly secular world and find something missing. I'm not speaking of the majority and the collective though. I am speaking of the minority of Millennials who are religious. I don't know why we as the minority need to appeal to the majority. They are spiritually void people and don't even realize it but I don't think they ever will realize it. They are all about worshipping science as a religion and if they are depressed or anxious or falling apart, they reap what they sow. They decide to spread the emptiness of a world without God so any misery they come across is their own fault. I don't feel sympathy for them or their plight as it is self induced.

As long as the majority is hostile to my values, I see no sense in appealing to larger structures at all or even compromising. If changing the church doesn't get them to convert, the change is worthless IMO. The church should be changed and catered to the religious minority who don't leave their beliefs behind. Why bother catering to a mainstream that hates you? Even if they like you in the end, if they don't convert, the goal has not been reached. What people don't realize about religious Millennials, especially first wave ones, is that we exist. The only difference is our response to mainstream culture is to tune it out or criticize it whereas the Boomer response was to engage with it. We don't seek to be one with the secular majority and see ourselves like the early Christians being persecuted in the Roman Empire. Do you see them as ever realizing they have spiritual needs? I see the majority as hopeless don't know why I was sent into a world against my values.