Cultural Christians?

[arapahoepark]

I have heard and used this term before and it seems to me it's happening a lot lately in all churches especially the so called oxymoron, ' religious left.' I bring this up because I was reading on Answers In Genesis a well know reverend Barry W. Lynn is challenging The new Ark Encounter claiming it to be a violation of church and state. Clearly, it is not it's only a tourism site in which it gets a tax break or two because of tourists to help the state of kentucky and is funded by private money anyway.
well the point I am getting at is why are people claiming to be christians completely standing against fundementalism?
What I mean by that the fundementals of christianity, not like radical in the sense of violence but actually living out what God and His Word tell us to do. Not a bunch of mumbo jumbo going to church and listening to a sermon, getting nothing out of it, walking home and thinking about yourself the rest of the time.
Why is it we are under the same label as islamic extremists? We are living for other people in the name of our God, not destroying each other in the name of demons?
Why do people like what I said above that only go to church and do nothing more have the audacity to attack us when we are trying to hold on for what we hold dear? Are they even christians at all? Not to mention all the sinning, even after we are saved. Don't get me wrong, we will always do that, but I mean you can't EVEN TELL A CHRISTIAN FROM A NON-CHRISTIAN ANYMORE IN TERMS OF BEHAVIOR AND I AM SURE TO GOD ALSO, THE THOUGHTS OF THE HEART.
I know that the prime minister of New Zealand is one of those, he doesn't believe in God but goes to church and thinks religion is merely doing the right thing.
What can be possibly done to rekindle the fire of the Holy Spirit with zeal to help others and to lead?
As you can tell I get very worked up about stuff like this. lol
So do tell your views on this.
Essentially where has the zeal gone?

[micah719]

Zeal? It's still there, just scattered far and wide and under increasing attack. Rekindling the fire of the Holy Spirit? That's up to Him, we just have to repent and ask. Don't expect a widespread revival, this is the endgame.

[Meg]

I have heard and used this term before and it seems to me it's happening a lot lately in all churches especially the so called oxymoron, ' religious left.' I bring this up because I was reading on Answers In Genesis a well know reverend Barry W. Lynn is challenging The new Ark Encounter claiming it to be a violation of church and state. Clearly, it is not it's only a tourism site in which it gets a tax break or two because of tourists to help the state of kentucky and is funded by private money anyway.
well the point I am getting at is why are people claiming to be christians completely standing against fundementalism?
What I mean by that the fundementals of christianity, not like radical in the sense of violence but actually living out what God and His Word tell us to do. Not a bunch of mumbo jumbo going to church and listening to a sermon, getting nothing out of it, walking home and thinking about yourself the rest of the time.
Why is it we are under the same label as islamic extremists? We are living for other people in the name of our God, not destroying each other in the name of demons?
Why do people like what I said above that only go to church and do nothing more have the audacity to attack us when we are trying to hold on for what we hold dear? Are they even christians at all? Not to mention all the sinning, even after we are saved. Don't get me wrong, we will always do that, but I mean you can't EVEN TELL A CHRISTIAN FROM A NON-CHRISTIAN ANYMORE IN TERMS OF BEHAVIOR AND I AM SURE TO GOD ALSO, THE THOUGHTS OF THE HEART.
I know that the prime minister of New Zealand is one of those, he doesn't believe in God but goes to church and thinks religion is merely doing the right thing.
What can be possibly done to rekindle the fire of the Holy Spirit with zeal to help others and to lead?
As you can tell I get very worked up about stuff like this. lol
So do tell your views on this.
Essentially where has the zeal gone?

There are several problems, Arapahoe. Living out the Christian life according to the Bible is a lot harder than it sounds, for one thing. Walking in the Holy Spirit, #1 doesn't come naturally, and #2 can genuinely place us at a disadvantage (unbelievers can lie and backstab without any restriction at all...)

There's the subtle social persecution. Christians of all ages are expected to participate in popular culture, such as TV, movies and fashion. Many find it easier to go along with it all than to take a stand... That really shows these days.

Then there's the Right Wing political manipulation, and that is very real. I recently found out that when Jimmy Carter ran for reelection in 1980, Jerry Falwell went on the radio, backing Reagan and claiming Carter wasn't a Christian. My best friend is from Carter's home town, its really small. People went up to Mrs Carter at church accusing her of not being a Christian, and driving her to tears! Speaking from experience, the political influence is more important to serious Right Wing Christian political people than the church is (I know such a person face-to-face, I know what I'm talking about). So they are actually more influenced by pill-popper Rush Limbaugh and oddball Glenn Beck than they are by church sermons.

Many Christians find the Bible very hard to understand. It takes a lot of work to get to where you really "get it" trying to read the Word. Took me years, and I was really serious. It took me several years to get comfortable with Isaiah, Hebrews and the Gospels... People also don't feel comfortable with deep prayer. Many feel like they're "talking to themselves"...

Finally, satan really does accuse Christians against each other. Its a very subtle attack on the thoughts, and it can seem very real and credible, because after all, its our thoughts that are being manipulated! Thats why Scripture warns us to capture every thought. Sometimes you have to...

There is a book out called The Unlikely Disciple by Kevin Roose. He's a Left Wing unbeliever who did a college semester at Liberty University (a Christian college). His candid description of college age Christians is rather sobering, if also very biased, but if you want to learn a thing or two about how young Christians really think, thats a valuable read.

Now if you spend enough time here at RF, one thing you'll notice is a bunch of deeply dedicated Christians spending a lot of time strengthening each other in Christ. If we could find the kind of quality we have here at most churches, you wouldn't have had to write the OP. Unfortunately, folks like we have here aren't real, common. That is why we all see the chaos in Christianity that we do see,