Who's destroying the Church?

As soon as we get down to business in any argument in the Church, one side is accused of destroying the Church to save her.  I have heard that line from the days of college and seminary when the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod was engaging their opponents in the so-called Battle for the Bible.  I have heard it said in the liturgical wars over liturgy and so-called seeker services more appealing to the entertainment aesthetic.  I have heard it proclaimed in the sex wars over who can marry and who cannot, who can be a pastor and who cannot, and whether there is any sexual behavior which conflicts with the Gospel.  I have heard this from those who insist that gender identity is the new justification conflict and where the war over freedom will be fought.  I have heard it put forth in the new idea of truth which no longer has to be objectively true for all or for all time but can merely be true for those who want or choose to believe it. I have heard it mostly, however, from those who were pushing the envelope and trying the cast off the constraints of the past.  If you do not modernize, the Church will die and those who refuse to budge are destroying the Church.

Oddly enough, those who are pushing the boundaries of freedom and laying aside the constraints of Scripture and tradition are seldom accused of destroying the Church.  They are usually the voices who lay that charge but seem to have avoided being labeled by it themselves.  Odd because the results of the liberalization of the faith, of views of sexuality, of the idea of gender, of worship, and nearly everything else have contributed more to the decline of Christianity than just about anything else.

The de-unification of the Methodist Church has clearly labeled the conservatives as the bad guys who ruined it for the good guys.  Those who opposed the changes or left the ELCA are the spoil sports who brought down the biggest Lutheran denomination.  Those who fight for traditional liturgy in nearly every church body are considered the problem children of their churches (just like the Latin Mass folks of Rome).  Those who lament the Church of England's choice to behave more like an agency of the government than a church (indeed, most Episcopalians of the West) are seen as naysayers against those who think change or die. Those in any liturgical church body who want to restrain the evangelical style worship devoid of order or tradition are routinely labeled as legalists and control freaks.  In Missouri's history, there are still voices within and outside who insist that the Bible thumpers killed this body and are responsible for its decline.

It is curious how the reality has challenged these assumptions.  The liberals and progressives became increasingly intolerant of any opposition in these churches and it was their refusal to allow disagreement that causes splits and declines (especially in the area of sexuality and gender).  The liberals and progressives have insisted with rather smug piety that they are choosing to meet people where they are and save them while their opponents are married to forms and ceremonies -- a convenient high road.  Those who choose to liberalize their view of Scripture are always doing it for the sake of the faith and not against what has always been believed and taught -- at least if you believe their PR.  In truth, intolerance is the virtue of those who push the limits and choose culture and society as authorities over Scripture.  Meeting people with entertainment style services broadcast to homes has not helped but weakened Christianity over all.  Trying to make Scripture more human has always come at the cost of making it less divine.  Who is destroying the Church?  I think it can be safely said that if ideology is the culprit, liberal and progressive ideologies are doing more harm than good.  Churches have more money but less people, more cultural relevance in the eyes of many but less truth that saves, more in common with the direction of the woke but less in common with Scripture and tradition.  My bet is on those who hold to the faith once delivered to the saints.  If the apostles were to walk into your church today and review what you believe and how you practice, would they find it home or would they find it a stranger?  That is the test of who is destroying the Church.